Things We Love About Leiden

We don’t know the Netherlands well, and we’d never been to Leiden. But we recently had a reason to be there, so spent a few days there and in the Hague. (Big thanks to the friends who guided us around!) Here are our first impressions, in no particular order.

Windmills

This, and wooden shoes, are quintessentially Dutch things. Plus being super-tall (which windmills also do!) and knowing lots of languages (we don’t know how many languages windmills know). They were once part of the irrigation system (see below on canals), and were also used to process grain and pulp. Most of the older ones you see today don’t function, but they’re still awfully cute.

Pancakes

We’d think of these as crepes. But, whatever you call ’em, pannenkoeken are enormous and ubiquitous. Also, pretty good-tasting. The batter itself is oilier than many crepes. And fillings are both savoury (bacon, cheese, mushrooms are classic fillings) and sweet (apples, cinnamon, and/or jam). We were told that Oudt Leyden has the best ones in town, and, having eaten there, we believe it!

Tulips

Ok; it wasn’t actually tulip season when we were there. But, every Dutch person we talked to for more than ten minutes managed to bring them up somehow. They’re originally Turkish, but during the seventeenth century they became big in Holland. Like, Tulipmania big. And the Dutch still produce the vast majority of all the tulips on the world. What’s more, some of our favourite Dutch still life paintings have tulips in them. So yeah. Still a big thing.

Stroopwafel

We’d had these before packaged, so we were eager to try a fresh version. They are very thin waffles, two of them, with caramel, sometimes cinnamon-flavoured sandwiched in between. Honestly, we think we like them better room-temperature. The syrup runs out of the bottom when they’re hot, and the waffles haven’t got that crispiness we want in a biscuit. Which is not to say they weren’t good. Just that we will not feel like we’re missing out too much when we buy them at IKEA.

Marijuana

Pot has been legal (or, to be precise, decriminalised) in the Netherlands since 1976. You can easily find it in coffee shops, or where there are green plants on display in the windows. Nothing about this is much of a big deal, but we thought it was worth mentioning, given the kerfuffle happening in the US over legalisation. There is not a lot of crime in the Netherlands, petty or otherwise, and there is not a lot of homelessness. Or any of the other things you might worry about. Just sayin’.

Bicycles

Boy are there a lot of people on bicycles in Leiden! Young and old, everyone seems to have one, and to use it to get everywhere. What’s more, there are bike lanes on every street, and bikes most certainly have the right of way. Being of the if-you-can’t-beat-’em school, we borrowed bikes when we visited friends in the Hague and rode around in style.

Cheese

Gouda is the big one here, and also Edam. But Holland makes any number of delicious cheeses of this type. And the Dutch eat cheese, or so it looks to us, at every meal. We love them smoked, and with things like cumin in them.

Canals

Canals are ubiquitous in Leiden (and elsewhere), and lovely. Water does class up a town, doesn’t it? As you may know, much of the Netherlands is low-lying land, reclaimed from the ocean. So the canals help to drain the land. (They were also used for defensive purposes.) Lots of cities, including Leiden, offer canal tours by boat. We took one there and in the Hague and they were splendid, especially in the heat.

Beer

We aren’t huge fans of beer, but the beer of Northern Europe is the kind we like, and it goes well with the food. Also with the sitting outside near the water on a beautiful day. You know about Heineken, Amstel, and Grolsch. There are also tons of German- and Belgian-style craft beers, both the heavier bocks and the lighter weissbier and lambic.

In short, we found lots of stuff we liked about Leiden. The only downside was how tall everyone was: we felt quite inferior! We will make sure to go back, especially when there isn’t a heat wave!