Delft

Our first difficult choice was on Saturday when we had been given the option of going to The Hague and the Mauritshuis Museum, historic Delft and a porcelain museum, or Gouda, the City of Cheese. All three seemed appealing and when I send in my feedback, I’m going to say I would recommend their removing Veere and figuring out a way to let the passengers do more than one of these tours.

Delft is sometimes called "Little Amsterdam"
because of its canals and historic houses

I think we figured we were seeing a lot of museums on this trip and we both like porcelain so we chose historic Delft. Our group took a bus about an hour to Delft, then followed our tour guide past the Prinsenhof Museum, where the first William of Orange was assassinated in 1584, to the Market Square. Delft was the home of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange, as well as the painter Vermeer, and was also known for its blue and white pottery.

A copy of On Tyranny in a Delft bookstore

Delft began a tradition with William of burying rulers of the House of Orange in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church, built in 1396 through 1496, so only new in comparison to the Oude Kerk, founded in 1246) in the Market Square, opposite the City Hall, which we checked out. The interior of the church is known for its celebrity tombs and stunning stained glass, while the exterior is known for its dramatic tower.

Looking back at the Tower and Market Square

The tower is 356 feet high, making it the second tallest church tower in the Netherlands, and people take these things very seriously. Noticeably, the side of the tower that faces the Market Square is dark and discolored while the left side was made from a lighter sandstone. Of course, it was originally a Catholic church and was dedicated to St. Ursula. The Protestant Reformation and growth of Calvinism took place in the late 16th century in the Netherlands. Goodbye, St. Ursula!

Inside the church

Besides the Royal family, several other famous people have been buried in Delft, including Vermeer and great ocean commanders (William III is buried at Westminster Abbey as he was King of England as well as Prince of Orange when he died in 1702 - he survived his wife, Mary, who was only 32 when she died). We would have liked more time exploring Delft but it was time to go admire beautiful porcelain!

City Hall

We retraced our steps to the bus and went to the Royal Delft factory, where Dutch craftsmen have been creating iconic Delft Blue for almost 400 years. Royal Delft, established in 1653, is the last remaining Delftware factory from the 17th century.

After touring the factory and learning about the history of porcelain, we admired a young woman who was hand painting while everyone watched (pressure!).

Then we examined everything in the very expensive gift shop. My mother bought a little box and I bought a fish ornament before we returned to the ship for a late lunch and an afternoon of sailing toward Enkhuizen (not to mention afternoon tea at 4, which I could easily get used to!). 

Although we were never on the North Sea, we did encounter a lot of turbulence that evening.  I found it quite exciting and kept thinking about the Arthur Ransome in which the children accidentally sail to Holland, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.