Delft is an historic city in the middle of the province of South Holland. The city was the Headquarters of William of Orange, the prince of Orange that leaded the rebellion against the Spanish occupation during the war of the 80 years. This happened from 1568 to 1648, when the Dutch provinces won their independence, since then the Orange family has been governing almost continuously.
View of Maria van Jessekerk from the Markt
Well, the point is that William of Orange set the headquarters there and also the arsenal. This last building blew up in 1654 destroying quite a lot of the center. Delft was then rebuilt in Renaissance and the center still keeps lots of buildings from that time and some Gothic from before the explosion.
New Church, or Nieuwekerk in the Markt
In the center of the city lays the Markt, the central point of the city, in the East side you have the New Church and in the West side you have the Town Hall. The New Church is quite impressive with its 100m height, I cannot talk about the interior as they charge to go in and... well, it didn't seem really attractive so we didn't pay the ticket. William I of Orange is buried there and it seems to be the main attraction of the church. Not that I was very interested on seeing it though. In the North and the South sides of the Market there are shops and cafes.
Townhall
Next to the Market there is the Old Church, that we also didn't see inside, but the outside is very nice. The tower is pretty inclined, as a lot of buildings in The Netherlands. The soil in most regions of the country is mood which makes very expensive to build high buildings and also makes some houses to incline a bit.
The Oude Delft or Old Delft in English with the Old church at the end
Delft is also famous for its pottery, the well noun "Delfts Blauw" or Blue from Delft. It is beautiful but very expensive pottery, normally hand painted. I went to a shop to check out the prices of things and you have from very cheap to very expensive... but really, if it is very cheap it is not real Delfts Blauw.
Back part and tower of the townhall, impressive building
The old town is surrounded by canals with lovely old houses, it is a nice city to walk around. The day we went was the same day as Madurodam and it was cold, in Delft more than in Madurodam as it was in the afternoon and it was a bit windy.
The Gemeenlandhuis, from 1505 of Delft, very nice building (more info about this type of buildings)
Gate to the town with a typical Dutch bridge
Meat market, look to the cows on the doors!
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