Every year the tulip season in Holland officially starts with the National Tulip Day in Amsterdam. It is celebrated on Dam Square in Amsterdam, where Dutch tulip growers build a very special tulip garden. Everyone is invited to come and pick some flowers!
In 2019 the National Tulip Day (Nationale Tulpendag) was celebrated on 19 January. And we were there.
Amsterdam’s Dam Square was filled with approximately 200.000 tulips. Every visitor could pick up to 15 flowers and it’s totally free. Admission to the tulip picking garden started at 13:00. The garden closes when the flowers are all picked. So you can imagine that many of Amsterdam’s citizens and visitors alike were waiting for their chance. The event was very well organised and the tulips did seem to grow right back as they were picked. Growers were continuously replacing empty crates with new tulips.
After the official reception we moved on to the Palace on the Dam, in front of where the tulip spectacle was held, and enjoyed a tour of the Amsterdam residence of our current Dutch King Willem Alexander, his wife Princess Maxima and their children.
Unfortunately they were not there to welcome us however to see all the areas filled with lots of fresh flowers everywhere made up for their absence.
We even got to look through the window of the Balcony that every Dutch person knows as this is where our royals appear for special celebrations. I have included some pictures of our royal family on the balcony here.
From here we could see the first of many people entering the tulip display to pick their own free tulips.
