Voldersgracht

This canal is the Voldersgracht, dating from the 14th century and one of the oldest canals in Delft. With houses at the right, it has a street on one side only. It is located near the central square.

Bicycles

Near the central square in Delft.

Another scene..

..from the old centre of Delft.

Delft centre

The historic town centre of Delft, seen from the central square..

..and shops selling typical Dutch items like Delft Blue pottery and cheese.

Where to?

This vase was attempting to hitchhike out of the Prinsenhof Museum in Delft  ;)

NB. You may notice written names on the vase. Visitors to the museum were allowed to write or scribble on it with blue markers. But only on this one!

Book chest escape

In the primary school history lessons of every child in the Netherlands is told about the escape in 1621 from Hugo Grotius (in Dutch known as Hugo de Groot) in a book chest, from Loevestein Castle where he was imprisoned. Lawyer, poet and politician Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) laid the foundations for international law. He served a controversially imposed life sentence from 1619 in the castle.
As he was still allowed to read and study, the necessary books were regularly brought to him in a book chest. In 1621 his wife hid him in this book chest and helped him to escape from the castle.

Apparently both the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Prinsenhof Museum in Delft claim to have the original book chest in their collection. On the photo is the one we saw in Delft. What do you think, did we see the real book chest? ;)

Delft lanterns

As you may know, the city of Delft is famous for its Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue. This blue and white pottery was made in and around Delft from the 16th century.
At the St Agatha Square, in front of the Prinsenhof Museum, are 3 porcelain covered streetlights. They were placed here as part of the cultural exchange program between the cities of Delft and Jingdezhen, that started in 2008. The porcelain was painted by the artists Wendy Steenks from Delft and Ling Yun from China.

Bench

This nice wooden bench belonged to one of the stalls of the antique market (I think) across the street that day in Delft.

Delft central square

The photo was taken last Saturday.

Coffee, cake, lunch

Want coffee, cake, lunch? Follow the cupcake :)

Photo taken in the city centre of Delft.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Génestet church

The nice thing about a historical town is that there are small alleys to find and hidden inner yards to discover if you look well. In Delft we found this gate with a medallion portrait picturing the clergyman and poet P.A. de Génestet, who worked in the Remonstrant church that was named after him and that we found behind the gate.

The Génestet church is a neo-renaissance building from 1896, designed by L. Couvée and built on the site of a so-called 'secret church' from 1639. A secret -or clandestine- church ("schuilkerk" in Dutch) was a house of worship used by religious minorities, and was tolerated on condition that it was discreet and not conducted in public spaces. Clandestine churches were commonly built inside houses or other buildings, and do not show a public facade to the street.

Terrace on the water

Yesterday's photo had a boat restaurant in Delft, this photo shows another one. With a canal in front, and no room for tables and chairs on the pavement, a boat seems a perfect alternative for a terrace during the Spring and Summer season!

View from a bridge

With its canals, historical buildings and narrow streets, Delft has pretty views. A boat trip on the canals is very popular among tourists.

Delft railway station

We visited the beautiful historical city of Delft today; Delft is located between the cities of The Hague and Rotterdam. It has a new railway station that opened in 2015 and which was designed by Mecanoo, an international architecture firm that originated in Delft. On the photo is the main hall, the stairs lead to the underground platforms.