Dear reader,
While few Dutch people wear clogs anymore and even fewer wear old-fashioned white lace hats, the stereotype of Holland as the land of tulips is definitely still true – at least for a few weeks every spring.
Tulip sightseeing
In a normal year, one of the prime tourist destinations in Holland, besides Amsterdam, is Keukenhof. Once a hunting ground for nobles, now a showcase for tulip growers, Keukenhof attracted 1.5 million people in 2019. That’s especially a lot when you consider that it was only open for about seven weeks. That means more than 30,000 people per day file through.
Many of those tourists, after visiting Keukenhof, go see the tulip fields in the area nearby, around the town of Lisse. Some are on bikes or driving a rental car, while many travel via tour bus. The sheer numbers are a great example of overtourism: traffic jams caused by parked cars and trampled flower beds because tourists want that perfect Instagram selfie.
Dutch people don’t tend to take part in this tulip frenzy. I’ve been to Keukenhof a couple of times when I had international visitors who wanted to see it, but generally I avoid getting anywhere near that part of the country in April or May. It’s just too crowded.
Tulip routes
This year, though, mostly out of my general restlessness and desperation to travel, I did take two drives to see tulip fields, in places where promotional organizations have set up “tulip routes” for driving or cycling. These routes aren’t anywhere near Keukenhof, though. They’re nearer to where I live: one here in Groningen province and one up in the Noordoostpolder. It’s purely local tourism; even in a normal year, the tourists haven’t found these places.
The Noordoostpolder is an area of reclaimed land: flat as a pancake and an important source of tulip bulbs. The tulips are at their peak just for a week or two, then the farmers cut their tops because what they are actually harvesting is not the flowers but the bulbs. They’ll be dug up and packaged for sale in the fall, which is the time for planting them.
Tulip Mania
In introductory economics classes, the 17th-century “Tulip Mania” is a famous historical example of an economic bubble. It was the 1630’s in Holland and tulips had only been in the country for a few decades. They came originally from central Asia, then moved through trade to the Ottoman Empire, then to Europe. Tulip bulbs became so desirable in the 1630’s - a sign of high status - that the price rose ridiculously high, far higher than their actual worth. A feverish market in speculative tulip futures pushed the prices ever higher. The famous extreme example is that at one point, three particularly rare bulbs sold for 10,000 guilders. That was how much a fancy house on a canal in Amsterdam cost at the time.
Of course, any market that gets that heated up will crash, and it did. (I learned about this at the Tulip Museum in Amsterdam, by the way, which I reviewed here.)
Today, tulips are just pretty flowers. Yet they’re still economically important here: the Netherlands is the world’s biggest producer of cut flowers in general, and tulip bulbs are a big industry too.
Flowers in Dutch life
For the Dutch, at least compared to the US, a bouquet is relatively cheap, and flowers are available all year because of the vast greenhouses they use here. (We also get good fresh vegetables all year.)
Pretty much any occasion is reason enough to give flowers: birthdays, anniversaries, but also just because you’re visiting someone and want to bring a gift. While everyone appreciates receiving flowers, it doesn’t elicit the kind of surprised response you might get in the US: “Wow! You shouldn’t have!” Instead, it’s more of an “Oh, thanks!” kind of response.
What I especially like is how casual the Dutch are about flowers. It’s perfectly acceptable to buy a bouquet for yourself – and I do, especially in the early spring when it’s cold and wet and it feels like summer will never come. Daffodils or tulips in a vase really help my mood.
They also carry flowers casually. What I mean is if they’re walking down the street, they’ll grip the bunch by the bottoms of the stems and let the flowers hang down, swinging the bouquet as they walk. Or they’ll strap them to the back of their bike if they’re cycling.
Tulip season is over now. The farmers are cutting the tops and and we won’t enjoy the colors again until next April. It makes me a bit sad. Tulip field viewing is, after all, a sort of tulip mania too, isn’t it?
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Rachel
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We were part of the Keukenhof visitors in 2019. We didn't find the other tourists annoying, probably because we were there on a Thursday, a rainy Thursday, in early May. Far different that Amsterdam or Zaanse Schans on a summer Friday or weekend, which we have also experienced. Sadly, the fields in that region were already topped when we flew in on May 1st. The purpose of both of our trips was to participate in a Boat Bike Tour, an amazing way to see the countryside and get a feel for the culture.
I've planted a tulip garden here in Rhode Island; the tulips join the daffodils and forsythia in welcoming spring!