The Netherlands has quite a number of historic cities to visit, and Leiden is certainly one of them. It has its canals, bridges, beautiful old buildings, great bars and restaurants, and is less busy than Amsterdam. Leiden is a city that is very much alive, partly thanks to the more than 35,000 students of the Leiden University, the country's oldest dating back to the year 1575.
Leiden is where the famous Dutch 17th Century painter Rembrandt was born and started his artistic career. It is also the city where about a century later the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) published his groundbreaking work "Systema Naturae" (1735), setting down the principles of how "we" up to today divide plants in species, families and groups.
Today, Leiden (appr. 127,000 inh.) is a very attractive city to live or to visit, an easy ride by train from Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport to/from The Hague or Rotterdam. Word has it that a canal boat ride in Leiden is much more fun than in the capital Amsterdam. So, I checked this out in August 2024 during my tour through the low countries. And these are the photos I took.
Two different views of windmill De Valk (The Falcon).
Historic boats in a Leiden canal.
The canals of Leiden make for excellent recreation, like this paddling family does.
Once started as a cheap way to live, house boats are an equally costly and popular option compared to homes onshore.
Touring over the Leiden canals make one discover little gems, like this old Volvo parked at the canal.
The Old Observatory Leiden at the southern end of the Hortus Botanicus
The only city wall tower of the 33 Leiden once had that survived: the 'Oistenrijck' tower, aka Kruithuisje
Poortgebouw, the Gate Building, that was once part of the university hospital
One of the typical bridges spanning the canals of Leiden.
Pan van Persijn (The Pan Forest)
About 5 kilometres (3 miles) west of Leiden, the nature zone Pan van Persijn is a welcome retreat. In the mid 1500s these were the hunting grounds of the noble family Van Persijn, hence the name. What goes commonly as "Panbos" (the Pan Forest in Dutch) these days has indeed forests, but also open spaces, playgrounds, small wildlife and relax spots underneath beautiful trees. Keep on walking to the west and about 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from the parking you hit the North Sea beach. The Pan Forest is part of the National Park Dunes of Holland.
A small water mass flanked with bended trees
A bee hotel
Nice walking trails
Part of the Antlikwall, the Nazi-German defence line on the European coast of the 1940s.
"Dragon teeth" were meant to stop enemy tanks. The Nazi-Germans used them as part of the Antlikwall.
Despite having facilities to entertain ducks and other birds, this green covered pond was empty of birds when I walked by it.