In those early days, tulips were considered luxury buy afforded only to the wealthy and noble. trend also began where cultivars began swapping bulbs, using them as form of money, where actual properties traded hands with rare and se bulb varieties. In today’s term, the trading could be called futures market. When people started noticing the seemingly ea sy profits made from trading tulip bulbs, peaked, then just as easily as it gained momentum, the frenzied trading came crashing down overnight resulting in what was thought to be the world’s first economic bubble. The bulbs’ value tumbled to tenth of their former worth, speculators hurried to cover losses, but the damage was done. With demand for the bulbs disappearing, the rumblings on debts would continue for many years to come.
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The Amsterdam Tulip Museum is good place to start with details on “Tulip Mania” and the flower’s fascinating economic power in the mid-17th Century Dutch Golden Age.
The museum, though founded and sponsored by local bulb company, effectively provides
some historical context to the flower’s important history in Dutch culture, such as how bulbs were used as food during various wars, the origin of the flower in Turkey, including detailing modern growing and breeding techniques of the industry. Tulips are serious business in Holland. So embedded is this flower in the Dutch psyche
that its people would bring the flowers abroad when they settled, and thus we find tulips and tulip festivals in New York (originally New Amsterdam) and Holland, Michigan today, where the connection to their Dutch roots is very strong.
In the Kop van Noord-Holland, you will find millions of tulips, hyacinths and other flowers, which transform the landscape into sea ofdifferent hues. Each year, the Tulip
Held in the middle of the tulip fields, this flower festival runs from late April to early May. Flower markets and gardens abound and, in Aalsmeer near Amsterdam, you will also be able to witness the world’s largest flower auction.
Wake up early to catch the action at Aalsmeer Flower Auction Tulips were once sufficient to purchase grand canal home. The Amsterdam Tulip Museum is good place to start with details on “Tulip Mania”
At the Royal FloraHolland, 90 percent of Dutch flower trade takes place here, where the auction can be viewed from special help explain the auction process. From the buzz of activity, you will be in awe at the precision of the system that handles over 20 million flowers and plants at once and the logistical feat. Feel the tension in the auction rooms and watch the auction with dozens of
Do visit Keukenhof, where over million flowering bulbs can be admired every year. One of the world’s largest gardens, Keukenhof was once hunting ground in
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the 15th century. Today, it’s showcase not just for tulips (and daffodils and hyacinths), but also offers fine example of an English garden anda historical garden that houses some lost and well-preserved plants and herbs. Just walking around Keukenhof and inhaling the fresh fragrance of the blooms is an unforgettable experience.
One of thebest ways to experience the tulips is to cycle among the flower countryside. Holland, the flower capital of the world, has plenty of colourful bulbs to offer
One of the best ways to experience the tulips is to cycle among the flower countryside While marvelling at the unique views, most cycling routes through the fields take you from such historic towns of Leiden to the beautiful city of Haarlem and would include visit to Keukenhof as well. Cycling route maps are readily available at bookstores, or go to www.holland.com for more information.
Royal BruneiAirlines flies Dubai daily for connections to ‘Amsterdam. Discover things to ic} do in Amsterdam on ‘www. .com.bn
he chance to visit re flower markets across Holland,
Visit Keukenhofto experience all kinds of flowers and marvel at their scents and colours
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2017 Jan-Feb, pages 43-47. Text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected; spelling may differ from the printed edition.
