15. Voorschoten, Netherlands
The Journey
The short train journey from Amsterdam to Voorschoten on Saturday took just 50 minutes. Voorschoten is a small town (by Dutch standards) with a population of 20,000, situated between Leiden and The Hague. It is on the main Amsterdam - Den Hag line, which made travel very easy as there were lots of direct trains from and back to Centraal station in Amsterdam.
The Accommodation
I was invited to stay in our good friends Ingrid and Michel's wonderful home, built in 1940. We have known them for about 12 years since we did a home exchange with them and their four children, when they lived in Leiden. Since then we have seen them about seven or eight times.
They have just moved to this house in Voorschoten in April this year, so it was my first time to visit them since the move. The beautiful house has a lot of character and many original features, such as a serving hatch, terrazzo flooring, original tiling and lovely plasterwork detailing, not to mention an elegant curving staircase linking the three floors. They sure knew a thing or two about intricate craftwork in those days.
We spent the warm sunny afternoon in their secluded garden, tasting a few Dutch craft beers. We then went for a leisurely walk along the nearby canal and woods to build up an appetite for dinner.
Food and Drink
They very kindly brought me out to dinner in one of their favourite restaurants in Voorschoten, a tapas place called La Casita. It was within walking distance of their home.
There was no English translation of the menu available, but I was easily able to work out most dishes on the menu by looking at the original Spanish and Dutch. We all ordered five small dishes in various stages, while Michel and Ingrid added a dessert. I had lovely prawns in garlic, piri piri chicken, a chicken and chorizo skewer, patatas bravas picantes and mini fajitas. I tried a few Spanish beers on tap. This was delicious food and a buzzing Spanish atmosphere.
When we returned to their home, I chatted for a while to their youngest daughter Róisín and her boyfriend Kevin, before they headed off to a nightclub - on their bikes, a perfectly normal thing to do for the Dutch at 11pm!!
On Sunday morning, October 1st, Michel rose early to get to the local bakery when it opened at 8am - apparently another Dutch tradition. He brought back a range of fresh breads, and to accompany this there were at least half a dozen Dutch cheeses, some of which I was familiar with such as Leerdammer and Gouda Komijn (Gouda with cumin seeds) but also some lovely new ones such as Streeckgenoten Trappistenkaas, traditionally made by Trappist monks which was so tasty. To finish, there were croissants sprinkled liberally with chocolate chips, another Dutch breakfast tradition.
After breakfast, Michel and Ingrid dropped me off in Leiden Centraal, with a packed lunch and water for the journey. I felt like a schoolboy again! The short hop to Amsterdam Centraal passed without incident and as this was a new travel day for my Interrail ticket, I was able to activate it straight away in Leiden, which would bring me all the way to Berlin.
I had a one hour contingency period built into my plan before catching the train to Berlin. I spent some time out the back of Amsterdam Centraal, sitting by the river, looking across at the modern Amsterdam across the water. The temperature was 23 degrees, I found it hard to believe that today was the 1st of October!
Before heading to the platform, I treated myself to an Italian coffee and a luxury sweet treat to give my energy levels a boost, before the long journey ahead, not bad value for a fiver!
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