It is highly probable that you find a festival or event going on at Esplanade every weekend. The final weekend of "summer" in Almere, before the clear skies got covered with dark clouds, and the shiny and sunny weather turned into windy, umbrella-breaking days, a beautiful "Indian Summer Festival" took place.
This is the same location where the "clltural fest" had taken place. You can find more about that fest in my blog.
What can you expect here?
A bombardment of bright and beautiful colors, loud and upbeat music, a culture that is celebrated worldwide, traditional handicraft and clothes, and of course the widely loved indian food.
I arrived to the fest in the afternoon. It was buzzing with people. A lot of people were outside the festival ground sitting at the fountain, and others were socialising with and welcoming new attendees.
I vould already feel the "Indian" vibe from outside the festival area as the loud music was everywhere and the colorful decorations shined brightly.
The festival had one main stage where most of the entertainment took place. I didn't stay long over there as I prefer other parts of the festival than the entertainment.
Nevertheless, there were traditional dance performances done by hobbyists, as well as professional dance schools. These dances were of different styles and the music was also very different from each other.
India is a massive country with many languages coming from the different states. This makes for a very diverse tradition throughout the country.
There were plenty of stalls that were selling typical indian ornaments, handmade artifacts, and decorations.
Most of the stalls were manned by hobbyists. Some of these people are expats who have moved to Netherlands to work, while some are Dutchies with Indian backgrounds.
I was surprised to learn that none of these stalls were from a primary business, but simply to either represent the Indian culture or to raise money that would further be forwarded to a charity.
I spoke to the people at the stalls, and all except one, had shipped the items from India.
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There were also beautiful indian clothes. They look fantastic. I can only think of the flashy bollywood movie songs, and how the actresses wear elaborate gowns in the dances. There were also paintings being sold. Naturally, these paintings have not come all the way from India, but they are inspired by the Indian style.
Esplande also has a beautiful view of the water as it borders the Weerwater. If you're there at the right time, you'll see a lot of swans and fish in the water. Some people like to swim here, while others, like myself, like to dip their feet in the water.
Some time, during the festival, I decided I wanted to relax and enjoy the pleasant view. The water was cool and refreshing. Now, stop staring and trying to picture my feet. Thanks.
Most of the attendees were Indians or people with Indian backgrounds. That goes for the stalls, too. I was hoping to see people from other cultures in the festival since anything Indian can be super interesting. I am very familiar with Indian culture so there was little I could learn.
However, I haven't showed you the busiest place of the festival yet.
Can you guess?
THE FOOD STALLS!
Lekker, ja?
Chai, Samosa, Chutney, Biryani, you name it. The incredibly delicious Indian food! And so much of it!
So many stalls with all sorts of deliciousness! So many choices. Only one stomach. Darn it!
There were stalls from indian restaurants that are based in the Netherlands, as well as homemade food. The prices were not expensive at all. I decided to quickly go see what was in each stall but there were just too many choices.
We had a mango lassi, masala tea, biryani, and pani puri. I haven't had these in ages! Last time I had anything like this was back in Ukraine in a restaurant called "Spice".
It was also the first time my friends had tried pani puri. We took some homemade biryani back home, too!
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