A small city with a big reputation. Mostly of cheese, but Gouda doesn’t disappoint. With a weekly historic cheese market, charming canals and a church with some impressive titles, there are plenty of reasons to visit the Dutch city of Gouda.
It wouldn’t be a Dutch city experience if it didn’t have canals, and the walk from the station into the city centre gives visitors a glimpse at some of Gouda’s finest. The first one you come across is calm and spacious, lined with boats and bikes. The further into the city you get, they become narrower and less a mode of transport and more of a surprise canal that you find between some buildings.
Gouda’s title-winning church, the Church of St John, dazzles visitors with the stunning stained glass windows. The only church in the world to have so much stained glass from the 16th century, the history of the building is in keeping with the rest of Gouda. Visitors can enjoy a tour of the church for a small fee, and if timed right, might also catch a small concert.
Although Gouda isn’t a big city, the central square is still impressive. It’s full of life with the weekly markets, but even without those it’s still worth a visit as the city hall sits right in the middle of the markt. Dating back to 1450, Gouda city hall claims the title of the oldest Gothic city hall in the Netherlands. The exterior architecture alone is worth checking out, and for a small fee visitors can take a tour of the interior too.
The city hall really comes to life in December on Candle Night, when the windows of both the city hall and the surrounding buildings are filled with candles for the celebrations. It’s a day full of events, topped off with the Christmas tree lights being turned on in the evening.
Nearby, the old cheese waag that was used to weigh the cheeses still does demonstrations with the huge scales and equally huge wheels of cheese. The building, finished in the late 1600s, is now home to Gouda’s cheese museum, giving visitors and insight into the history and process of making Gouda cheese.
So, which came first, the city or the cheese? It probably won’t surprise you to know the city of Gouda was there first, but it might be a surprise to know that the cheese Gouda was named after the city. Not because it is or was made there, but because it was taken there to be traded at the weekly cheese market.
These days the traditional cheese market is still held once a week in the summer, and it’s definitely worth a visit. The cheese wheels are lined up in the market square, with the traditional dairy maids walking around. Deals are still done by handjeklap, with the clap of a hand for each offer and counter offer. After a price is agreed, the cheese is taken away by horse and cart. It’s theatrical, and so interesting to see.
You can easily do a quick tour of Gouda in a day, even half a day if you’re short on time. With quick and easy connections across The Netherlands, it’s really easy to take a day trip to Gouda from Amsterdam, Rotterdam or pretty much any city in the country.
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