Cycling the Dutch Countryside

Today was a perfect day here in The Netherlands, and we spent it by riding around all day on our bikes! We biked along the Amstel River, with a few stops here and there to check out some of the sights along the way, with our turning-point being a small Dutch town called Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

Our first stop was a widely-known Dutch cemetery known as, Zorgvlied. This cemetery was HUGE, and it seemed to go on forever. It was very well-kept, and apparently there’s a lot of celebrities buried here, although we didn’t know of any. If you’re interested, there’s an extensive list on Wikipedia.

After walking around Zorgvlied for about 20 minutes or so, we then continued our bike ride, admiring the scenery.

I also learned a new skill today, which was taking pictures while riding a bike. Success!

Our next stop was checking out this really cool windmill, and a statue of Rembrandt.

Then it was back on our bikes, until we came across Rembrandt Hoeve. There seemed to be some tour buses, so we figured it was worth stopping. So we hopped off our bikes again, and checked it out. Turns out it is a small cheese farm and clog factory! Since there were a few tour groups coming through, we joined them in a tour (one of the workers said it was alright, so it’s not technically sneaking in, is it?). The farmer who gave the tour was probably the one of the happiest and most eccentric people I’ve ever seen, and it was really adorable. He talked to us about how they make traditional Gouda cheese and showed us the clog-making factory. It was a little hard to understand him, but his cheerful jokes were good enough for me. =) We also sampled some of their delicious cheese, and walked away with some smoked gouda w/ bacon to enjoy for later!

Baby calves at Rembrandt Hoeve

Delicious Gouda!

After we left Rembrandt Hoeve, we enjoyed a little picnic along the river, and even made a new friend...although, I think he was only in it for the food...

We then made it to Ouderkerk about 15 minutes later. We biked/walked around for a little bit. It was a very quiet town, and unfortunately not a whole lot to do, but it was still very enjoyable just being able to see what a small Dutch town looks like

Another Dutch windmill along the way

In Ouderkerk

The Amstel river through Ouderkerk

Another cemetery. This one in Ouderkerk

After Ouderkerk, we began our ride back home. We didn't make any stops along the way back, but taking in the scenery via bike was very nice. 

We got back around 2:30. The weather was just too perfect to waste sitting inside, so we grabbed a couple beers, the smoked gouda we bought earlier, and a blanket, and made our way to a nearby park where we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.