I am a spring child and therefore, April, May seem the most beautiful months, when the earth wakes up and starts blooming. Talking about blooming - where else is the flower celebrated and respected so much as in Holland. The rapturous stories about the huge tulip plantations were really justified when I saw the sent pictures. Silvia took care about me being able to admire this beauty through pictures - the travel consultant of Association of Latvian Professional Guides, a nice, responsive, energetic and lively woman with whom I met during a trip to Paris.
Photos of the famous Flower Parade, which is annually held in mid-April (this year it was held on April 24). The Flower Parade starts in the city of Noordwijk and is 40km long up to the City of Haarlem. Enormous flower platforms are seen in this parade, some luxury cars, which are decorated with hundreds of thousands of different flowers, as well as music and dance groups. It turns out that also people from Latvia danced there dressed in Latvian folk costumes. Here also the blooming tulip fields, lush squares, parks, picturesque streets and at night - illuminated city canals.
A bit about history to understand why Holland can be called a tulip paradise. It turns out that tulips came in Holland only in 1569. They were imported from Turkey as edible bulbs. As you might already guess, the Hollanders did not like their taste and the bulbs were thrown away in a compost pile. When spring came, the onions bloomed and with its beauty conquered the Hollanders` hearts.
17th century Holland was the golden age for tulip cultivation and worshipping. Tulip bulbs costed a lot of money, what lead to the foundation of a major trade and also for speculation. Only in 1638 in Amsterdam a law was passed that controlled the prices of the tulip bulbs. However, the adoration of flowers in Holland is still ongoing and now they have become one of the country's best-known symbols.
Tulips are also a significant source of profit. Hollanders provide 93% of world's flowering bulbs market, and 60% of flowers available in markets come from Holland. The largest flower auction takes place in Alsmer since 1912. In a year the amount of flowers sold can be counted not in thousands, but millions.
Enjoy Silvia`s pictures yourself as well. And maybe you will get inspired to go next year to Holland yourself and regale your eyes in the rainbow of colourful tulip fields or follow the Flower Parade.
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