155 km
We started early this morning to go to the flower auction at Flora Holland, where you can watch the buyers at the auction and the distribution of the flowers. It’s fun to watch from above how the flowers are distributed on small trolleys, so many of them were driving around with their beautiful freight.
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| Flora Holland |
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| Flora Holland |
After this spectacle, we had breakfast before we drove on to Utrecht. We parked at the
P+R Pappendorp
52°04’10,3″ N 5°04’59,6″ E
Parking for 4,- a day with a bus stop next to it, which takes you to the center
We would have liked to go with the bikes again, but a tire of one of our bikes was destroyed and we had to take the bus instead. First we went to a bike shop to buy new tubes, then we took a walk to the money museum which was mentioned in our travel guide. As we got there, we found out, that it was already closed since 3 years !
Instead, we walked into town and along the busy channels, which have a second level, with restaurants at the water level and shops at the street level.
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| channels in Utrecht |
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| channels in Utrecht |
We love, that in the Netherlands all the shops are in the center of the villages and towns, and not in commercial centres at the edge of town, leaving the centres empty, as we see it for example in Austria more and more. The reason for that seems to be, that the dutch use their bike so much, which makes it easier to go around in town as with a car. We liked that !
We found a nice small restaurant for lunch and looked at many shops, the church and its bell tower, standing separately, since a big storm in 1674 destroyed the middle part of the church. Before leaving, we stopped at an ice cream stall and slowly made our way back to the big train station, where our bus should leave. Luckily, there was somebody from the bus company there, helping us to find the right bus stop.
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| Cathedral of Utrecht |
We left Utrecht and drove past Amsterdam north until Hoorn, where we found the caravan parking at the port already full, so we took a camping, which was very green with small waterways and rabbits hopping around. We had to drive over 2 fragile looking bridges, but the manager assured us ,that it’s no problem at all.
Grashaven Marina – 52°38’4 , 5°3’24
Camping ‘t Venhop – 52°37’53 , 5°0’39
beautiful camping, very green with water channels going through
