A Very Holland Honeymoon

When Tom and I were brainstorming where we wanted to go for our honeymoon, we decided to go somewhere that was distinctly different from Guam. We have beautiful beaches and tropical weather and palm trees every single day. I wanted somewhere with urban sprawl, lots of dining variety and availability, and easy access to museums, theater, and shops. Tom had done research in town of Leiden in The Netherland eleven years ago and has always talked so fondly about his time in Holland, so he wanted to work that into the trip. His dad offered to gift us a week-long stay in London, and because Paris was naturally on the way, that was added to our itinerary. A two day layover in Tokyo would end our trip around the world after planes, trains, boats, taxis, subways, and lots and lots of walking. 

Our first stop was Leiden, so we flew from Norfolk, Virginia to Washington D.C. to Amsterdam with an overnight flight. The advantage of our early morning arrival is that we caught a few hours of sleep, were already given breakfast, and had a full day ahead of us. The drawback was that we would arrive at the hotel hours before check-in and were craving a shower and a few more hours of sleep. We would get lucky with a very accommodating hotel, but I’ll get to that soon!

There is a train station conveniently located in the airport and after purchasing our tickets at the kiosk, we made our way to the lower floor. To preface all of our future public transportation stories, all of our travel would have been easier and less stressful if we had less luggage. However, I was home in Virginia for two weeks before the wedding, we had to pack multiple things for the wedding, and the varying weather and formalities of our honeymoon dictated that we were packing more than we ordinarily would like to (plus we wanted to leave room for some planned shopping). With that being said, elevators and luggage racks were our friends. Cobblestone and brick streets and the gap between the train and the platform were not. 

I cannot emphasize how easy and convenient the trains in the Netherlands are. We made it from the airport to Leiden in under 20 minutes while having great views of the passing countryside. All of the stations and trains we were in felt safe, clean, and well-maintained, and there is plenty of English in the trains and stations to make navigation a breeze for tourists. There is Wifi available on the trains, but it is inconsistent, so if you are like me and reliant on Wifi while you’re travelling, I wouldn’t plan to use it on the train. We booked a first-class ticket for the extra space with our suitcases, but for the everyday traveler without baggage, there’s not an appreciable difference in the quality that makes the upgrade worth it. 

Once we arrived, I made the declaration that we should walk to the hotel. Google Maps showed a less than 20 minute walk across the 1.2 kilometers, and there were immediately canals and a windmill in our view. How could we pass up the scenic route! How could we justify paying for a taxi! The weather was cool, the sun was pleasant rather than oppressive, and the city was still peaceful. By all accounts, it was the perfect scenario for a leisurely stroll. Well if you’ve ever tried to lug suitcases 1.2 kilometers across cobblestones while dodging bikes, you can see why my enthusiasm was a bit lessened by the time we arrived at the hotel’s lobby. 

I love looking through reviews and websites to find the best lodging and food options, and I can recommend Boutique Hotels Van Leyden without reservation (hotel pun). The 400 year old building has only 13 rooms and is one of the smallest hotels in the Netherlands. All of the rooms were beautifully, lushly, and thoughtfully furnished, the staff was helpful, knowledgeable, and welcoming, and the location was conveniently close to the train station, plenty of restaurants and bars, and the historic sites. We were surprised by how affordable our booking was, and the value was really unmatched. We did add two extras to our reservation, and we found both to be very worth the price. The first was a slight upcharge to request a “canal view” room that would be refunded if one was not available. We luckily got that category, and I loved that we could peek out at the water and sidewalk below. The other upgrade was a 31 euro per person package called “Discover Leiden.” It included coffee and a pastry when we checked in, a guided canal boat tour (12 euro ticket) we could use at any point during our stay, and a museum pass to one of the many local museums. We ultimately chose to go to the Hortus Botanicus (Leiden University's botanical garden, normally an 11 euro ticket), which was one of the cheaper of the 13 local museums, but it fit the best with our schedule and interests. Their natural history museum, Naturalis, is 18 euro and their human body museum, CORPUS, is closer to 26 euro, so if you do your research and use your pass wisely, you really get a fantastic deal from this package! 

The cappuccino and petit fours we were served at check-in were very appreciated after our suitcase-dragging through town, and the receptionist gave us such personalized attention. Part of the appeal of the 13 room boutique hotel was the quiet and calm. The breakfast room only ever had a handful of tables filled, the lobby had minimal to no wait time to speak with an employee, and we never felt rushed. The receptionist sat down with us in the beautifully decorated lobby to run through her restaurant recommendations across a number of categories, and while we only scratched the surface of Leiden’s vibrant food scene, the curated list is a great blueprint for future trips. I really appreciated that they recommended such a variety of food because they anticipated the needs of any craving or budget. The lobby, like the rooms, has a feeling of quiet opulence, history, and tradition with a tasteful chandelier and oil paintings adorning the walls. There is a coffee machine and bar, and while we never sampled the bar’s offerings, we really enjoyed our morning cappuccinos. We were able to store our luggage in a closet in the lobby, and because it was only 10:30 in the morning, we’d have to wait a few hours to check in. The website says that rooms are available at 3:00, but we were fortunate to get a text that our room was ready around noon. We appreciated the open line of communication and their willingness to help us get settled in as soon as possible after our overnight flight.

Leiden is such a walkable city, but you’ll see the majority of the locals zipping by on bikes. I told Tom it felt like being in Epcot because the beauty nearly felt fabricated. It was such a surreal experience passing by churches older than the state of Virginia (the first one we saw was originally built in 1314 and enlarged beginning in 1380) and seeing bars older than my alma mater (Willaim & Mary was founded in 1693 and is downright ancient by American standards). I don’t necessarily want to say it was a fairytale town, but there was something timeless and stirringly beautiful about how much of the history has been preserved. 

We made our way to Burcht van Leiden, one of the oldest surviving examples of a castle in Leiden. It offered us a view of the city’s rooftops and beautiful churches for the ever-appreciated price of “free.” As on any outing, I quickly told Tom I was hungry again, so we took to sampling different flavors of peanut butter at De Pindakaaswinkel. They pride themselves on having good working conditions for their peanut farmers and being good stewards of the soil, values that my own family shares at their farm. We brought home 3 mini jars of their peanut butter and are looking forward to enjoying them with our upcoming breakfasts. I was surprised how generous they were with their free samples, but it paid off for them because we found so many flavors that we enjoyed. Our next stop was the cheese shop, and if there wasn’t the British limitation on bringing dairy products across borders, we would have bought a big hunk to bring with us. We settled instead for a container to snack on as we walked, which was cut freshly for us into conveniently sized cubes. We paired it with a cone full of mini sausages, and I don’t know how much more European you can get with your snacking. 

We got the message that our room was ready, and the staff graciously and cheerfully helped us lift our bags up the narrow, winding staircase to our room on the second floor. Our room was in the building next to the lobby, and we could easily enter with our key card. Again, I was impressed by the sense of quiet, especially in such an old structure that had the potential to creak and groan or suffer from thin walls and loud chatter. 

There were towel swans on the bed to greet us, a tapestried bed that felt regal, leather chairs, and a chandelier. It was both posh and cozy, and we enjoyed it immensely. We settled down for a shower and a nap before heading out to one of Tom’s favorite bars, De Bonte Koe (The Painted Cow). Tom was craving Dutch beer, and I was craving my next meal. Every beer was served in its own unique glass, and Tom started off with a Wilderen. I got a blackberry cider, and we split croquettes and bitterballen, a ball-shaped, deep-fried meaty stew. There’s nothing quite like deep-fried, crunchy food with a gooey, savory center as you sit surrounded by century-old tiles. It’s a small bar, so even when we visited late at night later in our stay, it still was cozy. Home-y might be the word I’m looking for. 

After we finished our drinks and giant helpings of fried food, we spent the next few hours strolling along the canals and streets, perusing dinner menus, and enjoying the leisurely quiet time together. These were some of my favorite moments of the trip, and the sense of peace as we ambled along without direction or purpose surrounded by such historic beauty was priceless. I did love the more bustling metropolises that we visited, but Leiden was the perfect first stop after all of the business and stress of wedding prep.

My request for dinner was to sit outside by one of the canals. It was easy to draw inspiration from the groups of friends and families enjoying their fruity drinks and beers in the pleasant summer air, and because the sun didn’t set until nearly 11PM, it only made sense to take advantage of the seemingly endless daylight. Normally I like to look up reviews and menus ahead of time, but so much looked appealing that I felt confident being more spontaneous. The dinner we had was a clear standout, and I hope we can return to sample more of their menu. Los Cosmos is a Spanish restaurant with a variety of tapas and a fish-forward menu. I got a red sangria, Tom got something lemony, and we started with oysters to split.

We love oysters, and ours were fresh, bright, and very clean. We each got a white fish with vegetables, and it was some of the best fish I’ve ever had at a restaurant (and that says a lot coming from the East Coast). It felt like I had stepped into my dad’s kitchen with the fresh vegetables, simple but flavorful preparation, and truly quality ingredients. The dinner was a little slow, but seeing as it was the first day of our honeymoon, I certainly didn’t mind the extra leisure time. I felt like our stops in Europe were opportunities to savor and good food should be enjoyed, not rushed. Plus, watching the boats go by on the canal was good fun, especially when a larger group started singing.

After we finished dinner, the sun was still out, so we obviously couldn’t go back to the hotel yet! We stopped by Bar Olaf where Tom got another drink, and I ordered an affogato for dessert. Bar Olaf was on the hotel’s recommended list, and it’s easy to see why. The bartenders were friendly, the cocktails were fun, and there’s a stack of games near the bar. Tom and I passed the time with a tabletop foosball game, and I could easily see this being a regular date-night stop for us if we lived in the city. When the sun finally set, we went back to the hotel to get some sleep before a full day in Amsterdam for a world-class art museum and a Michelin-guide dinner.