COUNTRY SIDE OF NETHERLAND

In Amsterdam my daughter handed me a booklet of Tickets and Tours a travel agency which  organizes conducted tours in and around Amsterdam. I choose the countryside and Windmills tour which cost 36 Euro and the five hour tour takes your first to Volendam, then in a boat to Marken Island and finally by bus to Zaanse Schans the windmill village.

At 12.30 pm on Saturday the 5 th May, left in a Red double decker bus for the tour .Was provided head phones and had a choice of language. I sat on the front seat on the upper deck for the best view. Within few minutes of travelling we were out of Amsterdam and into the Country side,lush green farms ,canals and beautiful houses was the landscape which gave us  company through out the trip the recorded commentary in English gave us useful information about the place and the nation. Our first halt was Volendam where we were asked to carry all our belongings  including the hand set as the next part of our Journey would be by a boat and would not return to this bus. On getting down from the bus were briefed about the place and how to go about by Daina our tour guide who was not only good looking but also had good knowledge about the place and a good command on English language , she handed over to us the tickets for the boat ride and led us through the lanes crossing bridges over canals to visit a factory where the wooden clogs, and cheese was made, saw a demonstration of both and people bought cheese at a competitive price. After the visit we walked again through the lanes to the lake where our boat was waiting for us to take us across to the island Marken. It was sunny but chilly still choose to sit on the open upper deck of the boat for a good view. The twenty minute  boat ride was a lovely experience.

We got down from the boat at Marken and Diana gave us about an hour to go around the island and assemble at a point from where we would walk to a waiting bus to take us to the Windmills .On the island all you could see was restaurants and shops and lots of people .Went  to the open air portion of a restaurant overlooking the lake had apple pie  and coffee, The place, the coffee and the apple pie were refreshing.At appointed time all collected to be led by Diana through the lanes of the island a good 15 mins walk but the way houses were decorated on the way it was worth the walk. We got into the bus and headed for our next  destination of the tour Zaanse Schans.

Zaanse Schans has been declared as a World heritage village and is the village in which you can see the Windmills. The beauty of the place is beyond words will try to do some justice with the pictures I am sharing.

After spending an hour at Zaanse Schans we got into our bus and headed for Amsterdam thus ended a memorable trip to the countryside.

Diana with a flag in her hand leading us through Volendam

a view of Volendam from a bridge

This girl wearing wooden clogs in her feet showed us how cheese is made and  agreed to pose for a pic

A house in Volendam

A view from the boat  of Volendam's boats

A restaurant in Marken

A boat at the Marken islands

Even this woman is surprised how does the shop keeper know

A speed boat and Seagulls at Marken Island

A lane in Marken Islands

The first view of Wind Mills at Zaanse Schans

Houses across the lake atZaanse Schans

A close up of a wind mill at Zaanse Schans

picture post card view of Zaanse Schans

Another view of Zaanse Schans

In a garden in Zaanse Schans

Keukenhof the tulip garden

Two major attractions of Netherland for a nature loving person are Kuekenhof the tulip garden and the wind mill in the country side. I had three ,my children in Amsterdam.

I visited Amsterdam in early May(could not go in April) so that I could see the tulips.Having visited the Tulip garden in Srinagar last April was very keen to see how the biggest tulip garden in the world looks like. On Sunday the 6 th May along with my daughter and son in law, took a bus to nearest railway station and then a train to Lieden from where a bus took us to keukenhof You can also take a bus from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Buying the ticket for the to and fro bus ride and entry to keukenhof on the net http://www.keukenhof.nl or from the railway station works out cheaper and easier than going and buying entry ticket at Keukenhof.

Keukenhof is a vast garden with tulips all around , you need atleast three hours to go around the garden, the good thing is their are lot of benches so placed that you can rest your tired legs and still keep on admiring and clicking the flowers. There is also a big glass house where you can have coffee and snacks and also view many other variety of flowers.

The whole experience can not be expressed in words best option is to go and see it yourself the second best is to go to Srinagar next April and visit the tulip garden there and the third best is to see the pics and enjoy.

SALZBURG A DESTINATION BEYOND IMAGINATION

The Great Hollywood musical movie Sound of Music based on a true story of a Salzburg family was shot in Salzburg nearly 50 years ago ,but Salzburg is today also known as the Sound of Music City, Millions visit and revisit this city year after year to see the locales of the great Musical. Salzburg is also known as the birth place of the great Musician Mozart. Salzburg has music in the air,it has snow clad peaks it has river, country side has lakes and mountains beautiful churches, museums, gardens . musical shows what else can one ask for.

How to reach Salburg is connected by air.rail and road. From Munich in Germany train takes less than 2 hrs to reach Salzburg while a flight from Frankfurt  or Vienna takes under an hour .Innsbruck and Vienna are also connected by train with Salzburg and it takes around 2 hrs.

How to go around Salzburg card is available at the airport and just outside the railway station .It is available for 24 hr 48 hrs and 72 hrs.I was in Salzburg for 72 hrs and bought the card at the airport for 40 Euros.(price is same irrespective of where you buy it from) The card is also available at most of the hotels if you are driving into Salzburg .The moment you buy the card you do not have to pay for the public transport in the city, Your first journey from airport or railway station to your hotel included.The card not only gives you unlimited use of public transport within the city but also free or discounted entry to most of the museums, Discounted entry to the Sound of Music show in a restaurant  theatre with or without candle light dinner. One free boat cruise in the river  which othervise cost 15 Euro and a visit to Untersberg ,The bus ride to Untersberg and the trolley ride is free.

What and Where to eat   For us Indians and specially vegetarians this  is one of the most important question. If you are keen on having Indian food there are quite a few Indian restaurants and a meal between 10 to 20 Euro per head is possible. Forget Rs 1400 per head even 700 per head we do not spend on a meal in our country. So what should you do.If you are very keen on eating Indian food Convert your currency only 10 times rest is the price you pay for being abroad.So a meal for 100 to 200 rupees per head is easy on the pocket and pallet. Or do what I did I lived on Cheese cucumber Tomato Sandwiches and Coffee  costing around 7 euro available at BILLA  a food chain strore mushroomed all over Austria or Butter Toast and Tea/ coffee costing around 4 Euro at a bakery just opposite  the hotel where I stayed.

Where to stay  There is a wind range of hotels, I booked Snooze hotel through booking.com (the biggest hotel booking site of Europe) I  paid 49 Euro per day for single room ,the hotel had free parking, free wifi nice rooms comfortable bed and just outside the hotel was the bus stand so travelling was no problem.

Conducted Tours  Conducted bus tours to Lakes and mountains, Sound of Music locations and to Bavarian Mountains in Germany are the three popular tours, which cost around 37 Euro’s each and can be booked at your hotel the advantage being the tour operator gives you a courtesy pick up from your hotel

Salzburg is a such a wonderful destination that  you feel Once is not enough a place person who loves nature can go every other year if not every year.

Charismatic Kashmir

In the middle of May, I came across an ad by Make My Trip about a package trip to Kashmir called CHARASMATIC KASHMIR. The itinerary and the price seemed perfect. I went ahead and booked the package for my wife and myself from 24th May 2010. I prefer not to go on a package tour, but for Kashmir I was ok being a part of a group and have no regrets.


On 24th morning we took a flight to Srinagar. From Srinagar airport Make My Trip had arranged transport to the hotel and had kept the afternoon and evening free for us to explore Srinagar by ourselves.


We visited the botanical garden in the evening...

...and went for a shikara ride at sunset.

Next day, after an early breakfast, we got into a Xylo along with two young couples: Akash and Vishu from Delhi and newlyweds Siridhar and Sarla from Hyderabad(they got married on 22nd May and travelled to Kashmir on 23rd May). We set out for a day’s trip to Gulmarg. Such became the binding of six of us that for the next 5 days we were together enjoying the beauty of Kashmir in each other’s company. How can one forget Hasan our cab-owner-cum-driver whose educational qualification was “till afternoon?” When asked how, he said his grandmother left him in school in the morning and he ran away from school in the afternoon. That was his first and last visit to school. He was not only an expert driver but also a very pleasant person and could sing and dance and acted as an excellent guide throughout our Kashmir trip.

After an early lunch in Gulmarg , we walked to the starting point of the trolley (you either have to walk or take a pony. You cannot take a cab because of the union of pony owners. We had to wait two hours to get a ticket for the 14 minutes trolley ride to Khilanmarg and then another hour of tussle to take a trolley to the top close to the LOC. Realized later that trolley tickets are available at the Airport.

Late in the evening, we came back to Srinagar totally exhausted. We skipped dinner went straight to bed and next morning we left for Pahalgam. Instead of going on the main road of Anant Nag, Hasan took us through the village and showed us apple orchards.





We checked into a hotel in Pahalgam and in the evening went to Chandanwadi and Beetab valley.

The next morning, we went to Auri: another beautiful place near Pahalgam.

In Pahalgam, there is a nexus of cab drivers because of which you cannot use your own cab for local sightseeing. The young fellow who took us in a Maruti van to Auri drove as if he was rushing to catch a flight. The entire journey was beautiful, and we continuously took pictures and later enjoyed the place on seeing the pictures.


That afternoon, it started raining and when we left for Srinagar next morning, it was still raining. We reached Srinagar in the afternoon in the company of the rain. After lunch, we checked into a house boat and it rained all night and finally next day, which was the last day of our trip, it stopped raining.

We went for a shikara ride and visited Nishat Bagh before heading to the airport for our flight back to Delhi.

The beauty of Kashmir has not been described in this post as there are no words can do justice. Having visited Switzerland two years back and Kerala twice last year, I can say with confidence that Kashmir is really PARADISE ON EARTH. the only thing lacking is the infrastructure and a peaceful environment, otherwise this a place I would love to visit every few months. I would definitely like to visit twice again: once in early April to see the tulips, and once in September to see the apple blossoms!

Sharing with you the beauty of Kashmir through these pictures.