We love Holland. Cycling around The Hague on Saturday, we noticed just how happy it makes us to live in a country where cycling blends seamlessly with our everyday lives.

The cycling culture (and its normality) is so different from anywhere else we’ve been, that we still spend our days around town taking photographs of all the bikes, people on bikes, ourselves on bikes… well, you get the idea. Here are some favourite pictures from our most recent day out.

We started our day at the market; more specifically at a fish stall. Lunch was fried fish (lekkerbek) and rolls filled with herring and onions (broodje haring). This is typical Dutch fast food.

We bought some tulips (now just 5 euros for a huge bunch), and put them in a pannier. So pretty!

Next it was off to do some cycling. We headed for the beach, and you could see we were close to the water by the accessories on the bicycles…

After about 30km of cycling, we stopped for another typical Dutch treat: apple cake and coffee.

Then we headed in town to do some shopping, but not before admiring some more bicycles, like this one with the painted chain guard.

Dutch people don’t always have fancy bikes, but they love to decorate them, and they take them everywhere. This Haring stand had lots of bicycles around it, and of course one prominently parked out front.

We did our shopping, and headed home with everything strapped to the back.

On the way home, we spotted a typical kid being carted around on a bicycle. This is totally normal here. Luggage racks are not usually for luggage. They’re for carrying children, friends, girlfriends…

Just one more bike light, and we’re home. Another great day of cycling in Holland.