The Netherlands - Leiden (NL-144278)

I've never been to Leiden, but this card reminds me other Dutch cities (even Amsterdam, although the architecture is a bit different). These canals, boat trips, bridges that seem to low to go under them and a windmill in the middle of a city - it can't be any other country but The Netherlands :) According to the sender, there's a large population of students in Leiden and the country's oldest university is located there.

NL-144278

Leiden (in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands and has 118,000 inhabitants. It forms a single urban area with Oegstgeest, Leiderdorp, Voorschoten, Valkenburg, Rijnsburg and Katwijk, with 254,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Old Rhine, close to the cities of The Hague and Haarlem. The recreational area of the Kaag Lakes (Kagerplassen) lies just to the northeast of Leiden.

Leiden University (Dutch: Universiteit Leiden), located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands.The university was founded in 1575 by Prince William of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close relationship. The Queens Juliana and Beatrix and crown-prince Willem-Alexander studied at Leiden University. In 2005 Queen Beatrix received a rare honorary degree from Leiden University.

Today, Leiden University has six faculties, over 50 departments and more than 150 undergraduate programmes, and it enjoys an international reputation. The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Leiden University 71st worldwide for 2007, 20th in Europe, and second in the Netherlands. The Times Higher Education 2008 ranked Leiden University 64th in the world overall.