Hello everyone!
So life has been fun and exciting and I've had a great time traveling through the Netherlands via Couchsurfing and have to say its perhaps one of the greatest ways to see the world! For those of you who do not know what
couchsurfing is, it is an organization which lets people with some extra space who want to meet people, get in touch with people who are traveling and need a place to stay. Now, if you don't want to share where you live or would rather stay in a hostel, great, this is for you too! You can use it to just meet up with locals who want to show you the city or tell you about the great place that they live. Really, its awesome!
All right, so I spent a week in the Netherlands, couchsurfing the places where I could find a nice person who would have me and I figured I would share my experience with the great people of the interwebs. So today we'll talk about the lovely city of Delft, the first place of my trip!
So Delft is a beautiful old city in western end of the Netherlands most well known for its beautiful blue and white pottery, popular since the 17th century. Like everywhere else in the country, its pretty easy to get to using the glorious public transport system of trains, trams and buses. The train station is really close to the city center, though getting there at the moment can be tricky to figure out since there is construction going on and you have to get through it to reach the city center. My general travel strategy of 'just ask' made finding the 'tourist' part of the city simple.
Delft's city center looks like the perfect old Dutch city that seems like someone has stitched together the best bits from the past 500 years into one seamless patchwork quilt. It has a harmony that you wouldn't think could be achieved when you just let a city grow. There is a sense of history and a respect for what came before with an excitement for staying modern and up to date. No matter where you are, you are never that far from all the things you need for a good life. It may not be in the form of a mega-super-store, but everything you want is within walking distance, or biking distance.
The architecure is beautiful and mostly of the 17th century type or earlier, and has that perfect saw-tooth unevenness that makes the canal-side skylines look so lovely. There is a sort of unity that is surprising with the individual buildings that just happen to have been made side by side, yet they are unified by their very 'Dutch' style. It's a place that is worth just wandering around, if you like architecture, because the more you just look around, the more you will see all the little hidden places that are quirky or authentic things that make a place really interesting.
Right on the open square is the beautiful Nieuw Kerk. Yes, you have to pay to get in, but its not that expensive and you can also get into the Oude Kerk with the same ticket, and lets face it, these buildings are EXPENSIVE to maintain. It's a pretty standard church of the period with impressive architecture and some really pretty stained glass along the lower story. At the end of the apse is the monument to Hugh the Great which is a masterwork of sculpture and memorial art. It's really impossible to miss but worth some real attention for the spectacular skill of the sculptor and other craftsmen as well as the incredible symbolism contained throughout.
Not far away is the other older church, or Oude Kerk. The inside is very similar, though the walls have been whitewashed and the ceiling has what I can only assume are some very old bosses up in the beautiful wooden roof. The buildings are very similar, but since this one is further off the square and therefore the beaten path, this one doesn't look like it sees the same amount of foot-traffic. But it is worth a look.
Like so many other places, this is really a great place to just sit down for a meal and people watch. As a shameful English-only speaker, I can tell you that everywhere I have been has had English menus, you just have to sit down and ask nicely. There are tons of little places everywhere and you can find something that is really appetizing to your tastes. Food here is just good, comes in a good portion for one person, and is fresh and tasty. Every one that I have talked to has said
the Dutch don't have their own cuisine, but it really is like they have just taken the very best ideas from their neighbors, friends and....lets be honest....their former colonies, and made it into a great amalgam. Dining in a little cafe is fun indoors or out on a little patio or square filled with little tables from a dozen places all gathered together. It's a great way to enjoy food and is more about the sitting than the calories. The food is good, really good, but it was made to be enjoyed while you take a minute to sit. What a lovely thing.
Zwolle is a wonderful little city in the central area of the Netherlands, to the east of Amsterdam. Its really quite small and doesn't have a lot of the big attractions that draw in tourists such as big museums or exciting cultural events. However, the city itself is really beautiful! It has a lot of beautiful 17th and 18th century architecture, as well as a smattering of 19th and early 20th century stuff too, especially in the area around the city center. As an admitted architecture junkie, this was a really fun place to look around. The central area of the city, and the oldest part, has some amazing remnants of the medieval city. The shape, visible from overhead (or google maps) is an odd sort of star surrounded by a canal.
During the middle ages and renaissance this layout would have allowed the city to have been easily defended from invasion or attack. A few sections of the old wall have survived as well as medieval towers. Had the city come under attack, the walls, towers, and jagged shoreline would have forced attackers of the city to do so while being constantly exposed to the fire of those defending the city. The city itself dates back to the 9th century, but became an actual city in the 13th century and the two churches in the city center have histories dating back to around a century or two after that.
The old catholic church, or Onze Lieve Vrouwe ten Hemelopneming, was thankfully open! Set back a little off the square, it has a tall bell tower and is nicknamed the 'Pepperbox' for its resemblance to a pepper mill. The nave of the church is beautiful and has amazing decorations throughout. Over the transept and apse are painted some beautiful seraphim holding relics of the passion (I believe). The ciborium over the alter is colorful and at least done in the gothic style, if it doesn't date from that period. The windows in the nave are clear, but the windows behind the altar and in the transepts are stained glass. The decorations in the apse are bright and colorful but have a harmony with the windows and give the space a sort of joy and glow. Visiting the church is free, but it cost a couple of euros to climb up the bell tower. It is really worth the minimal cost and the cardio exercise to climb up the stairs to the top. The view is amazing! I think it is about 15 stories tall and seems like it will never end as you climb up the narrow winding stairs, but it is, thankfully, well lit and doesn't feel claustrophobic. There are lots of other wonderful buildings and low key places to hang out there, but if you only have a day, these are the things that I would suggest trying to hit, and thankfully, they are all very close to each other and hard to miss. I know this places isn't really on the tourist radar, but maybe it should be. It's a wonderful place, peaceful and idyllic, and has some pretty architecture that is worth taking a look at.
