Tag: Keukenhof

Asia’s largest Tulip Garden

by Leela Gopinath, posted in India, Kashmir

“Dekha ek khwab toh ye silsile huey’….this famous Hindi song from the movie Silsila would have had most of you fantasize yourself as Amitabh and Rekha in the tulip garden . Remember those stunning visuals at Keukenhof tulip gardens, the largest in the world?

Flash back to “Silsila”….

Today, let us visit the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden in Srinagar; the largest tulip garden in Asia. This was originally a model floriculture center called Siraj Bagh.

A little bit on tulips….

Tulips have their origin in Persia and were brought to Europe in the 17th century. Today, Holland is the largest tulip producer in the world. Amsterdam in Holland boasts of flower auctions that attracts buyers from all over the world.

The tulip garden at Srinagar is a more affordable option for most tourists and it is equally stunning.

The beauties…

Visiting the Tulip Garden

This garden is open only for a short period of time in summer and so, be sure to time your visit to Kashmir when it’s open. It is open to the public roughly from early April for about 20 days marking the Tulip Festival. After that, the tulips lose their color and stance and the garden is closed. This period sees the maximum tourist inflows in to Kashmir making it necessary to book well in advance.

Spread over 30 acres of land at the foothills of the Zabarwan range in a sloping fashion with seven terraces, it is a sight to behold! Opened in 2007 to boost floriculture tourism, it is a relatively new addition to Srinagar’s attractions.

A short video of the layout of the tulip garden

At the tulip garden

Well, 1.7 million tulip bulbs for our very own garden were brought from Keukenhof. There are around 73 varieties of tulips here apart from daffodils, hyacinths and many other varieties of flowers .

Some daffodils among the tulips

The tulips are planted in rows with each row having a different color. This interspersed color pattern literally makes it a rainbow on land!!

The rainbow has descended on earth!!!

There are also a number of walkways and fountains making it a nice place for photo shoots.

Any amount of description by a mere mortal like me is not going to match nature’s visual treat. So, let me just leave you with the pictures and videos. Enjoy the colorful treat…

Some stunning pictures from the tulip garden

Last but not the least, let me leave you with one of our best memories of Kashmir….

Among the tulips…

Like all good things, this episode too, comes to an end. Next week, I meet you at The Moghul Gardens of Srinagar.

Meanwhile, do subscribe, like and comment.

Volendam

by Leela Gopinath, posted in Europe

The opening shot of this blog is that of the colourful windmills of Zaanse Schans about which I shall talk later…

Continuing our tour of Netherlands, the next day we headed to Volendam…..

Volendam is a beautiful fishing village about 20 km from Amsterdam on the Markermeer lake. It has a beautiful marina and has now developed into an important tourist destination. It is known for rows of colourful wooden houses and old fishing boats in its harbour. Sea food restaurants and beer parlours add to the charm of the marina.

It once had direct access to the North sea which made it a natural choice for fishermen to settle. The locals are known to still use traditional dutch attire and have a flare for music.

The marina at Volendam with fishing boats

The beautiful houses with flower beds facing the marina

Another view of the Volendam Marina

Traditional Dutch attire is still used by some of the local residents. The high pointed bonnet of the dutch women’s attire is one of the most recognisable part of the traditional dutch clothing . It is often featured in postcards and pictures.

An important activity here is to get photographed in traditional dutch attire.

Traditional Dutch Attire

Cheese Factory

Netherlands is famous for its dairy products particularly cheese. Dairy products contribute a major chunk to their economy. We visited a cheese factory close to Volendam. Demonstrations on cheese making and tasting the various varieties of cheese was interesting indeed!

Cheese on display

Wooden shoes (Clogs):

Wooden shoes were used in Netherlands traditionally . Now it has been preserved as part of their culture. It is a very popular souvenir from Netherlands. We attended a shoe making demonstration where the worker deftly transformed a wooden piece into a shoe in about 10 mins. These shoes are very colourful and have beautiful paintings on them. In fact the coloured wooden shoes are iconic of Netherlands ….much like the windmills.

Wooden shoes

A huge clog model outside the factory

From Volendam, one can take a ferry ride to Marken when the entire extent of the beautiful houses and the marina can be enjoyed.

Our next destination was Zaanse Schans.

Zaanse Schans

As you all know, windmills are synonymous with Netherlands. At least some of you must have wondered how it did not feature in a blog on Netherlands! Well, I kept it for this place called Zaanse Schans where you can see a row of windmills by a stream.

This village of Zaanse Schans is best known for its collection of windmills and wooden houses that have been relocated here . It has developed into an important tourist destination mainly to see the windmills.

Around 600 windmills were constructed here in the 17th century, creating an industrial zone.When the blades of the windmill rotate due to wind,the equipment inside the building starts working and activities like wood sawing, powdering of grain etc take place. Once electricity was discovered and used widely, the windmills became non functional. But they were relocated and preserved. Even today, tourists can see functioning windmills here.

Zaanse schans is located close to a backwater and the windmills were used even for pumping water to and fro to maintain water levels. The actual process of reclaiming land from the backwaters can be seen here. Bunds were built and then the water inside was pumped out with the help of the wind mills. The trapped land dried up and was used for various purposes.

A traditional Windmill

Beautiful houses in Zaanse Schans

And last but not the least…..

Keukenhof Tulip gardens

Keukenhof Tulip gardens are a must see in the Netherlands. Called the Garden of Europe, it is a sight to behold! Many of us may have seen this majestic garden in the Hindi movie “Silsila” where the melody “dekha ek khwab to ye silsile hue” was shot

Unfortunately we were not there during the Tulip season which runs April to mid May. We missed the majestic gardens.

Nearer home ,we have a beautiful Tulip garden at Srinagar in Kashmir which is not so famous and publicised. When I visited that, part of the remorse of not being able to visit Keukenhof was overcome! Though it is not as big and varied like the Dutch one, this garden is charming in its own way…

So let me share a picture of Tulips from our very own Srinagar….partly to motivate a few of you to visit this place…partly to compensate you for not featuring Keukenhof in a blog on Netherlands!!

Tulip garden at Srinagar

Well, with this we bid farewell to the beautiful country of Netherlands and head to Germany. See you next week at Cologne…

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