NETHERLANDS' NETHER REGION

Leiden has all the canals and charm of Amsterdam, but none of the crowds

- LISA LUCAS

The story of how the Dutch city of Leiden became a global centre of science and philosophy begins with an unusual tale of bravery.

With Spanish forces besieging the city in 1574, according to a local myth, Mayor Pieter van der Werff made a pledge to reassure starving residents - they could eat his arm, if it came to that.

Luckily for him, it didn't. Soon afterwards, the Dutch cut the dikes, flooding the surrounding land and allowing ships to arrive with provisions. For their courage during the siege, William of Orange, a powerful prince, awarded the people of Leiden a university.

That university, founded in 1575, has become the Oxford of the Netherlands, the heart of a city that has drawn generations of students, academics, scientists and freethinkers, including René Descartes, Albert Einstein and the Mayflower Pilgrims. It is also the birthplace of Rembrandt.

Full of canals, cobblestone streets and murals, Leiden is just as picturesque as its much larger neighbour Amsterdam, about 25 minutes northeast by train. But it also offers opportunities for intellectual exploration, with 13 museums, botanical gardens and a convivial canal-side cafe culture where you may make a few discoveries of your own.

I was cruising down a cobblestone street along the Rapenburg canal on a rented bicycle - what the Dutch call an omafiets, or grandma bike, with a rack, friction-powered lights, wide handlebars and a bell that sounded with a satisfying “bringadingsdings” (day rental from Easyfiets, €15 euros (about 560 baht).

Riding along the canal, a medieval moat that has become the city's cultural centre, I passed beneath lampposts adorned with trailing red and pink geraniums on my way to one of the oldest botanical gardens in Western Europe.

The garden, the Hortus Botanicus (entry, €11) dates to the 1590s, when plants like sage, rosemary and foxglove were originally grown there and used to train medical students.