We stayed in Gouda for a while for the cheese market . Thousands of people gather in the town square to watch the re-enactment of the farmers bringing their farm made cheese (mostly in 25 pound rounds) to be purchased by local merchants. Plus there are lots of vendors selling fruits & vegetables, clothing, souvenirs and snack foods. After lunch we took a short ride to Delft. There in the new church is the grave of Prince Willem of Orange, known for starting the reformation in Holland as it was then known, to break away from the Catholic church and to change the royal home and the old country over to Protestantism. To this date the country is pretty well split by Protestants above the Rhine river and Catholics below. In the 15th century Delft was a powerful city and Holland was a powerful nation. It was then attacked by Prince Phillip of Spain who wanted some of those riches. The village of Phillipine that I grew up in was vested by the Spaniards in 1505 and named after him. Delft was also the birth place of Johannes Vermeer, a famous Dutch painter. And it’s known for the very famous Delft Blue pottery.
