After strolling through the world famous Keukenhof Gardens on Easter Sunday, and enjoying a bike ride from Harlan to Leiden, our tour continued through the ‘green heart’ of the Holland area of Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday.
Monday:
We enjoyed another yummy breakfast on the boat while sailing a short distance out from the town of Leiden. We then temporarily docked, and our cycling tour today led us through the ‘green heart’ of Holland with the destination being the town of Gouda (pronounced How-Da), famous for Gouda cheese. For 30 miles we cycled beautiful Holland, past green farm fields with cows and sheep everywhere.
Near the town of Zoeterwoude we stopped to take a tour of the Kaasboerderij van Veen cheese farm and learn about the cheese-making process from Karin on this small family cheese farm. We then got to taste the amazing results of their work. Their cheese won first place in the country’s cheese tasting event, and the farm also has the official seal of the king designating their business as Royal.
We finished our ride to spend the evening in the charming town of Gouda, with its city centre, market square, and Gothic town hall. Dinner on the boat was again a fine feast, prepared by the on-board chef.
Tuesday:
Time was scheduled in our trip to visit the town of Gouda, and we spent an hour touring the inside of the main church of Gouda, devoted to Saint John the Baptist (Sint Janskerk). It is the longest church in the Netherlands and has some of the best cathedral windows we’ve seen. There are dozens of huge stained glass windows in Sint Janskerk church, and the earliest window is dated to 1555.
Their great audio tour explained the detail in the dozens of stories about the amazing stained glass windows. We were so impressed with the craftiness of the people of Gouda during WWII that protected the historical windows. When they realized the Germans would be successful taking their country, they quickly disassembled and numbered their 50 huge stained glass windows, packed them carefully in wooden shipping crates, and dispersed them through the area in barns and safe places away from the Germans. A year later, they re-assembled them back into place so we could enjoy them as people have for centuries!
After lunch on the boat, we enjoyed lunch while sailing a short way to the town of Alphen for the start of Tuesday’s short 20 mile ride. It was another peaceful ride through the green heart of South Holland, via the river Drecht and the Amstel-Drecht channel to Kudelstaart.
