The Hague: the ultimate Dutch experience

The Hague is an important city to the Netherlands: it guarantees a lot of Dutch culture and it’s the home to Dutch politics. With it’s many interesting buildings, museums, events and other initiatives, The Hague is absolutely worth a visit. That’s why we decided to discover The Hague 😊

Urban Farmers

We started our day early at Urban Farmers. Urban Farmers is a sky farm located on top of the former Philips factory overlooking The Hague. They believe in producing veggies and grow fish in a more convenient, healthier, fresher and sustainable way, nearby where people actually live: in cities. Their awareness regarding sustainability and their unusual location for a farm makes them unique and really worth a visit.

Urban Farmers. © My Little Travel Stories

We participated in the Urban Farmers Backstage tour and it was a GREAT experience! The first welcome was heartwarming and the girl who did the tour was really passionate about Urban Farmers and her job there.
Before entering backstage we dressed up in protective gear. Then we started our tour in a room full of fish tanks. We could see the fish swim and our guide informed us with a detailed description of the procedures. Very interesting!

After our visit to the room full of fish tanks we went upstairs to the roof where the greenhouse full of vegetables is located. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining so the temperature in the greenhouse was very pleasant. Our guide told us many interesting things about the greenhouse and the vegetables.

Our guided tour at the greenhouse. © My Little Travel Stories

They control every production step to ensure safety and quality of the product. Their goal is to maximise resource efficiency by using ‘aquaponics’. It’s an ancient technology, reinvented using sophisticated technology. It combines vegetable and fish production: nutrients rich waste water from fish production are recycled as fertilizer for vegetables, and plants can purify the water that will be reused for fish production.

Nutrients rich waste water from fish production are recycled as fertilizer for vegetables. © My Little Travel Stories

Escher Museum

The Escher Museum is definitely my favourite museum in The Hague. The gallery contains a broad collection of the work produced by Escher during his lifetime. Eschers use of impossible architecture, symmetry and tricks of perspective always seem to fascinate me. But not only his peculiar art makes this museum worth a visit. This building the former working palace of queen Emma of the Netherlands. It has been in hands of the royal family for a long time. Would you also like to visit the Escher Museum? You can easily order your tickets in advance down below.👇🙃

Escher Museum, The Hague. © My Little Travel Stories

Coffee hotspot: Hometown Coffee

Wauw, this far we already had so many interesting information and impressions to adsorb: we needed a break. Time for coffee! Close to our next guided tour, there was this amazing coffee hotspot: Hometown Coffee. We ordered two cappuccino’s and a lemon cake. And guys: you must taste this cake. It was amazing! Lemon cake is my favourite cake anyway, so I might not be so objective, but good coffee, nice lemon cake, close to the Binnenhof (political heart) and a good spot if you need to work on your laptop or anything: I approve.👌

Coffee Hotspot The Hague © My Little Travel Stories

The Hague: the home to Dutch Politics

Like I already said: The Hague is the home to Dutch politics. So it would be a shame to leave The Hague without a visit to the ‘Tweede Kamer’ and ‘het Binnenhof’. These places are only accessible with a guided tour organized by ProDemos. Make sure to be in time with planning your visit because the longer you wait, the less guided tours might be available.

Our guided tour started at the ‘Binnenhof’. The Binnenhof houses the meeting place of the States General of the Netherlands. It is always accessible for public and tourist so even without a guided tour you can walk around, take pictures and you might even bump into some Dutch politicians.😏
Then we went inside the Ridderzaal. The Ridderzaal is the building that looks a bit like a castle on the picture down below.

Binnenhof, The Hague. Picture by: Scott Ableman

The Ridderzaal is used at Prinsjesdag for the state opening of Parliament. It is a very traditional event and very important to the Netherlands. Different carpets decorate the walls of the Ridderzaal. Each one of the carpets tells you an important story about Dutch history. Our guide knew each story behind each carpet and we listened with great attention. It’s a nice and interactive way in getting to know the Netherlands 🙂

Ridderzaal, The Hague. Picture by: Elvin

Our guide was a spontaneous man who had a lot of passion for his job. He could tell endless stories about every place and every detail. I tried to capture him in the picture down below (the man wearing the red blouse), but I guess it wasn’t his best moment. 😅

The Hague guided tour Ridderzaal. © My Little Travel Stories

After the visit to the Ridderzaal we visited the ‘Tweede Kamer’. This is the  lower house of the ‘Staten Generaal’. (I can understand that it might all just a bit messy and unclear to you, but lets just say that the ‘Tweede Kamer’ is one of the most important halls in Dutch politics and that this is the place where all of the members gather to debate). Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but hey, this leaves room for your own imagination, right?! 😜

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