We took a day trip to Delft, famous for its blue pottery and as the birthplace of Johannes Vermeer. It turned out to be the most enchanting and delightful place! Like Amsterdam, it also has canals, but it is much smaller, and it takes Amsterdam’s charm to another level.
We started out with a “second breakfast” of coffee and traditional Dutch apple cake at a café with the “world’s smallest art museum” – a revolving art exhibition in a former phone booth.
Now we were ready to explore the town, which was founded in the early Middle Ages. The Old Church, with its leaning brick tower, was built in the 13th century.
Jeff is standing in front of the oldest stone-built house in the city (1505), where the Delfland Water Authority has been based since 1645.
You must be careful if you parallel park next to a canal in Delft – there is no barrier to prevent you from going in!
We visited on a Saturday and the town had a lively market set up along the canals. We tried fresh herring but found it to be very fishy. Jeff likes sushi but barely choked down a bite; I tried it for the sake of saying I did. You can tell how much I enjoyed my bite. The Dutch love it – we would stick with the stroopwafels!
The city hall and New Church (where Dutch royalty is buried going back to William of Orange in 1584) sit on different sides of the main square. In front of city hall, we saw a Dutch family of 6 on their bikes. There are more bikes in the Netherlands than people (which is far better than having more guns than people, like the U.S.). Parents do an amazing job of carting their small children everywhere – we saw mothers with a baby in a chest carrier riding with another child in a bike seat. Dutch mothers are strong women!
We also visited the Vermeer Center, which provides a deep dive into the artist’s life and unique style. None of his original works are there; instead, scale copies of all 37 paintings he did are displayed chronologically, giving the visitor an opportunity to see the evolution, contrasts, and similarities among his masterpieces. This approach works well to see Vermeer’s use of light and attention to detail.
Our last stop was the Royal Delft porcelain factory, where we met their “Proud Mary” – named after Mary II, the wife of William III. And you thought Proud Mary was a river boat!
Royal Delft has been creating high-end Delft Blue porcelain, modeled on Chinese porcelain, since 1653. There are examples all over the city from lightposts to benches.
Our visit to Delft was the perfect day trip. We want to return soon and use it as a base to explore the Hague, Rotterdam, and more.
Hasta pronto,
Shana & Jeff
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