Delft, NL

Last week Thursday, Sietse, our Airbnb host, had to travel to Delft for his job.  He sent us a text the night before and invited us to ride along with him.  Of course we accepted.  On Thursday morning he dropped us off near town, and we toured around, then found our way back on a train.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy, overcast day...but no worries...when you travel, you make the best of things...especially the weather.

We began our day by taking a tour of the Royal Delft pottery factory where the famous Delft Blue pottery is made.  It is the last remaining factory from the 17th century.  The Royal Delft Group is the only Delft Blue potter with a seal of approval from the Dutch royal family.    

All pottery here is hand made and painted.  It takes 10 years for the painters to learn their craft.  

Artists creating pottery in the factory.

Above shows the different stages of the pottery process.
You begin with white baking clay to form a plate.
A stencil is applied with charcoal to make a basic sketch on the plate.
Once the outline is on the plate, the painter uses a simple black paint to fill in his design.
When the piece is fired the paint turns from black to the color blue.  

There was a market taking place on the day we arrived in Delft.  It was an odd assortment of food and other items...such as bolts of material.  It wasn't a very pretty market, and had the appearance of a backyard sale.  It also made it hard to get a good picture of the buildings on the square.

Above...a house on a side street that was once privately owned
Below....the doorway belonging to the same house

We took some time to visit the Museum Het Prinsenhof, which is located in a splendid old castle.  

Flowers on the canal

Lance and I enjoyed a tasty lunch in a restaurant near this canal.  You could sit and eat on the boat...or inside the restaurant.  We grabbed a window seat in the restaurant.  Lance had dutch pancakes and I enjoyed a delicious hamburger.  

We enjoyed our visit to Delft.  It was interesting...but not quite as pretty as I imagined it to be.  Perhaps it was the overcast weather...or the large number of stores that you might see at your local mall.  Or...maybe my expectations were just too high.  Nevertheless, it was a fun adventure and I'm glad we went.