Photo Credit: Holland Tourism

Have you ever visited the city of Leiden? Whether you have or haven’t, you might be interested to know that they have a number of city walks that you can follow. Not only do these walks provide you with interesting information about the city, they are also an enjoyable way to explore Leiden.

Leiden Loop (Leidse Loper) – This walk brings Leiden’s history to life. It also takes you past tempting terraces, mesmerizing museums and seductive shops.

Rembrandt Trail – Follow in young Rembradt’s footsteps. The Rembrandt trail takes you past all the authentic Rambrandt locations in Leiden city centre.

The Almshouses Walk – Leiden has thirty-five courts of almshouses in total, each an idyllic location where time seems to stand still and the hubbub of the city seems miles away.

The Leiden Pilgrim Tour – This walk takes you past the places associated with the Pilgrim Father’s stay in Leiden.

The Wall Poem Walk – There are more than a hundred wonderfully designed mural poems located throughout Leiden. This walk takes you past twenty-five of these poems.

A wide choice of themes are available, also in English. You can buy the Leiden city walks at the Visitor Centre Leiden. If cycling is more your hobby, then Leiden also has you covered. From their website:

As well as the city centre, the area around Leiden also has a lot to offer. Cycling is the ideal mode of transport for discovering the region, and there are many different cycle routes starting in Leiden. The following are a few ideas for places to visit.

Photo Credit: Holland Tourism

The dunes
Leiden is just ten kilometres from the North Sea coast. You can enjoy an exhilarating cycle ride in the dune area with its varied landscape; the tops of the dunes even reach a height of 25 metres in some parts! There are also attractive seaside resorts like Katwijk and Noordwijk to call in at on the way.

The Bulb Region
From Leiden it is a short cycle ride to the Bulb Region, where in spring time you can see vast panoramas of colourful bulbfields in full bloom. You can combine your cycle ride with a visit to the Keukenhof garden. Even outside the bulb season, the area is well worth a visit.

The Kaag lakes and polders
A few kilometres outside Leiden you will find an area of polders and lakes, known in Dutch as the Kagerplassen. The region is famous for its varied landscape; it has large stretches of water with peat meadows, or polders, in between. The Kaag lakes are natural lakes, edged with ragged shorelines. There are many impressive windmills to see in the area.

What is your favourite place in the city of Leiden?

Quite often the Dutch Facebook group has a few posts from people wanting to learn Dutch. So, to help them out a bit, I thought we could cover some of the basics in some beginner’s Dutch posts. If you are a bit further along with your Dutch learning, why not use the opportunity to review how far you have come.

Let’s start by looking at the difference between letters (letters), woorden (words) and zinnen (sentences). For many of the Dutch words I haven’t provided their English translation. See if you can figure out what they mean from the context or by looking them up in a woordenboek (dictionary).

a, A = letter

koe (cow) = woord

Een woord bestaat uit letters. 

Het Nederlandse alfabet heeft 26 letters.

Ik heet Jochem. = zin

Een zin bestaat uit woorden. 

Ik heet Jochem.

I and J = hoofdletters

. = punt

And now let’s take a look at getallen and cijfers .

0 – nul

1 – een

2 – twee

3 – drie

4 – vier

5 – vijf

6 – zes

7 – zeven

8 – acht

9 – negen

Een getal bestaat uit cijfers (b.v. 48573).

Here are some oefeningen (exercises) for you:

Kies tussen letter, woord, zin.

1. naam     = letter   woord   zin

2. h     = letter   woord   zin

3. punt     = letter   woord   zin

4. s     = letter   woord   zin

5. Ik heet Johan.     = letter   woord   zin

Maak van de letters een woord.

1. u.p.t.n.

2. e.i.j.f.c.r.

3. b.e.f.a.l.a.t.

Schrijf in letters:

6 =

8 =

3 =

Welk getal bestaat uit vier cijfers?

386745     47697000     385     9276

Kies tussen getal, letter, woord.

1. zin     = getal   letter   woord

2. 45     = getal   letter   woord

3. p     = getal   letter   woord

4. 456     = getal   letter   woord

5. k     = getal   letter   woord

6. 986     = getal   letter   woord

Photo Credit: Takeaway

Last week I posted about Maggi Seasoning Sauce and asked for some ideas of what you use the stuff for. I was really impressed with all the suggestions and have even made a list of new things to try it with.

One of our readers, Marcus, mentioned:

If i make my own Dutch “kroketten” or “bitterballen” it is an very important ingredient. in some of the safeways you can buy it. and often at an asian food/ produce store as well.

This got me to thinking that I have never made home-made kroketten or bitterballen. So I went ahead and looked up a recipe and thought I would share it with you. This specific recipe doesn’t mention Maggi but you might want to add some if you attempt these borrelhapjes/tussendoortjes (snacks).

Feeling in the cooking mood? Why not share some photos in our Facebook group of how your kroketten or bitterballen turn out?

Kroketten

Voor +/- 6 kroketten

• 30g boter
• 30g bloem
• 250 g gaar rund- of kalfvlees, in kleine stukjes
• 2 dl runderbouillon
• 1 blaadje gelatine (7g), geweekt in koud water
• peper
• zout
• 1 ei
• +/- 6 eetlepels paneermeel of broodkruim
• frituurolie

Smelt de boter en roer er bloem door. Voeg beetje voor beetje de bouillon toe en laat de ragout telkens binden. Laat de ragout +/- 5 minuten op een laag vuur garen. Roer er van het vuur af de uitgeknepen gelatine en het vlees door. Bren op smaak met peper en zout. Schenk de ragout in een met koud water omgespoeld diep bord en laat dit in de koelkast opstijven. Klop in een diep bord het ei met 2 eetlepels water los en strooi in een ander bord het paneermeel. Verdeel de ragout in +/- 6 gelijke porties en vorm er met natgemaakte handen kroketten van. Wentel ze door het ei en vervolgens door het paneermeel. Herhaal dit nogmaals. Laat de kroketten +/- 20 minuten opstijven en drogen. Bak de kroketten in de hete olie van 180 C in +/- 5 minuten goudbruin en gaar. Laat ze op keukenpapier uitlekken. Lekker met mosterd.

Eet smakelijk!!