Feeling a Little (Delft) Blue

An evening of fun in the famous town of Delft

Last night my social adventures took me to the town of Delft, best known for a specific shade of blue ceramics. This is literally the stuff seen in almost every grandparent’s house for those of us from my generation. The town is like a mini-Amsterdam, in the best possible ways.

Traveling to Delft from Den Haag Central Station is quick, easy and cheap. It is about 5 Euros round trip and takes approximately 20 minutes by train. Once out of the train station, it feels like downtown Amsterdam with a canal between nearly every street. The buildings are historic stone, and the restaurants are both tasty and lively on a Friday evening.

The town is this fun mix of traditional with new. The food is traditional Dutch (don’t expect healthy) with wonderful cheeses in nearly everything. The drinks are also traditional beers from the area, along with a big selection of alcohol-free options.

I had true Indonesian food for the first time in Delft. It was a vegetarian tofu/egg omelet with beansprouts and well-spiced peanut sauce on top. It was big, delicious and awesome. It is also somewhat uniquely Dutch. Similar to why the United Kingdom has some of the best Indian food outside of India, Holland has some of the best Indonesian food outside Indonesia. It is a lasting and one of the few positive remnants of a time of conquest and colonization.

Navigating Delft is hard to do deftly. The city’s streets turn in strange ways, alleyways connect between streets and canals are constantly turning unexpectedly. As it is difficult to walk on water for us mere mortals, bridges are required. These make sense with the city’s street grid, until they don’t. Fortunately, there are many historic stone bridges and newer, modern foot bridges that cross the canals at semi-regular intervals. This character makes the town much more charming and fun to explore.