It is tulip festival at the Keukenhof gardens outside of Rotterdam Holland.
There are over 7 million tulips, spread over 77 acres of stunningly gorgeous gardens!
There are many other ethereal flowers too.
These are the most beautiful flower gardens I have ever seen,
and they provide a peaceful and lovely retreat.
We fly tomorrow to South Africa for two weeks self driving in the bush and will have no access to wifi for the next ten days, until we drive out of Kruger National Park.
Look forward to reconnecting with you in about ten days from South Africa!
Flying away, but sending hopes for health & cheers your way~ <3
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GORGEOUS.
They are! <3
They really are remarkably so!
oh enjoy your time in SA – and thanks for all the color in this post here- whew – yes “peaceful and lovely” but also energizing colors 🙂
safe travels Cindy
So pleased and thank you!
🙂 – my pleasure and thanks for dropping by my blog from time to time –
Will do so again when I have wifi!
Ein Traum 🙂
Vielen danke!
Oh, my gosh ! Such beauty ! ! Whoah !
I know, it is good for the soul! <3
Your colours are magnificent Cindy in these really superb photos!
The gardens are simply miraculous!
The tulips here have such short life spans…what happens to the gardens after the blooms have gone… you provided us all with a beautiful escape.
Be safe in your travels. Enjoy every minute. We look forward to your return to the ‘net’ .
They bloom for only eight weeks!
Eight weeks is longer than the few days our tulips are up 😉
I know there are early and late bloomers too (of tulips that is).
Yes, and they plant them in sequence to prolong the period in bloom.
Wishing you the best of times–and looking forward to your posts on your return 🙂
Look forward to spending more time on your posts Polly!
Great photos as usual. have a good time in SA and “see” you when you have Internet access again.
Thanks much and look forward to it!
Love the mirrors.
Yay!!! Glad you noticed~
Wowie! Tulips come in such an amazing range of colors! I even see some vibrant blues back there. And those mirror distortions are so psychedelic! Looking forward to your next adventure in South Africa and Kruger National Park! Yay! <3 🙂 ~Lynn
I will name the most exotic bird I manage to photograph and post after you my friend, so look for it in around eleven days! <3
Oh thank you! I’m just giddy with anticipation now, and will keep my eyes peeled for that. Yay! <3
Tis coming up soon my friend!
WOW! These tulips have brightened your blog, Cindy. I love the assorted colors. 🙂
Wish I could you a great big bunch Ranu! <3
Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you more for the kind appreciation!
Enjoy and have a safe trip back!!! 🙂
Thanks and much appreciated. This trip is a tad adventurous~
Love love love these so much! Wonderful photos sweet friend! <3
You deserve a room full of tulips Michele!
AWE I would love them for sure! I love all your photos Cindy! <3
Tulips are my absolute favorite, and I want badly to go to Kirstenbosch Gardens, so I anxiously await your new photos 🙂
Tulips are an enigma to me because they will not grow in SoCal and they won’t even survive in a vase due to the heat and lack of humidity. Seeing these was pure nirvana. The gardens were magnificent~
I gasped when I saw your photo of the tulips in my reader. Wow! Those colours were so tantalising and like a drug to my visual brain…wow! Enjoy the next stage of your trip and I look forward to seeing the photos!! xx Rowena
They are like a magical “good” drug to a visual brain. I know exactly what you mean! <3
RAVING!!!!!!!!! And the reflections in the water in your first shot are simply heavenly.
Awwwww, so encouraging! Thank you my friend~
somehow I see something magical in every picture which contains a flower 🙂 I just figured that out 🙂
Yes! Flowers are magic from God! 🙂
They are, definitely
How wonderful, those tulips. You know the German “Schlager” “Tulpen from Amsterndam”? 🙂
I only know the lovely old romantic song……
Beautiful set of photos.
Love to see people cultivating pure beauty! We need it in this world~ <3
an explosion of beauty!
Bisous
So remarkably beautiful, it was like a dream!
Enjoy your time in South Africa 🙂
Thanks much and be well my friend!
Enjoy your time in South Africa. I’ll look out for you. 🙂
I appreciate it!! 🙂
My Grandfather used to live in Rotterdam when he was a teenager. My mom has a copy of an old movie, she says it is 8mm, his family took that shows many people riding bicycles decorated with tulips and also the cars. The people are wearing them too, as necklaces and hats. The pictures are beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
The Dutch have the second highest bicycle ownership rate per person in the world so I can just picture your grandfather on his bike. I think they may ride bikes so much because the country is very flat, but this is probably wrong because the Swiss ride bikes constantly and their county is full of Alps!! 😉 There are pick it your self tulip farms and I saw several children walking holding tulip stalks so your grandfather would be most at home!
I wish you a very good time in South Africa. 🙂
Awwwww, most thoughtful and very much appreciated!
Such lovely tulip displays. They take my breath away. Hugs. 🙂
Yes, mine too and I couldn’t capture the scent of course with all the hyacinths and lillies!
The colors are mind-bending! Reminds me of a park in Liverpool which is planted with thousands of daffodils – I just happened to be there when they were all in bloom and it felt like heaven to walk around in them!
I will be in the UK for a week in two weeks and I am hoping to see the flowers I remember so well from the summer I spent there many moons ago. I remember the lupins and the roses. Bushes of them!! Gorgeous~
Amazing beauty
So grateful for the humans who spend their time creating this beauty for all of us! What a gift~
Gorgeous to spend Spring through your lens Cindy – you always know what will translate beautifully. Safe travels ~
Awwww, a lovely and heart touching comment Mary~
Buon viaggio. Le foto sono molto belle, grazie.
Mil grazi Carlo! <3
Have a wonderful time. See you soon.
xxx Massive Hugs Cindy xxx
Hugs & cheers back to you David!
Stunning photos! We plan to visit one day when the girls are a bit older. Their Opa was born there and left at the age of 5 near the end of the war. Their Great Opa was in hiding for most of it and there are some amazing and heroic tales of times back in Holland during that time. It is their heritage and we have lots of relatives to meet there as well. With a last name like van Reeuwyk we will fit right in!! Happy travels to South Africa. I follow de wets blog and they have posted from Kruger Park before with stunning images, enjoy the adventure and I look forward to your tales and images🌸🌸🌸
Rotterdam was just demolished during the war as you know. So many people starved. They called the children “white noses” because they were so malnourished. They ate tulip bulbs. The history feels particularly close in Rotterdam because there is so little of old Europe left in it. All new architecture, but at least there are still windmills, although most were destroyed. It is still an utterly charming place and I look forward to your post when you visit with your children to teach them about their ancestors. Such heartbreaking history~
I have heard stories of the three kids and how malnourished they were during that time. Heartbreaking is right. I can see how there is a sadness in all the “new” when you visualize what was destroyed in the war. The tulips are a beautiful messenger of love and the true nature of our souls.
I love the philosophy and and sentiments behind your last sentence Lisa. Sensitive and perceptive~
I confess…… I am jealous! But so enjoy your pics! Beautiful Holland…… and I can’t wait to see South Africa! I like to “pop in” on the web to watch live webcam at Kruger! enjoy!
cate
If I can find a hint of wifi in Kruger, I will post from the park, but this is unlikely as we are staying in national park lodges, not the fancy places. But towards the middle of the second week, we cross out of the park to a lodge that has wifi, so I will probably just burp out the best of the wildlife shots. I am so jazzed you are traveling with me!
I can’t wait! 🙂
I love tulips
So do I and they are a rarity to me in SoCal!
Golly, Cindy, what stunning scenery!! How does one EVER leave such beauty?!? Happy and safe travels to you as you take off for more adventures — can hardly wait to see what you photograph there!!
Holland is a wonderful and special place! Thanks so much for your good wishes Debbie and I am so glad you are traveling along with me, it makes it much more fun!
I love the soft light in these photos!
We have to thank Holland for the fabulous tableau and light! Now wonder Vincent painted here!
Holland is very beautiful. I love looking at old houses there.
Have been twice and need a third time! 🙂
Wow, Cindy, these gardens are divine! Best wishes on the next leg of your journey and oh, have a super time on safari. 😀 😀
Jim is the driver so may the force be with him! This time we didn’t watch a lot of you tube videos on how to manage ellie charges. Hopefully we remember. We were charged last time!
Respect goes a long way — have a great time! 😀
Oh so beautiful, Cindy. Thanks for sharing.
Leslie
Thank you more for the kind appreciation! <3
This is Nature in all her glory, albeit with a bit of help from people. Stunning photos.
I am looking forward to your South African (my home country) photos 🙂
Ohhh, it is interesting that so many Dutch settled in SA. SA resembles The Holler topography and climate, but we lack those big critters!!! I’ll will never forget driving into Kruger a few years ago. Instant Africa! Excited and hope to get some good pics for you Emy. You must miss it~
I have been experiencing a fair bit of arthritic pain today, after looking at your posting, your thoughtful selection of images and words helped me escape that pain. Thank you for demonstrating the therapeutic value of nature and it’s beauty and what you accomplish with your blog. Have a wonderful and fun weekend. Gratitude, Harlon
Oh Harlon, after these words from you I will never stop blogging. Nature, and images of it, have the effect of healing balm on the human psyche. As a therapist for over 30 years, I never realized how much closing myself up in offices everyday affected my own well being. It was only after early retirement, and spending so much more time being in, and photographing the natural world, that I noticed how much less stressed I was, how better I slept, how much more I immersed myself in the moment and enjoyed what I was experiencing.
Images and bad news (think modern media), movies, etc., create the opposite effect on our psyche. They influence us subliminally, affecting our mood, our thoughts, and our overall health.
If I went back to being a therapist again I would recommend people spend time every day in the natural world, and when inside expose themselves to beautiful images of our stunnning planet.
I am so rewarded Harlon that this worked for you, as it does for me and I am most grateful for you taking the time to tell me.
Fly safely. And someday, I will hit those tulip gardens when they are at the top of their bloom. Peggy’s brother and his wife, who are traveling in Europe for six months, just posted on the gardens as well. –Curt
They are soooooo worth the visit! Looking forward to your pics~
I’ll bet it was difficult to chose just a few photos for this post Cindy. They’re wonderful. I’ve promised myself I’ll go next year!
You are right about that. Super hard to discipline myself and set limits to the ones posted. I didn’t post my favorite photo because the maritime satelite couldn’t handle intense pixel upload. I can’t wait to hear about your trip when you go!
I went to ‘Tulipmania’ in Spalding a couple of weeks ago and posted some pictures but nothing to compare to your photography. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Ahhhh, that is is very kind and motivating too. Thank you.
Cindy, these gardens are incredibly beautiful. Thank you for sharing! Hugs! Veraiconica
Hugs and best wishes back to you my friend~ <3
Fantastic, so many beautiful flowers 🙂
Merci beaucoup!
Very beautiful!
Mil grazi~
🙂 🙂
I still remember my trip to Hollan duding Keukemhoff. Spectacular….Great pictures. Enjoy your trip Cindy
Thank you. It is definitely something one will always remember!
Wonderful.
They really are & thanks my friend~
Beautiful pics! Have a great time driving in South Africa. 🙂
We are enjoying ourselves and have had only one scary incident so far and it did not involve a wild animal who are all perfectly behaved, oh except for te vervet monkey that bit a woman to steal her lunch! She was unhurt, though incensed!
Look so heavenly place! The show of the geese flying toward you is awesome.
The most gorgeous flower gardens I have seen to date. Hope you are well my friend~
Cindy… this is amazing! I’ve always wanted to see the tulips!
Hi Resa, I hope you do visit! I have picked your critter and it is a big rare kitty-kat! Won’t be him posting for while though. Hope you are well my friend~