Leiden

Leiden is a quaint little city, as far as the historic center goes. It is also a university town with lots of students. It is also a very Dutch town, with bicycles, canals and no-curtain windows. Our cousins took us on a walking tour through Leiden on our last day in Holland.

Here are some downtown views.

Roxy and I in the University Bothanical garden. Wikipedia states that Leiden University was founded in 1575 by Prince Wiliam of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt. It was the first university in Netherlands, and one of the first in Europe.

Downtown Leiden has the weirdest signs! How do you like this combination of Chinese food, German beer and Russian Communism?

This here is the Burcht, or the citadel. It is built around 12th century on a man-made mound, and it takes ascending a few steps to get there. It sounds funny, but in a land as flat as Netherland even a bump in the road passes for a mountain, There is even a story about the inhabitants of the land getting rid of invaders by taking refuge in the citadel and flooding the rest of the land around it.

That's the inside of the citadel...

...and these are the views of Leiden from the citadel.

Even the gate of the little fortress affords a nice view.

My cousins with the kids. They were very good and knowledgable guides, and it is due to their efforts we saw and learned so much about Holland in just 3 days!

Another "view" from the Citadel. I already mentioned the peculiar Dutch habit of leaving the curtains open. Usually one can see an extremely tidy living room, decorated with great care to tell as much as possible about the values and virtues of the owner. Sometimes, however, they carry the habit a bit too far...

The residential part of the city - canals, boats, parks, little houses... nice and quiet!