Friday May 22 was a beautiful, sunny, warm day with a high of 25C! Our destination for the day was the city of Delft. We hopped on the tram near our apartment to take us to Rotterdam Central Railway Station.
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| Across from the tram stop- public art in front of the supermarket |
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| The tram passed at least three other pieces of public art. The Plait (De Vlecht) was the first sculpture in the city centre made by a woman. This sculpture was revealed on International Women's Day 2021. |
We arrived at Rotterdam Central. It has a dramatic angled passenger hall with a pointed, stainless-steel roof. It opened in 2013.
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Outside of Rotterdam Centraal
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Our train made two stops and we arrived in Delft in 12 minutes. The Delft railway station was designed by a Delft based architectural firm. It opened in 2015. The station's columns feature contemporary impressions of Delft blue tiles.
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| Inside the Delft Railway Station |
It took us a moment to find the Tourist Office as it has moved from the station to a beautiful building still under final renovation. The building is called the Huis van Delft (House of Delft). Part of the building houses the Tourist Office, while there is also a section housing an Innovation Gallery, which is featuring part of "The Robots are Coming" exhibition. There are also two display windows in the corner of the building showing Robotic Couture. Finally just beside the Tourist Office was a room full of incredible tiles. Unfortunately, one could not enter that section as work is still being done. The woman we talked to at the Tourist Office was extremely helpful.
Delft has a population of 110,000 and is an amalgam of medieval and 17th century treasures. It has narrow, canal-threaded streets, a large market square and a historic Old and New Church. Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) lived and painted here and his painting The Girl with a Pearl Earring is revered. None of his surviving 34 works are found in Delft, but there is a Vermeer Art Centre which has videos and digital reproductions of his works. We stopped by the Centre and checked out its very nice gift shop. However, it was too nice a day to spend inside.
Delft is also known for its beautiful Delft Blue pottery. The Tourist office told us about one store, where they still hand-paint the ceramics. There is also a Royal Delft Museum a bit outside the main part of town. In the 17th century, Delft had 32 factories producing Delft blue earthenware, but today only one remains. There is a store on the Markt Square that is the official outlet of the porcelain factory. Finally, Delft is where William of Orange (also known as William the Silent) (1533-1584) is buried. His mausoleum is found in the New Church, which also holds the Royal mausoleum of the family of Orange.
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| The Delft House right beside the train station. A modern addition to the city. |
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| Robotic Couture in the windows-- lots of sun and reflection |
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| A photo of the room with the tiles which was not yet open. It's going to be spectacular. |
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| Inside the Tourist office. |
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| Railway station on the left and new House of Delft |
We headed into the town centre. We walked down one side of a canal with a number of bridges.
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| Progressive message |
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| Greetings on one of the bridges |
We had a map which pointed out some of the street art along the way. One alley had a 2019 mural De Golden Eeuw (The Golden Age) by Micha de Bie. It depicts famous Delft figures, including Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
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| The Golden Age mural |
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| One of the many canals with beautiful homes on each side. Delft, as is Rotterdam, is a city of bikes. Many people don't even tie them up. |
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| Sign over the door says 1769 |
We walked towards the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Delft was granted city rights in 1246, the church's official founding date. The 75m high tower leans nearly 2m from the vertical due to subsidence caused by its canal location. It contains Johannes Vermeer's memorial stone.
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| View of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) |
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| On the bridge-- one can see the leaning tower |
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| This late Gothic house is the oldest stone-built house in Delft. It was commissioned to be built by the bailiff and dike reeve in 1505. The coat of arms above the entrance date back to 1652. The Delfland Water Authority has been based in this building since 1645. |
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| Lots of flowers on the small bridges across from the canals. |
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Across a 17th century footbridge is Voor de Kunst, a phone booth converted by Tijn Noordenbos in 1973 that serves as a micro gallery space for Delft artists. The present exhibit was called Make Orange Great Again with a wooden Trump figure and other world leaders.
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| The Old Church up close |
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| A small chapel. We chose not to do a paid tour of the entire Church. |
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| Another view of the Old Church |
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| Interesting graffiti on a wall |
We then stopped at the Stadsbakkerij de Diamanten Ring, a bakery which has been around since 1799. Its specialty is a choux pastry filled with whipped cream and topped with chocolate. The place smelled like butter. We looked but didn't buy anything.
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Outside of the bakery-- its history is on one of the outside walls
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| Inside of the bakery |
We then paid a visit to Van Der Burgh Chocolate, a four generation run chocolate store.
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| Outside of the chocolate store |
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| One of the family members-- we bought some lovely dark chocolate bars here and some dark chocolate covered marshmellows. |
It was then time for a coffee. The man at the chocolate shop recommended Kek, which we had also read about. We sat outside. Allan had a flat white and I had an iced Americano.
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| Outside of Kek Coffee and Crafts |
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| Beautiful inside with fruit for smoothies, greeting cards and lots of seating. They also serve breakfast and lunch and Giraffe coffee from Rotterdam. |
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| A few doors down was Café Johannes, which is located in the birthplace of Johannes Vermeer. |
On the same street was the Vermeer Centre with a lovely gift shop. We dropped in but did not enter for the video and reproductions of his works.
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| Vermeer Centre |
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| Very bright out--- |
We visited De Blauwe Tulp, where handpainted Delftware are made.
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| Outside of the store |
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| Lots of beautiful hand-painted Delftware |
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| Where the magic takes place. |
We had a nice chat with the woman working there. I bought a small coffee cup necklace. The pieces were fairly pricey and we don't have a lot of room in our luggage.
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| Tiles of a famous Courbet painting |
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| The basis for the tiles |
We walked into one of the largest historic market squares in Europe. The rectangular Markt has had a market here since the 13th century and was first paved in the late 15th century. The Neuwe Kerk (New Church) is at one end of the square.
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The New Church --It is only new relative to the Old Church. Construction began in 1381, with the basilica built around it from 1384. It was completed in 1655.
One can climb its 376 spiralling steps to the top. We took a pass. |
Delft City Hall (1618-1620) comprises two buildings. The second building was
built around the original 13th century tower. This tower once held Balthasar Gerards, the man who
assassinated William of Orange.
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| Mural in an alley with William of Orange |
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| A shoe shop. |
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Keramieken Kaart van Delft (2020), by Nan Deardorff McClain,
a 17th century map of Delft in mosaic tiles. |
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| We stopped for a snack at Fresko-- Greek food with artisanal coffee. |
We explored a number of streets we hadn't yet visited. Lots of interesting stores and restaurants beginning to fill with people out for dinner. We headed back to the train station just before 6:30 p.m.
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| The bikes, the canals and the greenery-- what a beautiful city |
We headed to the train station and found that the next train was leaving in two minutes. It is a small station and we made it to the train in time. Rotterdam Centraal was the next stop and it was only a 10 minute ride. We then waited eight minutes for our tram and were back at the apartment in about 30 minutes after leaving Delft.
We rested a bit and then went out for dinner at Nursia, a wine bar with homemade pasta just minutes from our apartment. They even have pasta making classes. The restaurant was on the street we had checked out the night we arrived. With the onset of summer weather, a number of restaurants had their outdoor seating areas set up. Nursia had a covered area (which was full) and some outdoor seating at barrels, where we were initially seated.
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| Allan with covered outdoor area behind us. |
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| There was also outdoor seating at a bar at the front of the restaurant |
Once a few people left, we were seated at the bar. I had a delicious pappardelle with merguez sausage and Allan had a delicious pasta with bolognese sauce. We each had a glass of a lovely Primitivo wine.
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Allan with the bolognese
We had a fantastic day trip to Delft. A real change of pace from Rotterdam, yet only 10 minutes away by train. Rotterdam is a very modern city, raised from the rubble of WWII German bombing. It has decided to embrace modern architecture and culture in making it a vibrant city. Delft transports one to earlier centuries in a beautiful, peaceful town where Johannes Vermeer spent his life.
---------------------------------------- Saturday May 23 was a hot day with a high of 30C. Definitely a day for shorts. We decided to take it easy. We walked up to the huge Saturday market in front of The Markthal. There are fish, meat, cheese and fruit and vegetable stands, mixed in with a lot of flea market stands of clothing, purses and other trinkets.
More public art en route: Ode aan Jaap Valkhof (1910-1992) A closer look at Cascade by Atelier Van Lieshout (2010). It is made of polyester. Oil Drums and human shapes melted into a single whole.
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| The Cube Houses up close. |
The market is very large and sprawling and very busy on a late Saturday morning.
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| Strawberries, watermelon and cherries |
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We bought some nice manchego cheese here- very busy
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Lots of nice looking fish. We didn't buy any as we were not going to be back the apartment
for a while and it was 30C. |
We did stop for some hot fries and mayo. Very busy truck in the market
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| Back of truck |
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| Quite a large cone of fries and mayo. |
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| Beautiful flower market |
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| There is a report card on the side of one wall of the school |
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We stopped for coffee at Crave coffee shop and sat outside. I had an iced Americano and Allan had a flat white. We shared a delicious vegan pistachio croissant. All their pastries were vegan. It was very nice just chilling in the sun. We sat outside for quite a while.
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| Crave Coffee shop with only vegan treats. |
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| Our last stop with Mellegers a beautiful deli where we got some meats for a charcuterie plate. |
We walked back to the apartment where we rested. I worked on the blog and Chef Allan prepared a charcuterie plate, green beans, and a salad. On Sunday, we are going to Den Haag (The Hague) for a day trip. It is only about a 30 minute train trip from Rotterdam Central Station. Stay tuned for more adventures.
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