We were handed a booklet at the lock into the town with a map of places to moor and the price. What a pleasant surprise, the price to moor overnight was 8.80e or for 1 week only 30.20 e with free power so we decided to stay for a week and found a mooring in Katinsingel just around the corner from the shopping street leading into the square. The photo below is of Gouda in the 17th century, you can see by the white cross where we moored on the canal and the one in the square that even in 2010 we could easily find our way around.
It is a lovely city to walk around and has many historical buildings, the longest church in the Netherlands, a beautiful Gothic Town Hall and quaint small streets and canals. Cheese of course is the draw card and the street decorations are rounds of cheese, the lamp posts are adorned with flowers and a crown and the canals are decorated with flowers and cheese.
The cheese market was very different to the one we saw in Alkmaar, not so frantic and no barriers around it. The cheese is unloaded and carried away in carts drawn by black horses, young men unload and load the carts, young women carry the cheeses around for people to have photographs taken with them and the buyer and sellers of the cheese barter in the old traditional hand slap so it is a great performance.
The market takes place in the city square behind the Town Hall and in front of the old Cheese Warehouse.
While we were taking photos of the market I saw these two farmer participants discussing their own cheese for sale on the side, so modern business was taking place also.
The cheese stalls had all sorts of interesting hard cheeses.
During the next few days the town is in festival mode as we wandered through the town square, on different days there was an antique and bricbrac market, a day of clothes and everything market and a day of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish market with everything stalls also. Now I am all marketed out!!
Of course our favourite place was always a café to have a coffee and do some people watching.
It was difficult to take a photo without a stall in front of the town hall which is a lovely building.
Inside the town hall is the Marriage Room where the official marriages take place in a beautiful room with the walls covered in an exquisite tapestry.
And outside the smallest bridal car I have seen.
After the market days volley ball and soccer courts were set up for corporate games in several places around the square.
Wandering around the streets there is always something else that is a little different. In this street there is seating around the trees and the shops put out lovely cushions. How nice it is to have a little rest before spending more money.
On one of our walks we came across this little bar, Football Fever is still going strong.
We are still having fun joining in the orange brigade watching the big screens.
While we have been travelling with Diana and Arthur we have all been finetuning things and Arthur has fitted an inverter so they can run a washing machine and the coffee machine. We had a nice time last night when we celebrated the commissioning of the inverter with a dinner and dress up.
Walking around the town we see so many unusual houses.
And probably the most unusual Subway Shop.
Gouda’s St John's Church of is 123 metres long and is the longest church in the Netherlands and famous for its stained glass windows. Many of the windows date from 1555, before 1572 it was a Catholic church and afterwards a Protestant church, the tradition of stained glass windows has carried on with some being added over the next 400 years, now it has about 60% of the stained glass windows seen in the Netherlands.
The windows are enormous with wonderful colours and detail , it is hard to believe they are over 400 years old.
The windows were removed during the 2nd world war in case of damage and a Liberation window added in 1948.
On one of our bike rides we went north of Gouda to the Reeuwijkse Lake and onto the small town of Bodegraven. The lower half of the lake is for boating
and the northern half for canoes, nature areas and the local beach. The temperature was around 30 deg and I don’t think there could have been a person left in Gouda, they were all at the beach. The parking area was full.
Riding towards Bodegraven we passed this house where a business made garden furniture and sculptures. There was every animal you can imagine it looked like a Noahs Ark.
Did you say you would like a cow? What size?
They even had a kangaroo
While on animals, back in Gouda and walking around the canal I saw the Man carrying a Donkey sculpture which is on the canal side. I haven’t found out the story yet, it will give you something to do.
One of our early morning sights was this little chick with its mum sitting on a lily leaf with mum close by.
While we were in Gouda we finally caught up with Phil and Sharlene from British Columbia. I first had contact with them when they read the blog and emailed for some information before buying their boat. Phil is on crutches and they are staying on their boat in Vollenhove. Diana and Arthur met them last year and they came by car from to visit us. It was lovely to catch up at last, thanks for coming guys.
Our last morning and we have a quick walk around town. The square looks quite lonely compared to the last week.
This time we managed to get good photos of the bells and tableau of the granting of city rights in on the side of the town hall.
Now it is time to leave, where we stop next? who knows?.
