On Tuesday, we took the hour train ride north of Amsterdam to the quaint village of Delft. Delft’s most famous resident was Vermeer, the painter who did so much with light.
Delft is a lovely town with its small canals, cheese shops, traditional Dutch homes and a very leaning church. The city has two grand churches aptly named the New Church and the Old Church which is the leaning one. With all of the Netherlands built on swamp with the original foundations of massive logs laid in the mud, it is common to see tilting buildings. All the homes lining the canals here are quite slanted. The very tall church tower, which leans about 6 feet, just accentuates the phenomena. One can climb up the New Church’s tower for dramatic views of Rotterdam and The Hague. We opted not to do the climb due to the fog and rain. The city is also home to the famous Delft Porcelain. This pottery is a little “old school” for us but the showroom was packed with bussed in elderly tourists. Even though Delft was the hometown of Vermeer, Delft earthenware is the most significant tourist attraction in town. The town has been producing this blue and white pottery since the 16th century.
The Vameer museum was fascinating. It focused on his life and works throughout his brief 42 years. They did not have any Vameer originals at the museum but the story took us through his life and the majority of his paintings, which numbered fewer than 50. The fascinating component of his works was his ability to highlight his subjects with various shades of light – whether direct sunlight, light through a window or curtain or reflections off a mirror. It was quite interesting. It should be noted that one can buy all kinds of items with a picture of a Vermeer painting. There are also Vermeer sandwiches, chocolate and even beer here! Of course these touristy items are quite tacky but overall the town exudes an excessive amount of charm. This quaint medieval town is not a heavily touristic city, like Amsterdam.
