Amsterdam’s in full bloom
Alison Kershaw enjoys a feast of colour in the tulip season
There are peals of laughter behind me as I snap photos of a sea of colourful tulips in a field an hour’s drive outside Amsterdam. I turn to see a elderly couple chuckling as a woman helps a man stand in a pair of over-sized clogs. She takes a step back and he grins widely as she takes his picture before they swap places.
I am in Lisse, at the Tulip Experience Amsterdam, a show garden with more than one million tulips. Despite the changeable weather, it seems there is something about these blooms that makes everyone feel cheerful. Around me, groups take the opportunity between spring showers to head out into the show gardens to take Instagram worthy selfies among long, neat rows of tulips interspersed with quintessentially Dutch icons such as clogs, bikes and a windmill. The hangar which houses the attraction’s museum and exhibition is packed with visitors but outside feels spacious, with room for everyone to enjoy the Netherlands’ famous flower. But as I soon find out, while Max Bygraves may have sung of Tulips from Amsterdam, the tulips are from Kazakhstan and arrived here in the 1500s via what is now present-day Turkey.
And the name? Well, flowers were once worn by Ottoman sultans in tulip-shaped turbans as a sign of status and wealth and the word is derived from “tulipan”, once a word for “turban”.
These nuggets of information are provided by Sylvia, a member of the Pennings family. Her grandfather started a tulip business in 1951. Tulips are ubiquitous in Amsterdam, no more so than in the springtime, and over the course of two days I experience them in all their forms – bulb, flower, as food and drink and even skincare. Back at my hotel – the Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky – I enjoy a delicious cocktail containing tulip-infused vodka.
This is a different Amsterdam from the one I last visited 20 years ago. It may be the places I go, but there are fewer stag dos and large groups of inebriated people than I remember. Instead, the city – which celebrates its 750th anniversary next year – feels vibrant and inviting, and not just for the tulips which adorn every street corner. One afternoon I take a guided walk along the city’s three main canals: Herengracht (Gentleman’s canal) the most elegant of the trio, Keizersgracht (Emperor’s canal) and Prinsengracht (Prince’s canal) and into the Jordaan area.
This district, our guide Thijs says, is popular with locals. It was originally a poor part of the city, but now it is known for its architecture, good restaurants and shops.
As I walk, I sample some of Amsterdam’s best culinary offerings – starting with herring, served with chopped raw onion and pickled cucumber slices. Later we stop at a little chocolate shop for coffee and Stroopwafel – two layers of thin baked waffle held together by a caramel. I’m taken over by a feeling of contentment, It’s what the Dutch call “gezellig” – meaning pleasant – exactly how Amsterdam seems to me.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRIP Rooms at Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky start from £264 per person with breakfast. Visit anantara.com.
The Tulips in Bloom experience (four to six hours) costs/£512 for two. In spring only.