Delft, Netherlands tag along trip recap — The storybook edition

Situated between Rotterdam and The Hague, Delft is an absolutely enchanting city that had me feeling as though I had stepped into storybook. It’s a 45-minute train ride from Amsterdam and given the city’s charms, it’s a must-do day trip if you’re travelling in the area.

Tag Along Details

Dates: December 8 – December 14

Weather: A couple of perfect, sunny days at about 12°C and a few rainy days. A couple of days were incredibly windy. Locals said the weather was unseasonably cold.

Language: The Dutch speak phenomenally good English (see note under restaurant review below).

Tag Along Trip Rating: Steve and I didn’t spend much time together other than two dinners so that rates 1.5 out of 5. As a solo travel experience, my rating is 5 out of 5. The city is great for exploring on your own. It’s easy to navigate and feels very safe, even at night.

Highlights

Westcord Hotel (Delft)

This ultra stylish boutique hotel is just on the outskirts of the city right next to an IKEA Concept Centre, which is used for product testing and franchisee training. So, it’s not the most picturesque location, but there is a park on the other side of the building and a fairly nice residential area that I ran through a couple of times.

The suite we stayed in was quite spacious and coincidentally looked as though it had leapt off the page of an IKEA catalogue. The kitchenette was well equipped, the bed was comfy, and the bathroom had one of my favourite hotel features – the pull out clothesline over the bathtub for hanging post-workout clothes and hand washing. There is a well appointed gym and launderette on site as well. The entire hotel had complementary wireless Internet and the speed was decent. I ate in the restaurant on the main floor a couple of times and it was very good and reasonably priced.

City Landscape

Delft is very walkable and its centre is filled with little shops, an open-air market and many cafes and restaurants. A crisscross of bridge-covered canals are home to a variety of friendly ducks and other birds. The Friday evening we went to dinner together there were several horse drawn carriages carrying people in period clothing (presumable for holiday festivities) around town, which reinforced the illusion that we’d find Jack’s beanstalk around the corner or Rapunzel hanging out of an upper story window.

Delftware Blue Porcelain

Delft’s biggest claim to fame is its Delftware blue porcelain, which you will see everywhere if you visit. There are tours you can take, which include watching how the ceramics are made, but I did not go on any because I had learned quite a bit about the history and process at the Prinsenhof Museum.

Prinsenhof Museum
http://prinsenhof-delft.nl/en/

I’ve been to my share of museums. I can’t express my surprise at how engaging the Prinsenhof Museum is. On a rainy day when I was on my own to explore Delft, I popped into this museum with little more than an expectation to stay dry for an hour or so.

It started off like many other museums with displays and write ups and then morphed into an amazing interactive experience. Upon exiting, I learned from the staff that the museum underwent a refurbishment this past summer. The innovative approach, along with the fact that on a rainy day in December there was only a handful of other people there, made it my most memorable experience in the Netherlands.

The museum is housed in the former state house of William of Orange, who is regarded as the founder of the Netherlands. He was a leader in the battle against the Spanish occupation and advocated for freedom of religion. The museum uses video of character actors who appear in doorways and corners. They present as though speaking directly to visitors, offering a sense of life during the time period and the challenges they faced. The way the museum depicts the assassination of William in the stairwell, where the bullet holes from the handgun that killed him are still visible, is quite inventive (If you don’t mind a spoiler, click here to learn more).

Prinsenhof exhibits also include a history of porcelain Delftware as well as how the drive for innovation has shaped Delft and the Netherlands. These exhibits also use very cool interactive technology that engages the visitor and makes learning easy.

If you’re planning a day trip to Delft, GO to this museum!

De Roos Windmill

Despite living in one of the windiest parts of North America, I had never seen a traditional windmill (other than on the bag of Old Dutch potato chips, which are big here). So it was kind of thrilling to turn a corner as I was strolling Delft one day to discover the De Roos Windmill (circa 1679). It’s not in the most picturesque setting (beside a busy thoroughfare in an industrial area), but it was still impressive. I didn’t go inside, but apparently if a blue flag is flying it is open and you can book a tour.

Old City Hall

This beautiful Renaissance style building in the city’s centre anchors a large square featuring many specialty shops and a large open-air market on Thursdays. It’s a fun, bustling area.

Sevenhills New York Bistro and Lounge (Geek Dinner)
http://www.sevenhillsdelft.nl

This hip and inviting restaurant was the location of a group dinner I attended with Steve comprising tech consultants from across the globe. They were attending a training session Steve was part of delivering for Scrum.org. I am fond of tech geeks (I married one!) and I always enjoy the challenge of steering a bit of the conversation away from tech to other subjects.

I was sitting next to two very engaging guys – one from Germany and one local from the Netherlands. We covered topics ranging from how history is taught in schools (spurred by my raving about the Prinsenhof Museum) to why English is spoken so well in the Netherlands compared with some other regions of Europe. My two companions concluded that English learning is reinforced in the Netherlands by television and movies that are largely subtitled from English. In Germany, on the other hand (a much larger market), there is more local German media and English fare is dubbed into German. Interesting.

Oh yeah, the food! It was very good. The menu features steakhouse standards as well as some chicken, fish, and vegetarian options. Two outstanding items were the Oyster fines de cap horn and the Rodenbieten risotto. The service for our large group was prompt and attentive.

The bar/lounge, which is located on the second floor, was hopping on a Thursday night.

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