Spend 24 hours exploring a heritage city
The City of Delft
has a string of activities for your family
As opposed to its image of a not so family
destination, Amsterdam offers a variety of interesting places in the vicinity,
Delft being one.
This historic city is one-day excursion from the capital of Holland. It offers wide
range of attractions for adults and kids both. From Amsterdam Central station,
Delft is a 1.15 hours train ride. It is not a very large city and the
attractions can be leisurely covered on foot. You can also rent a cycle and move around.
Like several Dutch cities, you can take a canal cruise here.
Being an important center of history, culture and
religion, the old structures are a living testimony to the glorious past. Amongst
them are the two important Churches in town — The 13th century Old Church, which houses a huge
ninetonne bell and has three pipe organs. The New Church was built in 16th century and boasts of
the second highest Church tower in Netherlands with a height of nearly 109
meter. Member of the Dutch Royal
family are buried here and is covered with a 5,000 kg stone between
funerals (Although, the area is not open to public). History lovers can pay a
visit to the Prinsenhof Museum, which was once the court of William of Orange, the father of Dutch
nation. It has golden age paintings of Netherlands.
Just in case you want to feel the city buzz, move
over to the market square.
Have a drink or a meal in one the numerous cafes or restaurants and after you
are done, visit the City Hall.
You can see some portraits of the counts of Orange and Nassau by famous Dutch
painter Michiel van Mierevelt.
The renaissance building is a good photo background with its red shutters.
If you love fancy pottery, Delftware is a global attraction. Take a guided
factory tour to see how it is produced and painted.
As they say, save the best thing for the last. Head
to Oostport (East Gate),
the only remaining city gate in Delft. There is a wooden bridge that opens for
the boats to pass. The Gothic style brick towers grandeur has inspired many
Dutch painters and it is a popular spot
for photography. It has a lovely pond nearby where you can see some
ducks playing in the water. You can sit on the grass and enjoy a quiet sunset.
There is also a Botanical Garden that
is perfect for a stroll.
(Contributed by Mumbai-based
ET-Panache Travel reader Naveen Soni)
ETP16NOV17
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