A daytrip to the lovely city of Delft

Wim (my husband) and I had bought a new digital camera and wanted to try it out. We've been a thousand times to Delft before because the city is not far away from my hometown and we love this city very much! We haven't got any digital photo's of this lovely city, so we dicided to go by bike! It's an half hour riding, through the typical dutch landscape.

We didn't do any museums this time but we wanted to shoot the pictures of the city itself. Next time I want to make pictures of some museums like "het Prinsenhof", "the Armymuseum" etc.

By the way, Museum Het Prinsenhof, 'the Princes' Court', is located in the former Sint Agathaklooster. In 1572, William of Orange chose the monastery as one of his houses. From this building, the Prince led the uprising against the Spanish rule over the Netherlands.

On the 10th of July 1584 he was murdered on the stairs of Het Prinsenhof by the Spanish sympathiser Balthazar Gerards. The wall of the stairs shows two bullet holes that bear witness to this event. Paintings and other objects tell the story of the eighty-year war against the Spanish. The museum also exhibits a wonderful collection of 17th century art. The beautiful complex still shows traces of the monastery.

 But more about it later. This time we made photo's of the new church on the markt, the oldest church of Delft, the local market etc.

The New Church on the Markt dates back to 1381 and is closely connected to the House of Oranje-Nassau, the Dutch Royal Family.

This church has the royal vault where the members of the royal family rest in peace.

Prince William of Orange, the Father of the Nation was shot in 1584 and was the first to be buried here. His unusual and impressive mausoleum can be visited. It was built between 1614 and 1622 and was designed by architect Hendrick de Keyser. It was restored thoroughly in 1997.

The choir isle of the church has various mausoleums, including that of Hugo Grotius.
The church has 16 stained-glass windows. The church has an exhibition and there is a video presentation on the history of the Nieuwe Kerk and the royal family.
You can also climb the 108,75-meter high tower.

At the Heilige Geestkerkhof you find the oldest church in Delft, which is called 'De Oude Jan'. The Oude Kerk, literally Old Church, was built in 1240 and has a characteristic leaning tower.

The restored church has a beautiful interior - the sculpted pulpit from 1548 and 27 stained-glass windows are particularly striking.

The Dutch naval heroes Piet Heijn and Maerten Tromp have their final resting place in the Oude Kerk as do the famous Delft painter Johannes Vermeer, the poet/preacher Stalpaert van der Wiele and the physicist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek.

Ok, enough history, we always go to local markets wherever we are ( they are great!) so we went to the market here too. At thursday there is the general market "on the Markt" between the New Church and town hall. And at saturday there is a flowermarket in the inner city of Delft. But there are stands with fruits and vegetables, Dutch cheese, bread etc as well.

See for yourself how nice the city of Delft is, it is worth visiting when you are in the Netherlands!!!