Detour to Delft: Charming Churches & Canals in a Picturesque Dutch Town

European Adventure: Part 1 of 6

The town of Delft in the Netherlands was the first stop on my first trip back to Europe since Covid!

I remember leaving Aix-en-Provence, France on March 16, 2020 with the belief that this Covid thing would never last. I planned to travel that summer, retaking the days and experiences I was missing out on by being sent home from my Study Abroad program early. I believed it would be two months until I was back. Not two years!

But a little thing like Covid won’t keep me away from travel forever!

My best friend called me up in January and said she wanted to go to Europe when she graduated from college that spring. We brainstormed and researched and then planned a trip to the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. She was bringing her boyfriend along and I didn’t want to be the third wheel, so I invited another friend. When the time came in mid-May, the four of us boarded our flights and took to the skies.

We landed in Schipol Airport on May 18, ready for two weeks of adventure. And Delft, as I said, was the very first stop.

Delft is a 40-minute train ride from the airport through beautiful countryside. The first thing that struck me was the greenery. The Netherlands is a coastal country with tons of water running through it (the canals its famous for have to get that water from somewhere) and the vegetation reflected the copious amounts of water in the country as well as the humidity in the air. It’s the kind of green that looks healthy, that looks like it glows.

The second thing was that it is flat. And I mean flat. Not like Nebraska flat. Like a sheet of paper flat. The rivers toiling calmly across the land are merely an inch below the edge of the earth, like the bank is merely another piece of paper laid upon the first. Perhaps parts of the Netherlands have hills, in fact, I’m sure they do, but the coastal region from Schipol to The Hague to Delft was smooth as a tabletop.

My friends and I took turns spotting windmills with great enthusiasm despite the fact that we’d been on planes all night. Perhaps it was because we’d been on planes all night that were were so excited–the kind of half adrenaline, half exhaustion that comes from anticipation and sleep deprivation and excitement and stiff necks.

Soon, we exited the train mere feet from the charming canal-filled downtown of Delft. Think cobbled streets and tiny canals and flowers everywhere.

Delft small town square with tables in Netherlands in spring

It felt good to walk and stretch my legs even with my heavy backpack weighing me down. First things first–get rid of the backpack and put on sandals. It was warm!

We checked into our hotel so we could drop off our luggage and change out of our plane clothes. Olivia and I stayed at the charming Johannes Vermeer Hotel. (Thanks, Poppie, for making our stay at this iconic hotel possible!).

Johannes Vermeer Hotel Girl with a Pearl Earring breakfast area

Maddie smiles before replica paintings at Johannes Vermeer Hotel

While the walls are lined with replicas of Vermeer’s famous paintings and a Girl With A Pearl Earring mural graces the breakfast room, the best part of the experience was that our room was at the very top of the house. We had to climb three sets of narrow staircases to the attic and be careful not to hit our heads, but the view over the red roofs of Delft was well worth it. Three churches made their presence known with towers and spires.

We desperately needed some food after traveling all night and not having breakfast or lunch. A cone of sweet potato fries did the trick, energizing us to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering through the beautiful, picturesque streets.

French fries beside a Delft canal in spring

The flowers were in full bloom, even a few tulips despite the season being over. Each bridge was adorned with flower boxes, each road rough with cobbles. Ducks cavorted in the canals and bikes blurred past us. I kept a careful eye out because I’d been to the Netherlands once before–my grandparents took my brother and I when we were in elementary school, and we almost got taken out by bikers numerous times. I’m a bit bigger than I was then, but I still don’t fancy getting hit by a bike!

We had an early dinner beside the canal and went back to the hotel. We slept with the windows open, the breeze cooling off the room and carry only bird song rather than the noises of traffic and people down below.

The next morning we had our energy back and were ready to explore.

bridge over narrow Delft canal with the tower of the new church in the background

Old Church (Oude Kerk)

After breakfast at the hotel, the group gathered, walking through the white tented market in the town square and over small bridges and charming streets that we hadn’t walked the day before.

Out path led us (by design) to the Old Church of Delft.

The Old Church was built around 1200 and the tower was added between 1325 and 1350. The tower is tilted because when it was being built the canal needed to be rerouted to make room. So the previous canal was filled in. Half the tower rested on this filled-in canal and half on solid ground. The tower began to tilt halfway through the build and the remaining top half was corrected. The bottom is almost 2 meters out of vertical.

This church, like many in the Netherlands, was once a Catholic church, but in the 1600s when The Netherlands became a Protestant country, the church became a protestant church. Thus the elaborate Gothic Catholic churches were stripped of their ornamentation and painted white. Many Reformers viewed elaborate Catholic art and statues as idolatry and an era of iconoclasm arose.

Old Church of Delft reflected in the water of a pristine canal lined with green trees

It has always saddened me that so much history and beauty has been lost, but I have been in enough Catholic churches to imagine what was once on the walls. At least the beautiful stained glass remains.

Another notable thing about the Old Church is that it is the final resting place of the famous Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (FYI, my mom’s last name is Vermeer!). Vermeer lived and died in Delft, (hence the hotel named after him) and his tomb can be found in the Oude Kerk.

White-washed interior of the old church of Delft

tombstone of Johannes Vermeer in the old church in Delft

After visiting the Old Church, we went to…

You guessed it! The New Church.

New Church (Nieuwe Kerk)

Tower of the New Church in Delft with a bird in a clear blue sky

white-washed interior of the new church of Delft

One of my favorite things about Europe (and the Middle East and really anywhere that isn’t the United States) is the concept of new.

The New Church in Delft is so new that it was built before Columbus “discovered” America. Construction began in 1383. Though, it wasn’t finished until 1510, so I guess that is pretty new.

Prince William of Orange (1533-1584) is buried in the vault below the church. William was a powerful nobleman who led the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule (which was also a Protestant versus Catholic conflict because religion was never far from war in Medieval Europe). Many others of the house of Orange were laid to rest in the vault below the church, and the Dutch royal family (still the Oranges) continue to be buried there to this day.

William of Orange prince of the Netherlands in Delft New Church

The tower of the New Church goes up and up and up with multiple landings. The spiral stairs are tight and there is only one way up and down, so we were glad to get there right as it opened. We didn’t have to wait for anyone coming down or awkwardly slide past them on too-narrow stairs.

You do not want to miss the view from the top!

Panorama of the view from the tower of the new church in Delft — View from the Nieuwe Kerk. To the right you can see the tower of the Oude Kerk.

twin church towers through the decorative railing of the New Church of Delft tower

I know that some people say, “oh, it’s just anther church in a land full of churches,” but, to me, it’s so much more than that. Because it’s a part of history. I don’t usually enter churches and cathedrals because I just want to see the beauty and I’m not as interested in architecture as some, but I love that a piece of history is still standing. I love that 16th century shoes helped wear down the threshold that I am standing on and 17th century children fell asleep on the pews that I am resting on and 18th century women walked down this aisle to get married just as 21st century women do.

I love that. I love what each stone holds. It just happens to be that it’s churches that are one of the better preserved remnants of history.

We had an early lunch in Delft, part of me wishing we could stay another day, another week. It was a peaceful place, with slow moving water and slow moving life. I remember that from Aix-en-Provence too. There are so many places to sit, to take it all in. To observe the flowers, to taste the cheese, to watch the children holding hands as they cross the street.

But there are times to sit and times to move, and it was time to move on to our next adventure.