The Amsterdam Flower Market
I have finally gotten around to downloading and organizing most of the two thousand or so pictures I took on my trip to The Netherlands and France back in May. It can be overwhelming at times, especially since I'm the type that just snaps away in the moment to get the perfect shot and then drowns in the duplicated chaos afterward!
I have so many pictures that I want to share that it's best if I do it in parts, mostly according to the events for example our excursions to see the Volendam Windmills, Marken Island, The Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and much more... I'm saving the best ones for last!
This first post starts with one of the best parts of our stay in Amsterdam, one of the first things we saw during our first full day there... The Flower Market (in Dutch, the Bloemenmarkt). Founded in 1862 and situated along the Singel Canal, this flower market is amazing not only because it spans an entire block and is filled with lush and gorgeous flowers and succulents (expect to hear and see a lot more about that soon!), but get this, it is the only floating flower market in the world!! All fifteen flower vendors are floating house boats, cool huh? When you are there you would never know it unless you walk along the opposite side of the canal and look at the backside view of the market.
The Netherlands grows a variety of flowers that are exported around the world, particularly the Tulip. Although tulips are usually associated with The Netherlands, their commercial cultivation originally began in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the area that is now known as Turkey. In fact, while I was in Istanbul back in 2008 I saw tulips everywhere - in mosques, on pottery and tile work, on the jewelry and everywhere in the Bazaar and gift shops (I must do a post on my trip to Turkey soon). Also, in case you didn't know, the word tulip "...entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend ("muslin" or "gauze"), and is ultimately derived from the Persian language dulband ("turban")."
The Amsterdam Flower Market is not only overflowing with beautiful multi-colored tulips, but enormous flower bulbs, succulents, cacti, souvenirs, decorative garden pots and many other interesting goodies! Get ready for an in depth look at the flower market, starting with just the flowers and orchids. My next post will be the funky stuff, and the last post on the flower market will consist of my favorite, the most fascinating (and agonizing) part of the whole experience, the succulents and cacti!!! They were all incredible and I couldn't buy anything to bring home! Grrrr! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this series of posts....
I have so many pictures that I want to share that it's best if I do it in parts, mostly according to the events for example our excursions to see the Volendam Windmills, Marken Island, The Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and much more... I'm saving the best ones for last!
This first post starts with one of the best parts of our stay in Amsterdam, one of the first things we saw during our first full day there... The Flower Market (in Dutch, the Bloemenmarkt). Founded in 1862 and situated along the Singel Canal, this flower market is amazing not only because it spans an entire block and is filled with lush and gorgeous flowers and succulents (expect to hear and see a lot more about that soon!), but get this, it is the only floating flower market in the world!! All fifteen flower vendors are floating house boats, cool huh? When you are there you would never know it unless you walk along the opposite side of the canal and look at the backside view of the market.
The Netherlands grows a variety of flowers that are exported around the world, particularly the Tulip. Although tulips are usually associated with The Netherlands, their commercial cultivation originally began in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the area that is now known as Turkey. In fact, while I was in Istanbul back in 2008 I saw tulips everywhere - in mosques, on pottery and tile work, on the jewelry and everywhere in the Bazaar and gift shops (I must do a post on my trip to Turkey soon). Also, in case you didn't know, the word tulip "...entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend ("muslin" or "gauze"), and is ultimately derived from the Persian language dulband ("turban")."
The Amsterdam Flower Market is not only overflowing with beautiful multi-colored tulips, but enormous flower bulbs, succulents, cacti, souvenirs, decorative garden pots and many other interesting goodies! Get ready for an in depth look at the flower market, starting with just the flowers and orchids. My next post will be the funky stuff, and the last post on the flower market will consist of my favorite, the most fascinating (and agonizing) part of the whole experience, the succulents and cacti!!! They were all incredible and I couldn't buy anything to bring home! Grrrr! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this series of posts....
GORGEOUS bouquets of tulips, roses, peonies, and more....
Tulips tulips everywhere!....
Peonies....
An incredible purple orchid.....
Something weird, didn't catch the name, but it reminds me of.... you probably already know.... LOL
These were everywhere, including on most restaurant tables in lieu of flowers... they are so cute they almost look fake! I wish I had caught the name....
Get ready for some enormous flower bulbs..... Amaryllis and more.....
Bonsai trees!....
And the orchids, ohhh the orchids..... every color of the rainbow and breathtaking!.....
