Keukenhof and Floriade in the Netherlands

Until 20th May you can see more than seven million flowers (including over 100 varieties of tulip) at Keukenhof Park (www.keukenhof.nl) in the Netherlands. Plus, this year, you also have the opportunity to visit the Floriade World Horticultural Expo (www.floriade.com) at Venlo from 5th April - this only takes place every ten years.

The tulip came to Europe in the early 1600s from Turkey and we feature two authors, who have captured this period of the Dutch Golden Age, and the supposed frenetic buying and selling of rare bulbs in the Netherlands:

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1434                     http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1064

If you happened to see film "The Best Marigold Hotel" 2011, then you might have seen one of the characters reading Tulip Fever (above) by Deborah Moggach. The film is based on the hugely popular book, These Foolish Things, by the same author http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1433 set in Bangalore

HAPPY READING

How we came up with the idea of TripFiction

Experiencing a location through the pages of a book is one of the most rewarding ways to get to know somewhere new. Perhaps the book offers a bit of background history, a gripping storyline and some local characters; it gears you up for a new experience as you walk into another world, you can see a destination through the eyes of an author.

And this is where it all started, by the pool of the Bel-Aire Princess Hotel in Bangkok.

Sitting on a lounger by the pool, listening to the street noises, the smell of delicious cooking wafting up from street level, the birds wheeling overhead and the sun dropping down behind the skyscrapers....... and reading "Bangkok Tattoo" by John Burdett. Some of the action takes place just a couple of "Soi" away from the hotel. The feel of Bangkok just lifted off the pages, the heat, the smell and the bustle -  this novel offered that extra, magical dimension that guidebooks alone cannot offer. From that point we were hooked into reading locational fiction. Come and join us and experience the thrill of being right there in the action in words.

Click on the cover to find out more about the book.

"see a location through an author's eyes"       

Lots of inspirational books here to transport you to over 870 destinations around the globe. 

Help us to build this site into an even more valuable resource for travellers by suggesting books that are especially evocative of a place, and come and rate and review for us.