Leiden: Our Last Stop

I’ve spent way too long writing posts from my European adventure. Can you believe it’s been about a year and a half?! I can’t either. Anyways, our last stop was Leiden, where we stayed whilst we visited Keukenhof and prepared for our journey back to London.

I have to admit, we didn’t experience very much of what Leiden had to offer. Unfortunately, we were too exhausted from over 3 weeks straight of travel to do much more than find a quick bite to eat and wander around for a bit before we crashed. Nevertheless, the lovely weather and adorable architecture left me wanting more, and I would love to make it back to do some proper exploring one day.

Fun Facts about Leiden:

• It’s home to the oldest university in the Netherlands (Leiden University) founded in 1575.
• Rembrandt was born in Leiden
• It was the largest city in Holland in the 15th century
• Leiden is the “City of Keys”, meaning that you’ll find the key motif all around the city (see below). This began in 1293 when a city seal depicting St. Peter holding a key was used in official Leiden documents.

Like I said before, Leiden is beautiful. It has the second most canals in The Netherlands besides Amsterdam and you can really tell that it is a special place just from walking around it. I really hope to return when I’m not exhausted from a month-and-a-half of travelling, so I can explore its streets, take more photos of its lovely canals, and see what this beautiful town has to offer.

Have you been to Leiden before?