Highlights of Holland

Netherlands Bike + Boat Tour

Discover the world of Rembrandt

Go to the Netherlands and discover for yourself the world’s #1 bike country personally during this bike and boat tour in the land of Rembrandt.  You will ride through Holland’s country side: polders in Purmerend, 18th century windmills in Zaanse-Schans, and the flower auctions of Aalsmeer. You will see Holland’s art: The Maurits House Museum full of paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer, the Panorama Mesdag cylindrical painting that is over 45 feet tall, the Stedelijk Museum (Museum of Modern Art), and the Van Gogh Museum. You can also explore Holland’s history: St. Bavo’s Church in Haarlem where Mozart once played, 17th century almshouses or ‘hofjes’, and the Cruquius Pumping Station museum, illustrating the Dutch’s battle with the sea. 

This is only a taste of what can be experienced on this tour, so come along and see for yourself! 

Where You’ll Stay

On the Comfort Class ship, the Wending

What’s Included

• 7 nights accommodation aboard the Wending
• Breakfast, packed lunches, and dinner
• Coffee and Tea on board
• Tour guide
• Route information
• Ferry fares
• 24-speed hybrid bicycle

What’s Not Included

• Entrance fees to museums
• Travel insurance

Tour Dates

• May 26, June 2, July 28, August 4, 11, 2012

Skill Level

Easy guided tour with variable cycling distances per day in and around interesting cities and towns.

Tour Boats

• Wending

Day-To-Day Itinerary

1. Amsterdam - Purmerend;  12 miles (20 km)
2. Purmerend - Alkmaar; 19 miles (30 km) 
3. Alkmaar - Zaanse Schans - Haarlem; 22 miles (35 km)
4. Haarlem - Leiden; 25 miles (40 km)
5. Leiden and The Hague
6. Leiden - Kudelstaart/Aalsmeer; 16 miles (25 km)
7.  Kudelstaart/Aalsmeer - Amsterdam; 16 miles (25 km)
8. Departure from Amsterdam 

*All distances are approximate. The above planned itinerary is subject to change due to changing wind and weather conditions and other unforeseen circumstances having to do with mooring requirements, etc.

Saturday: Amsterdam - Purmerend, 12 miles (20 km)
After boarding and putting your luggage away in the cabins, you'll have a perfect opportunity to enjoy  a cup of coffee or tea and get acquainted with the guide, crew, and of course your fellow passengers. Bicycles will be handed out and the cycle tour will begin from the ship through the quieter parts of the city heading north. This route runs along the Dutch Waterland region. Villages and houses are virtually level with the surrounding water. It is a landscape characterized by polders, ditches, waterways, drawbridges, mills, historic villages, and most of all: wooden houses.
One of these historic villages is Broek. In the 17th and 18th century, Broek was a popular residence for merchants and seafarers from Amsterdam. Thankfully, due to its popular status, much of its rich history has been preserved.
There will be an overnight stay in the city of Purmerend. Purmerend was created out of a small fishing village, which lay between Purmer Lake, Beemster Lake, and the Wormer Lake. It was founded by a rich banker from Amsterdam who, in 1410, was permitted to build his own fortified castle: Slot Purmersteijn. The city became a trade center of the region and went through major expansions. These expansions added new suburbs, providing homes for people working in Amsterdam. 

Sunday: Purmerend – Alkmaar, 19 miles (30 km)
Today’s tour travels through the Droogmakerij Beemster. A ‘droogmakerij’ is a specific type of polder in which a dike was first built, but then reclaimed or ‘impoldered’. The general term ‘polder’ is used for any type of land partly or totally surrounded by a dike in which the water level is regulated. In Schermerhorn, you can tour a working 17th century windmill and see the system whereby a series of stepped mills, each one a little higher, could pump water to a height of four meters from the polder into a canal behind the dike.
Gaft and De Rijp are two typical 17th century villages that enjoyed great prosperity at the heyday of the fishing and whaling industries. Jan Adriaansz Leeghwater, a well-know polder engineer, was born in De Rijp.
Your destination for today is Alkmaar, also called the City of Cheese. Its weigh house was the first in the country, and it was here that the weighing and trading of cheese used to take place. Near the weigh house, there are a number of little outdoor cafes. Like Amsterdam, Alkmaar has a great many ‘hofjes’ or almshouses: 17th century enclosed courtyards with little houses inhabited by single women and usually supported by the church. Canals, a harbor, and around 400 heritage sites dominate the landscape.  

Monday: Alkmaar – Zaanse Schans – Haarlem, 22 miles (35 km)
Today, you will have time to visit the Zaanse Schans, a unique village where people live and work in the original houses and windmills. Traditionally, this was a region where grain products, nuts, and rice were imported and processed. The Zaanse Schans came into being in the sixties and seventies; the original sites of these historical premises hampered the development of the area so they were moved. At the beginning of the 18th century, the area boasted more than 600 windmills! Nowadays, nearly all of them have been replaced by motor-driven pump, although there are still three operating windmills. The oldest windmill, built in 1673, is mainly used for grinding mustard, spices, paint, and oil and for sawing wood into planks. As you walk through the village, you will see a clock museum, an old-fashioned grocery store, a clog maker, and a cheese farm.
From the Zaanse Schans, you will sail to Haarlem. Haarlem, named after Harlem, New York, is a lively city with lots of stores to browse and shop. At the same time, there are many interesting 17th-century sights. In particular, the Grote Markt (Market Square) with St. Bavo’s Church (1390-1520) who once hosted a well known organ player by the name of Mozart. Other famous attractions are the Frans Hals Museum (with many 17th-century paintings), the Town Hall, the Weigh House, and the Vleeshal (Meat Hall, branch of the Frans Hals). On the river Spaarne, the oldest museum of the Netherlands can be found: Teyler’s Museum with drawings by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, and others.
The ship is docked in the city center, with a view of St. Bavo’s Church and with easy access to the Grote Markt with its many outdoor cafes. 

Tuesday: Haarlem – Leiden, 25 miles (40 km)
Today, you will do a short tour through the city to see the ‘hofjes’ around a central courtyard, now usually housing elderly people. You may also want to visit the Cruquius Pumping Station, one of three steam-powered pumping stations that drained the Haarlemmermeer between 1849 and 1852. Today it is a museum, showing the immense magnitude of the Dutch’s “war against the sea”. A cycle path through the dunes will lead you to the beach.
You will spend the night in Leiden, birthplace of the great painter Rembrandt. Leiden originated around 800 AD as a market place at the confluence of the Old and New Rhine Rivers, the Vliet River, and the Mare. For a long time, it was the center of the textile industry in Medieval Times. A well-known episode from Leiden history is the siege of 1574 by the Spanish. They were finally driven away after dikes were broken through and a Watergeuzen fleet had come to help.
The rescue of Leiden is still celebrated every year on October 3. In 1575, Leiden was given the right to establish a university as a reward for the courage shown during the siege. It boasts 13 museums, including the Rijksmuseum for Anthropology with many priceless foreign items, the Municipal Museum (Lakenhal, 1640) with works by Dou, Steen, Rembrandt, and Van Goyen, and the Rijksmuseum of Antiques with ancient Egyptian artifacts. There is also the Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Garden). It is home to a 400-year-old-garden with innumerable exotic plants and trees and is definitely worth a visit. The center of town has several shops and places to eat, or you can sit on an outdoor terrace on the water’s edge and enjoy the unique and lively atmosphere. 

Wednesday: Leiden and The Hague
Today, you will have plenty of time to explore the cities of Leiden and The Hague. By public transportation, you can visit The Hague, a provincial capital of South Holland and  the Queen’s domestic and official residence. There are several significant  places to visit during your stay here.  The Maurits House, for example,  is a museum with a very interesting collection of paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, and many more. You can also visit the Panorama Mesdag, which is the largest remaining example of its kind. It is a cylindrical painting over 45 feet (14 meters) tall, 131 feet (40 meters) in diameter, and 374 feet (120 meters) in circumference. From an observation gallery in the center of the room, the cylindrical perspective creates the illusion that the viewer is on a high sand dune overlooking the sea, beaches, and the village of Scheveningen in the late 19th Century. It was painted by a very notable painter from The Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag. The Scheveningen, part of The Hague, is also worth a visit. It used to be a simple fishing town, but it now has a thriving casino, a seaside resort with long, sandy beaches, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. 

Thursday: Leiden – Kudelstaart/Aalsmeer,  15 miles (25 km)
Today’s bike tour goes from Leiden to Kudelstaart: a small town bordered by the Westeinderplassen. In the morning, there will be time to visit one of the many flower auctions in Aalsmeer.
Every day, ‘Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer’ sets the world price for flowers and plants. By bringing supply and demand together by the means of an auction clock- large and small batches of flowers are sold within fractions of seconds. Each day, 19 million flowers and two million plants are sold through 13 clocks all within a building area cover 10.6 million sq ft (990,000 m²). This makes ‘Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer’ the largest trade building in the entire world!
As a visitor to Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer’ you will walk over a specially designed gallery where you can enjoy the gorgeous flowers and experience the hustle and bustle of the auction.

Friday: Kudelstaart/Aalsmeer – Amsterdam,  16 miles (25 km)
After visiting the auction, you will cycle along the river Amstel back to Amsterdam. The rest of the day will be spent exploring Amsterdam and its many museums and shops.
In the 12th century, Amsterdam was no more than a modest settlement at the mouth of the river Amstel. In those days, fishermen and craftsmen built a dam in the Amstel (now the site of the National Monument) and Amstel-re-damme was born. Amsterdam was granted a municipal charter in 1275 and has since expanded rapidly; In the 17th and 18th century, Amsterdamers were the most prosperous Europeans. Powerful merchants had their abundantly ornamented mansions built here, manifesting their riches. 
Of the many interesting places to explore in Amsterdam, we recommend the rings of canals, the Jordaan area with its many pubs, outdoor cafes and quaint shops, the Vondelpark and its outdoor concerts, the antique shops in the Spiegel district; Museum square with the Rijksmuseum (National Museum), Stedelijk Museum (Museum of Modern Art), the Van Gogh Museum, and of course the Anne Frank House.
Other typical features of Amsterdam are its numerous ‘hofjes’ or almshouses, the floating flower market, and the hundreds of houseboats that line the canals.

Saturday: Amsterdam, end of the tour after breakfast. 

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Questions? Call us! 877-965-2064 or e-mail us