On our previous days of cycling we rode past tulip fields and windmills, through the agricultural ‘green heart’ of Holland, including visiting a cheese farm, and saw the famous Gouda windows in the Sint Janskerk Church. Our highlight on Wednesday was going to the flower auction and distribution center.
Wednesday:
We started the day early to get to the famous Flower Auction of Aalsmeer, the largest flower auction in the world! Here, every day, 40 million flowers and plants are trucked-in, auctioned, sold, then distributed all over Europe and the world. It’s all over by 9:30 am, so we began riding our bikes at 6:30 am to get there just as they opened.
We were amazed at the complexity of operations in the huge warehouse involving hundreds of employees driving electric tractors like a chaotic game of bumper cars (but without crashes), moving and assembling millions of flowers boxes, as bidders purchased flowers in a control room where they were auctioned for the best price.
Our walk into the 10 million square feet building (over 100 football fields in size) was immediately overwhelming. It took us 90-minutes to walk up and back on the overhead visitor platforms, as we watched something that seemed more complex than an Amazon distribution center, because the 40-million flowers were constantly moving from growers to buyers trucks in one day.
Back to the boat, and we sailed into Amsterdam to begin our afternoon bike ride of 30 miles on the other side of Holland, to Zaanse Schans, a unique hamlet with original houses and windmills dating back to 1673, where people still live and work. It’s been a wonderful day!
Beautiful and oh wow! Are you legs tired yet? 🙂