"Leiden" a Leiden Travel Page by Aphrodite21

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I don't know what it was exactly about this city but it ended up being one of my favourite places in Holland. My initial reason for visiting this place was to see the museum of antiquities. I really had no interest in seeing anything else. But walking through the town, I really enjoyed the atmosphere so when the opportunity came up for me to stay with some family in near by Leiderdorp, I immediately jumped at the chance. My uncle, a teacher, was off that summer and so he had some time on his hands and gave me the big tour of Leiden. It ended up being a great few days because it gave me the chance to get to know an uncle who I really didn't know at all and I absolutely ended up loving Leiden. So what is it about this place that attracted me so much? It was probably a number of things. It reminded me of Amsterdam with the same style houses and the canals but without the masses of tourists. But being the history fan, it was Leiden's history that fascinated me the most. This is a city that goes way back to Roman times and there's evidence here and there of that ancient past.

Leiden is probably best known now as the birthplace of Rembrandt, the place where the first Dutch tulips were grown, and for its university which is the oldest in the country. A popular belief is that Leiden was once the Roman settlement Lugdunum Batavorum but it's now agreed on by historians that Leiden and Lugdunum were not located in the same place. There was Roman presence in the area, however, and many artifacts have been found.
One famous story about Leiden is about the time when it was besieged twice by the Spanish in the 16C. The second siege was terrible for the city and many inhabitants starved or got the plague. William of Orange or William the Silent had an idea to cut the dikes so that the country side would flood. The Spanish were then attacked by Sea Beggars on October 3rd. The Spanish fled and according to the stories an orphan boy was sent out to see if everything was safe and he found an abandoned pot of "hutspot" which he brought back into the city. Every year since 1574, this day is celebrated by eating "hutspot" and herring with white bread. To reward the city for its bravery, William the Silent founded an university there.

Leiden is very much a university town so there are lots of museums to see and many places to go out. I visited the city during introduction week at the university so there was a great atmosphere.