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Delft Church

The city of delft is renowed for its charming canals and quaint old churches, typical artistic Dutch houses and gorgeous hand painted pottery known as Delft Pottery. This type of decoration consists of a blue pattern on a white background, imitating the more precious Chinese pottery. On weekdays it is possible to visit the factory's workshops and the permanent exibition which includes some of the most beautiful pottery works ever produced in Delft. In the city markt I saw a number of Delft Ware and souvenir shops where artists were painting on the potteries. I bought some as souvenirs. These stuffs are very expensive and favoured to the tourists but not to the locals.

I bought these hand painted wares

We were in Western Hotel very close to the central station. Next day my husband went to attend the Delft university Conference. So I went out alone for sightseeing. While walking around the street I was amazed to see too many beautiful churches, it seemed a city of churches. And the canals running through the city are too narrow compared to those of Amsterdam as you will see below. Roads are also narrow and there is no boundary between most of the canals and roads like Amsterdam. Some buildings are very old, actually date from 18th and 19th century. There are few Indonesian resturants and shops here cause Indonesia was one of their colonies.

Artistic Dutch buildings

Delft canals are too narrow

Delft is also the birth place of two great men: Hugo Grotius who was well-known as a jurist, diplomat, philosopher and poet, and Jan Vermeer whose paintings perfectly reflect the city's peaceful charm. The center of the city is the marketplace, known as the Markt, which also serves as a delightful seeting for summer carillon concerts.

Old Church just across our hotel

Image of Hugo Grotius

Vermeer center

New Church

Delft Town Hall

Market Place

Delft University of Technology is the largest technical university in Netherlands. It comprises eight faculties and contributing a lot to scientific advancement in the society.

Delft University of Technology

Solar powered car made by delft University students

City of Delft

Oude Delft, shields on Armamentarium (Army Museum)

Armamentarium (Army Museum) at the end of Oude Delft Canal

Saw a cemetery while going from our hotel to the university

Last month when my husband got a conference in Delft University, I deciced to go with him. I heard Holland is a region of spectacular scenic beauty, beautiful canals, wooden windmills, ancient museums and home of glorious tulips. So, I didn't want to miss a splendid journey through history, art and traditions of this low country.

It was only one and half hour journey by plane from Landvetter to Shiphol. From Shiphol Airport Station you can go by train to central station of Amsterdam. It will take only 20 mins. The city has good public transport like other european cities. The trams are very nice, modern, and nearly silent. Tourists can also hire bicycles, cycle is one of the main transports here.

We stayed in a hotel in Damrak nearby the certral station. One can find plenty of cheap accommodations here. After checking in, we went out for a nighttime walk along the famous night life area of Amsterdam, the Red light district. We found some interesting shops, resturants and bars. As it was friday night all had been opened for quite a long time and was huge crowd inside. We planed to stay three days in Amsterdam, later thought it wouldn't be bad to spend one day in Belgium. There are some tour buses from Amsterdam to Belgium that return on the same day. Next day we went Belgium. [Belgium Tour]

Pictures of some lovely canals

Last day we spent our entire time in Amsterdam. After breakfast we left hotel with map in hand to explore the city on foot. Lots of exquisite canals, old decorated churches and typical artistic Dutch buildings raise the city to its prettiness. The placid canals spin web around the city like spider. One will be amazed at seeing how narrow the old buildings can be, but they are really beautiful. Being slender old houses contain hooks at the top to lift heavy stuffs- it looks funny. But the dangerous thing is there are no boundaries between the lakes and roads. Luckily I could escape from falling into while taking pictures. The main tourists attractions are Dam square, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, Rambrandt's House Museum, Madame Tussaud Wax Museum, Anne Frank Huis, Coster Diamond, Red light district and Flower Market.

Damrak

Dam Square

After few minutes walk we reached Dam square. This place is always crowded with tourists. All were busy snapping photos. On left side of it there is a large shopping mall De Bijenkorf, on right side Madam Tussaud Museum and Queen's Palace is just on across. Who are interested in wax figures can visit this museum and can have pictures with wax statues of celebrities. Since I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the celebrities, this place was of no interest to me. Bijenkorf is the largest luxury deparment store in Amsterdam. The Queen's Palace or Royal Palace is a fine example of the classical Dutch architecture, although it's not attractive enough. We spent some time here and took pictures.

Madame Tussaud Wax Museum

Unattractive Royal Palace

Others museums are bit far from the center. So, we got on a tram. It took us Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum. The latter locates just beyond the Van gogh Museum. In the green square between these two museums the huge slogan 'I amsterdam' stands. Rijksmuseum, despite the largest museum in Amsterdam we chose to see only Van gogh. This museum features a large collection of Van Gogh's work, like most famous "Sunflower", "Potato Eaters". Visitors are provided with ear phones to enjoy the arts with music, but photos are not allowed. Coster Diamond is another nearby attractions. Here you can see how diamond comes in its ultimate form after several stages of cutting and polishing the rough diamonds. Entrance is free but have to register for safety.

Behind the slogan is the Rijksmuseum

Vincent van Gogh Museum

Coster Diamond Center

Later we went Anne Frank House. Here too, photos weren't allowed inside. It's a four-story house where Anne Frank and her family hide from the Nazis and wrote her famous dairy. It has been a long time since I've read Anne Frank's Diary at school, but the museum put up related quotes from it in the rooms, in both Dutch and English. We back to hotel after seeing flower market, which is held along the bank of Singelgracht.[For more details go this post].

Anne Frank's house

But one thing I really didn't like in Amsterdam... that is drugs and prostitution are legal here. I saw lots of people taking drugs in the bars and even on the roadsides. And in the shops of the Red Light District drugs are openly sold. Every time we were our way to hotel it stank of drugs. Apart from this it is a very sprightly city and enjoyable for the tourists. Below you will find some other photos of the city.

Amsterdam City Center

Rambrandt's House

Canal near our hotel

And some photos inside the flower market