Cycling with Rembrandt by Philip Sen

Everyone loves a party, and few more so than the Dutch. Never mind that the cause celebre is a chap some three centuries dead. The year 2006 marked the 400th birthday of the Netherlands' most famous son, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (just 'Rembrandt' to you and me), and though commemorations are no longer in full swing, there's still plenty to discover in the great man's former stomping grounds.

With so many masterpieces gathered together for the first time, there's never been a better moment to seek out the essence of the Golden Age's finest artist. And there's one sure-fire hassle-free way to take in all this year's Rembrandtalia - on your bike. Like Rembrandt himself, in the Netherlands the bicycle is an institution. So, for a full-on and authentic Dutch experience, you may as well put the two together.

It's been repeated many times before that the Netherlands is a cycle-friendly country; nevertheless, I'll say it again. Holland is built for two wheels. Adrenaline-fuelled mountain bikers and thrill-seeking speed junkies, however, need not apply. Let's start with the typical Dutch bike. The cycle culture here mirrors the Golden Age lifestyle; sedate, explorative and just a little bourgeois. Most of the pedal power on Holland's roads is of the down-to-earth and sturdy kind, bicycles you'd be more likely to see carrying Mary Poppins on a morning jaunt to the confectioners than Lance Armstrong on the Tour de France. Leave the really adventurous stuff until after dark; the daytime's about riding the open roads, not trawling the red light districts. You can safely leave those lurid spandex outfits at home. The cycling gear, I mean.

So long as you avoid the tramlines, an encounter with which can send an incautious rider tumbling to the ground in an undignified heap, the bicycle is thus by far the safest, simplest and healthiest way to follow the Rembrandt trail. Convenient bike stands are scattered throughout the cities, and there's even special traffic lights - thoughtfully positioned at cyclists' eye-level - to aid riders on their way.

But back to Rembrandt himself. He was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, a university city of gabled houses girdled by canals and dominated by the gothic ostentation of the 15th century church. At Weddesteegplein stands the unassuming abode where he entered this world, though the small square beside it has been transformed this year into an avant garde installation dedicated to the man and his work.

The 400th anniversary organisers have marked a trail around the city tracing the early career of the young Rembrandt, from his education at the Latin School to his apprenticeship at the studios of Jacob van Swanenburgh. The true aficionado must also visit the Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal on the Oude Singel canal, currently exhibiting enough miniature Rembrandt etchings to make your eyes hurt. It's a genre that exhibits the artist's trademark contrasts of light and dark to full effect, and you're even issued at the ticket office with a tiny magnifying glass.

Once out of the historic town centre, where the cobbles can be jarring, the urban environment melts quickly into glorious farmland, stretching to infinity beneath immense white clouds. Rembrandt's landscapes are now inlaid with a filigree of cycle lanes and tracks, with roads seemingly widened for cars only as an afterthought. You'd think that the Dutch even flattened out the hills to stop their favourite pastime getting too energetic.

Alongside you as you ride will be waterways from ditches full of croaking frogs to rivers bustling with commercial and leisure craft alike. And since the rural canal network is just as extensive as the cycle paths, you can maximise the convenience by bringing your hotel with you. As you hop from town to town in search of Rembrandt, a hotel boat is the ideal way to avoid the hassle of packing, unpacking and checking in and out. Bike-and-barge based tours are not only simple but also economical, and have the added bonus of on-board chefs to cook up dinner after a long day at the handlebars.

Not far from Leiden, a couple of hours more cycling brings you to the Dutch political capital, The Hague. With a reputation for austerity, the city centre is a joyous surprise, littered with old brick churches and grand edifices complementing the centrepiece parliament building, the Binnenhof, with its stately angles and imposing courtyard. But if it’s still art you're looking for, head next door to the Mauritshuis royal picture gallery. Here you'll find even more Rembrandts, including the pleasingly gory 'Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp' and the very last of his 80 self-portraits. The museum also boasts a host of other Golden Age masterpieces, such as Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring', all set within the magnificent surrounds of the 17th century palace.

With all that's on offer during the 400th anniversary festival, there's a danger of becoming overwhelmed. Fortunately, Holland has plenty of other attractions within cycling distance. You'll also find towns from the picturesque Amsterdam-in-miniature of Haarlem and its enormous Grote Kerk and market square, to the subtle pleasures of cheese towns Alkmaar and Edam, or the quiet port of Hoorn, yet another canal-lined Golden Age retreat by the Zuiderzee.

Jumping back on your bike and picking up pace, you burst gently into fields striped with orderly rows of market gardens; pastures broken only by the black-and-white humps of cows or the occasional spike of a church spire; not to mention dozens of creaking windmills. Pedal on through comatose villages like De Rijp and Schermerhorn, which look like they've been undisturbed since the Peace of Westphalia. Look closely and you can still imagine the subjects of Rembrandt's rural sketches, still yet to be obscured by high-rise developments or the smog of industry.

If there isn't time to pack in all these, for an impression of how the country must have looked in Rembrandt's time the place to go is Zaanse Schans. Just up the road from Amsterdam, it's one of those model villages all countries seem to have - every cliche of Ye Olde Holland wrapped up in a convenient package, though strangely plonked down next to a huge chocolate factory. Here you can idle away hours fighting past the coach parties to gaze at the cheese-makers, Delftware store and clog workshop, alongside no less than seven working windmills. (If after this you're sick of the sight of them, among other things the informative visitor's centre shows a satisfying film of a windmill burning down.)

Rembrandt's story ends in Amsterdam, the painter's home from 1631 until his death in 1669. Though most of the enormous Rijksmuseum is closed for refurbishment, there's no avoiding Rembrandt's 'Nightwatch': nor should you miss the house on Jodenbreestraat where he lived for 20 years, or the Rembrandt route that takes you on a bumpy ride around the capital visiting the places that featured in his daily life.

Indeed, in Amsterdam the whole Rembrandt theme spirals out of control in an orgy of national pride. There's even an exhibition at the Resistance Museum covering Rembrandt in World War II propaganda. But as you settle down for a well-earned drink in Rembrandtplein square – perhaps after a performance of 'Rembrandt: The Musical' at the nearby Royal Carre Theatre - inevitably you'll raise a glass to the master, and the easy riding that brought you that little closer to his vision.