Springtime in Holland 2011
A Signature Travel Exclusive
The Gardener’s Travel Club
Springtime in Holland 2011
 
Special Gardener’s Club Price: $1780 excluding Airfares/Accommodation
All ground transport arrangements included (trains/trams/mini vans)
Entrance to all parks/gardens
Photography Mini Workshops Every Day
Special Guest Gardeners and Speakers
Insider Views and Visits
Tour dates: 3 – 8 April 2011, 10 – 15 April 2011, 17 – 22 April 2011, 24 – 29 April 2011
Have you ever wanted to walk the villages, gardens and flower fields of Holland in Springtime?
Are you ready to make the step forward from being a tourist to becoming a traveller?
Our exclusive small group tours are just for gardeners, photographers and those who enjoy both. Led by award winning gardeners and photographers Aurora and Robert Glaze, who are also well seasoned world travellers, we are committed to provide you with the garden tour of a lifetime. There will be a maximum of 14 participants and we will use trains, trams, mini vans and walking to take the roads and paths less travelled in search of the colours erupting from the earth...
All Day at Keukenhof * The Flower Auctions and Markets* Experience Flower Fields and Farms* Public and Private Gardens in Amsterdam* Country Villages* Forests and Meadows* The North Sea Dunes* City Walks* Meet Gardeners and Growers and so much more while becoming a traveller in Holland. Every day there will be photography mini workshops for novices with small compact cameras or those experienced with DSLR equipment.
Join us for the magical bulb season in the grandest flower fields in the world!
Springtime in Holland!
Please contact a Signature Travel Professional as soon as possible to book yourself or your garden group. Places are limited to 14 people per Tour!
Phone: 1300 885 805 or Email: enquiries@signaturetravel.com.au
Signature Travel Pty Ltd
170 Warrandyte Road, RINGWOOD VIC 3134
Prices may vary based on currency exchange, Airfares& Accommodation not included, tour dates may be changed if places are not filled, comprehensive travel insurance is a requirement, all tours conducted in English
DETAILED ITINERARY
Springtime in Holland
Dates for 2011 TRIP ONE: April 3-8 TRIP TWO: April 10-15 TRIP THREE: April 17-22 TRIP FOUR: April 24-29
Meals: Dinners are included on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. All other meals are on your own. Breakfasts will be available at your hotel or Schipohl Complex; lunches and dinners will have a number of deli, café, or restaurants to choose from. Throughout every day there will be many opportunities to grab a quick bite or snack in the places we visit.
Sunday: Orientation Meeting and Welcome Dinner
We will gather at the Schipohl Airport Meeting Point and after exchanging greetings and checking everyone in we will embark on a walking tour of the Schipohl Complex to familiarize you with its many benefits for the traveler. It is one of the major shopping destinations for locals and has grocery stores, drug stores, clothing, and electronics, in fact almost anything you might need. It is also a major train station, Metro station and high speed and regular bus services. We will then have a welcome dinner at Schipohl and have the orientation meeting for the week and also have our first “being a traveler not a tourist” session. And a high level photography review for the next day. You will then be back at the hotel.
Monday: The Explosion of Color
Today we are at Keukenhof from opening until it closes! A rare treat to spend all day at the grandest bulb gardens in the world…over 8 million bulbs in bloom covering 60 acres of wild and themed gardens, pavilions, exhibits and displays. We will divide our group in half and each group of 6-7 will have their own Keukenhof specialist introduce you the gardens. We will also have a Keukenhof master gardener and representative of the Netherlands horticultural organization provide us with insights about the park. There will also be flower photography mini workshop held in the morning and again in the afternoon. We will have lunch will be available in one of the pavilions cafeterias and of course you will be introduced to the Dutch snack called pofferrtjes and the virtues of a warm beenham! Monday is the least busy day at Keukenhof and for the first couple of hours it will seem we have it all to ourselves! It will be a day to wander and enjoy the gardens and periodically join together for informative presentations and conversations. Dinner on your own at Schipohl or hotel.
Tuesday: From the Flower Fields to the North Sea and Back Again
Today we will depart early as we will first stop and visit the world famous Aalsmeer Flower Auction. It is one of Euroeps largest building and over 20 million cut flowers pass through the auction and distribution facilities every day. We will see it from the catwalks and from behind the scenes as well. We will then travel a short distance to the legendary flower fields of Lisse. We will enter narrow little one and sometimes no lane roads to see the fields and flowers from very unique perspectives, stopping frequently to take photographs and walk into the fields. We will visit a grower/farm and also a garden supply/ nursery to provide you with a flavor of being a Dutch gardener. The Mercedes mini-vans will takes us to the North Sea beaches of Noordvijk, just over the seaside dunes from Lisse where you will have many choices for lunch. After an hour or two of sea air we return inland to the university town of Leiden where we will visit Netterlands oldest botanical park, Hortus Botanicus. After plenty of time to walk the small centrum area and begin to gain insight into “Holland life” we will return to Schipohl where you can grab a quick dinner and head to the hotel for a good nights sleep. We will have two mini photography workshops; one in the flower fields and another along the north sea.
Wednesday: Walk Across Amsterdam
Today we will take the Metro train to the Amsterdam Zuid Station followed by a short tram ride and begin our walk across Amsterdam. Beginning in the elegant Beethovenstraat neighborhood we will work ourselves through many lovely residential neighborhoods and small gardens as we make our way to Corneliastraat and eventually the famed Vondelpark. As we reenter the shops and stores of the Von Barlestraat and PC Hoofstraat we see the contrasts that make up a city like Amsterdam. We have many choices for lunch so if you have been wanting the Dutch national sandwich; a cold herring with old cheese on hard bread..now is your chance! And yes, the Dutch do eat their French fries with mayonnaise. After lunch we continue our walk towards the Spui and arts district of the Jordan. If the Tulip museum is open (it has an erratic schedule) we will stop in. Before we head back to Schiphol on the train, and the pillows of the hotel; we will take a short walk around the Dam Square and edge into some of the more infamous areas of the city and watch and hear the panorama of people and cultures explode in the night lights. There will be many opportunities to capture great images as we introduce you to “urban street shooting”!
Thursday: Waterland
We again board the mini vans and travel north of Amsterdam into the remarkable area known as Waterland. We will visit the classic little villages that are bypassed by most who visit Holland. We will visit Limmen and spend time at the Hortus Bulborum, a museum garden with over 4,200 different tulip, daffodil, narcissus, hyacinth and other bulb varieties including heirloom bulbs. Shortly after we proceed to the village of Marken where we will walk through and observe modern life in an old fishing village. If the ferry is running we will take it across an arm of the Zuiderzee and have lunch along the harbor docks in the fishing village of Volendam. On our way back to Amsterdam we visit Ijlburg: City of Islands, in Amsterdam Harbor where very innovative eco-residential and advanced efforts to blend urban housing with natural environments and water ways. We will stay in the Amsterdam centum area for dinner before boarding the train back to the hotel. Today the photography workshop will focus on nature and housing.
Friday: Woodlands, Meadows, Water and The City
By Friday we will need to catch our breath a bit. We will do so in the Amsterdam Bos (forest) where we will have a more leisurely paced day as we enjoy the woods, meadows and water of the Bos. We will have time to watch the light in the trees and set up our cameras for interesting images and perhaps participate in the haiku session as we build a haiku chain with each other’s words. Woodlands lead to the Amstel River and walkways lead to neighborhoods where sidewalks lead to the sounds of the city. We will have a late afternoon farewell dinner in the city where a slide show of our week together will be premiered and you will have your own thumb drive of those memories as the Mercedes mini vans appear to take us back to where we began.
Special Trip Notes:
We recommend that you try to arrive in Amsterdam on Saturday in order to be rested for our first session on Sunday.
We will walk a great deal every day. You need to be comfortable walking several miles throughout each day.
It rains in Holland in the springtime. Every day it may rain a little or a lot. Great adventures are to be had when the wind blows, the rain falls and colors become deeper. Our equipment list will keep you well prepared for the weather.
Whether you own a compact digital camera or a DSLR, our daily photography mini workshops will support your achieving improved images through better composition, exposure, timing and perspective.
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