Flower Auction
7.45am
Meet and greet with your English-speaking guide / driver in the hotel lobby, from where you will be taken for a 30-minute drive by luxurious private vehicle to, and guided tour of the World’s largest flower auction, Flora Holland.
The indoor Flora Holland compares in size to the city of Monaco. Experience the hustle and bustle of the auction floor, watch traders bidding against the clock and be amazed at the quantity of beautiful flowers traded.
Flora Holland Flower Auction
See how this auction process works and notice a variety of millions of flowers. You can watch the entire auction from a walkway above ground-level. Did you know that on an average auction day they auction 30 million cut flowers in more than 30,000 varieties? You will be, as everybody else, very much surprised. www.floraholland.com
Chocolate Workshop
10am
From here, there will be a 30-minute scenic drive to picturesque village Lisse, the heart of the bulb district. The drive will take you through the spectacular and colorful bulb fields and we will make stops (where possible and allowed) for pictures within the fields.
Upon arrival, you will be taken to ‘Royal’ Patisserie Chocolatery Vermeer for a private workshop chocolate praline making. Patisserie Vermeer is well-known in the bulb-growing region and far beyond.
When entering the patisserie, the delicious pastries, chocolates, wedding cakes, desserts and savory specialties immediately draw your attention. Owner Robin Peereboom himself is a Dutch Pastry Champion and he even came second at the World Pastry Championship.
During the workshop you will learn all about the origins of chocolate, the different types of chocolate and how chocolates are made at Patisserie Chocolatery Vermeer. At the end of the workshop you can take all the delicious chocolates that you have made, to be enjoyed at a later time.
Private Family Lunch
11.45am
A short drive will take you to a local private ‘modern’ home situated in an upscale residential area, where a fresh and tasty home-made lunch will be served. Only we have access to this beautiful home. Enjoy and talk with the owners and see how the Dutch live. If the weather permits, lunch will be served in the family garden. A very special experience!
Zaanse Schans
1.15pm
Fully refreshed, you will be taken for a 45-minute drive to Zaandam for a guided tour of the Zaanse Schans.
With its traditional characteristic green wooden houses, charming stylized gardens, small hump-backed bridges, tradesmen’s workshops, historic windmills and engaging little shops the Zaanse Schans gives the feeling of stepping back into the 17th and 18thcentury, however this is not an open-air museum but a colorful living and working neighborhood on the banks of the river Zaan. There are many windmills at the Zaanse Schans. Windmills were used, for example, for sawing wood, drying land, hulling and threshing grains, and the production of nut oil, paint and mustard.
Zaanse Schans – Windmills
Your guide will take you to several mills like the wood cut mill The Young Sheep and spice mill De Huisman. Learn how the mills work traditionally, climb the steep stairs and have a spectacular view over the river Zaan. www.zaanseschans.nl
4pm
From here, you will be taken back to your hotel in Amsterdam, where you have the remainder of the day for your own leisure. You will arrive back in Amsterdam around 4.45pm.