On a beautiful Saturday, we took the train south from Amsterdam to the city of Delft. The clouds rolled in and out all day (and it did rain a little), but it was great weather for exploring a new city of the Netherlands. Delft is a remarkable city, historically important from the Dutch Golden Age and its association with the royal family. Plus, it’s incredibly cute.
We started with a visit to the Prinsenhof museum, which is the grounds where William the Silent (sort of the founding father of the Netherlands) lived and was assassinated. There are two main churches in Delft: Oude Kerk (old church) and Nieuwe Kerk (new church). Ironically, they are both very old and weren’t built that far apart. Both of them were very stunning inside – more unique than most other European churches – so it was neat to explore them. In Oude Kerk we saw the burial place of Johannes Vermeer and in Nieuwe Kerk the tomb of William the Silent. Below in the crypts are the tombs for the royal family, where King Willem-Alexander will one day be interred.
Nieuwe Kerk also was just so incredibly tall! It juts out like a skyscraper, far off from the markt below. It was really something, especially compared to Oude Kerk and how that much shorter tower actually leans like the Tower of Pisa.
From there, we just explored town, poking around the busy Saturday market in the main square, admiring the architecture, and we got lunch before heading home. It was an awesome day!
