What an absolutely adorable little town Delft is! I shall definitely stay here a bit. I arrived on Saturday night on the train after a long day of tramping around Amsterdam. It was the cheapest place I could find to stay on a Saturday night anywhere in the country - still 28 euro though. I only booked one night here, but in only an hour, this place has already struck me as such a wonderful gem of a place that I've decided to stay at least another two nights.
So far, I'm not a big fan of Dutch food, so for dinner I went to a Thai restaurant just down the block from the hostel. It was an unusual experience, to say the least. In the first ten minutes, they took my drink order, brought some fish-flavored rice crisps and a bowl of coconut soup, but never a menu. I'm thinking, This is weird. But everyone else appears to be getting great service. What’s going on? Can they tell I'm a foreigner when I haven't even said anything? Or is it because I'm alone? Ah well. I dive into the soup.
And what a lovely soup it was! A thin coconut base with lemon and scallions and mushrooms (I took those out, of course) and a bit of shrimp and chicken. Just lovely! At this point, I saw the same dishes come out to two different tables and it hit me - this place has a set menu! What a great surprise! Probably would have known that if I could read the signs, but now I’m free to wonder what they'll bring out next. Oh boy, I'm so excited! The entree was a very delicious sampler plate of four dishes - quite a variety, really. It was a lot of fun to taste them all, but none of them topped the coconut soup! All in all, a refreshing change from Dutch food.
Nearly every dish in The Netherlands has some sort of lovely cheese in it, as well as a meat or a fish. This is tough for me since I'm not really partial to food with meat and cheese at the center. I've also just come from Vietnam/Thailand where it was easy to eat all vegetable dishes all the time, so my palate is not really used to this type of food. Needless to say, eating in The Netherlands has been a bit tough for me. I did find a cafe that served a wonderful couscous-based dish with cucumbers and red peppers and garbanzos. That was by far the best dish I had. And one night, I had to beg off and check out a local Indian restaurant - that was a great experience. Surprisingly authentic! Both in the food and the décor.
Beer is very popular here, and I gather there are a lot of breweries, but not being partial to beer either, I haven't had any. But another popular drink is fresh mint tea - literally hot water with mint leaves stuffed in it. This is right up my alley. And it's delicious! I've had it several times now, and even in the warm days of summer it seems like the perfect beverage.
Speaking of tea, I've noticed they have an extraordinary amount of coffee and tea shops here in Delft. And while some of them are actually selling coffees and teas, most of them are simply selling the accoutrements. Who knew there were so many odds and ends to be bought related to the brewing of coffee and tea? And who knew there could ever be such a market for them? I literally spent hours browsing through these shops looking at all the different shapes and sizes and materials of teapots. A delightful way to pass an afternoon.
I have to say I've become a bit obsessed with tea during my trip. It was very big in India and Taiwan and Vietnam, but I'm kind of surprised that tea is big here. I've bought so much tea on my trip, since it's cheap and travels well. Now all I need is a teapot! But alas, they are, like everything here, incredibly expensive. So the photographs will have to do.
Other than visiting the shops, I've spent a great deal of time here wandering around the main square that is sandwiched between the New Church and the City Hall - both very grand buildings. The New Church has a very grand bell tower with a golden clock, and it still chimes the time every 15 minutes, just like olden times. Although, apparently the chiming of the bells is part of modern life here.
I'm sure you recall that I said I heard the bells in Amsterdam and Utrecht as well. I also recall as a child a few churches here and there that still rang out the time, but it certainly couldn't be considered the part of the fabric of American culture as it is here in The Netherlands. I’ve always thought churchbell time is so novel and clever, so I find this soundscape to be both fascinating and endearing - just another part of this country that makes me love it.
But back to the Delft church, which has its own little twist. It plays a wild, discordant melody after it rings out the time on the hour, almost as if the bells were out of tune. I was so taken with it, that I actually made a recording of it on my phone. You can go up into the bell tower and see the inner workings of both the clock and the bells. They have been replaced over the years, but they certainly don’t look new, so they very well could be out of tune. I don’t really know how those bells work. It was pretty amazing to see the inside of the bell tower, not to mention the amazing views from the three different levels of balconies. Definitely a recommend if you’re ever in Delft.
Perhaps you’ve heard of one of the things that makes Delft famous: Delft ware – ceramics. The ceramics are primarily painted in blue and white and like other countries, the patterns are very limited and specific. I wasn’t all that impressed with it though – maybe because it was overpriced. Because it’s so famous, they have expensive tours of the ceramics factory – which I did not go to, partly because of the expense and partly because it was an out of the way location. But they sell the ceramics all around. I bought what I thought was fitting and affordable – a tiny round plate, just large enough for a spoon and a teabag. Which was 5 euro. Too much I think.
Foregoing the Delft factory, I decided instead to indulge in the Vermeer museum. You may recall the painting of the Girl with the Pearl Earring – that was Vermeer. And he was from Delft. They have a small but very well curated museum in the heart of Delft. I learned that for 90% of his paintings, there is a window, a table, a model, possibly a curtain, and sunlight. It appeared that he took a corner of his studio and embellished on these simple things reimagining them in new ways for each painting. He’d change the panes in the window, the tablecloth, change the outfit on the model, change how her face was receiving the sunlight – creating a whole new scene from the exact same location. Talk about using what little you have to work with. It was inspiring! You also learn that this simple set up allowed Vermeer to focus on the fundamentals of painting, specifically painting light, without ever having to leave home. It was kind of genius. If you’re in Delft, definitely want to check out this little museum.
I’ve stayed here four full days and now it’s my last morning in Delft. And what do I find on my walk out for breakfast, the weekly Thursday morning market in the square! Could this place be any more adorable? Apparently this happens every Thursday. How lovely! I’m so jealous right now. A real weekly market: with fresh fruits and vegetables and fish and cheese and olive shops and bakeries and clothes and bolts of fabric. It’s small, just booths inside the main square, but it exists, and every week. Plus - the church bells play songs non-stop all morning.
I tried the fried codfish – not ideal first thing in the morning, but apparently they eat it for breakfast so I got the authentic experience. I thought it was a better choice than the herring sandwich. I may have been wrong. The fish was tasty, but very plain and now I haven't tried the herring. Shucks. I also tried the Netherland raspberries - oh so good!! At least as good as the strawberries I had yesterday.
I will miss darling little Delft. It was an incredibly lovely place to daydream five days away. I could have stayed weeks and weeks here. And now you know why. Funnily enough, I never even tried out the bicycle. I guess that gives me a reason to come back. As if I needed another one.
And now, I’m off to meet my friend Liz in London.
