"HOME OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST FLOWER AUCTION" Aalsmeer by balhannah

I didn't get to visit the Town of Aalsmeer only the Flower Auction, I guess that is what all Tourists only get to see.

The Auction building that it is held in, is the 2nd largest building in the World in terms of floor space.

Flowers are "big business" in the Netherlands, with about 20million Flowers being sold every weekday.

This estimates to about 2 Billion euros each year! big money in anybodys terms.

Inside the building

A lot of the Flowers for sale here are grown in the Netherlands, but others come from a lot further afield from places like Africa, etc.

There are about 6000 growers that sell to 2000 buyers through what is known as a Dutch Auction.
The only time the Auction stops, is on Weekends.

Its begins at 6.30am but Visitors aren't allowed in until 7.30am, and then it is finished at 11am.

Flowers heading into one of the Auction rooms

You enter the Visitor's Centre 1st to pay your Admission and you will receive some information as well.
Then you head out onto a long catwalk, looking down onto the action. There are Audios along the way where you can listen to information in different languages of what you are looking at.
There are 5 different Auction bays, and Visitors can see them all from the walkway.

As each lot is put up for sale, it starts at 100, and goes down until the price it is sold at.
By doing it this way, it is a fast way of getting the highest price out of the dealer who want the "lot" the most. It is very quick and interesting to watch.

• In a nutshell:Very interesting to watch