Leiden is like a laid back country town but with style. We had a lovely ground floor room overlooking a canal which throughout the day is variously occupied by ducks and their families in tow, water lilies bobbing around them, Dutch families in their boats, picnics on board in lovely cane baskets, assorted rugs and alcohol on board. How civilised! And Rembrandt was born here, his father owned a mill here.
We were quite a way out of the centre but walking back in, we crossed beautiful wrought iron bridges with flower boxes everywhere. We were going to visit the Hortus Botanicus, as the partner is a landscaper and was keen to see the oldest botanic herb garden in Europe. This garden began construction in 1587, outside of the grounds of the oldest University in the Netherlands.
We lunched beside the canal beforehand, on focaccia topped with goats cheese, pine nuts and drizzled with honey. The gardens were beautiful, surrounded by stately 14 and 15th century houses and canals, The lotus flower in one of the ponds bloomed for us, the first time in years according to the gardener there. They referred to this lily as a She; she was exquisite. On our way back along the streets, there were hollyhocks blooming and framing the doorways.
The University came into prominence in the Dutch Golden Age, which occurred in 1588 and went on for almost one hundred years, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch climate of intellectual tolerance. Galileo's friends were able to convince the Dutch to publish his theories when the Catholic church denied them on religious grounds.
We dined alongside another canal at Scarlatti's, on fragrant mushrooms stuffed with a piquant dutch cheese and a delicate salad with goats cheese, honey and thyme as we watched the sun set.
The next day, we breakfasted by the canal (can you guess what the partner had?) and then set off to visit Haarlem. The station there is an Art Deco masterpiece. The buildings were unique, slightly gothic with lots of chimneys and beautiful brickwork, dating back to the 14th century. Haarlem is known for it's 21 secret gardens; hidden courtyards scattered around the city. I managed to find one, there were couples walking hand in hand, kids playing, dogs racing around, beautiful trees and garden beds, all bounded by the houses that looked in on these gardens.
We lunched in the centre at a fish stall, herrings of course for the partner and tiny baby. sweet prawns for me. We walked to the one remaining windmill and then headed back to Leiden for a river cruise, passing by the Dutch in their boats. There were lots of young people, swimming in the canals, enjoying the summer days and there was a section of the river full of resident's houseboats. That night we dined on a barge on wine and dutch cheese souffle bites as the sun set in the distance.
On the last day, the rain arrived. We walked and explored the old buildings, modern cosy cafes and interesting shops.The partner was fascinated by the paving and ended up going to the council (as you do) to ask about how old it was and how it was maintained, while I sheltered in a lovely old cafe. When he returned he told me they'd said there were many fires and explosions in this city, the last and worst one being in 1807 when a ship laden with gunpowder and moored in the centre of the city, exploded, destroying 200 buildings and 151 lives.( Oh, and the paving engineer was out to lunch so we'll not find out about the paving this trip.)
We walked through the markets, admiring the Dutch cheeses, the different smoked fish stalls, vegetables and salamis and that night we had dinner at Scarlattis again. This time we had the famed Dutch mussel pot; a huge pot of mussels cooked in garlic and white wine, delicious. There were lots of locals out and about, on bikes, on foot, in boats, loving life. They really use every space of this city.
The next day as we left, we explored the last remaining windmill and then our time in Leiden was complete. We were on our way to Amsterdam where we would part company.
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