We walked back into Gouda in the morning and took a tour of the Sint Janskerk. The tour was given by a very clever verger and custodian, Maurits Tompot. The church is not only the longest and tallest in The Netherlands, but it is famous for 72 large stained-glass windows. During the Protestant Reformation, the stained-glass windows of most churches in The Netherlands which featured saints were destroyed, but for some reason the Sint Janskerk windows were saved, and even the original paper sketches for the glass are still saved in case of breakage. This was the most interesting tour of a church I’ve ever taken thanks to Mr. Tompot’s extensive knowledge coupled with interesting and humorous ways of relating scenes in the windows to real events, people, and historic political views.
We requested a stop at this windmill because it was a type we hadn’t seen up close.
The whole upper “house” is rotated via the wheel at the left using chains tied to the little anchors seen around the mill.
Looking the other way we saw more swans.
And also this yucky-looking operation where the tractor seems to be pumping muck from the canal and spreading it on the field. A number of birds found the sprayed-on muck very interesting.
It’s not a great photo but I like this scene because you see so much “Holland-ness”: the fields are surrounded by canals which need constant maintenance and attention. In the distance you see an old mill, but also modern electricity-generating windmills and a few farm buildings. It’s flat. And you only see the one farmer – we saw few people “out and about” in the rural areas.
We kept a fairly steady pace for our first long day of riding. We rode along some large dikes, then took a ferry over the Lek river at Schoonhoven.
The “you are leaving Groot-Ammers” sign.
Power-washing the roof of this mill. We got a bit wet and dirty riding past this.
Then we arrived at a beautiful lunch spot – an outdoor cafe of sorts with really nice pie-style Apple pie. We ate our box lunches, then had pie for dessert.
We had some headwind riding after lunch.
We stopped at Kinderdijk, an area with lots of old windmills and toured one of the mills.
A video showing some of the windmills at Kinderdijk, then a view from inside the mill that you can tour.
The “beeping” sound in the latter part is a bird that we heard all over Holland. I think it sounds like a U.S. crosswalk signal for the visually impaired (the Dutch audio crosswalk signals sound much different).
After the tour we crossed back over the Lek on another ferry.
Then we rode toward Rotterdam. As we crossed the mouth of the IJssel we saw these massive storm gates which can be lowered to stop sea-water from flowing back up the IJssel.
Rotterdam was very busy and urban. It was the only city bombed by the Germans in World War II, so it lacks the old buildings of the other cities and has lots of interesting modern architecture and bridges. We had a rest break where our guides let us taste-test two different brands of stroopwaffles from Gouda where they were invented.
While we were stopped, this barge passed by, and one of our tour members is named Norma.
This “one-sided suspension bridge” is a bit of a landmark. It is known locally as ‘The Swan’, but is named Erasmusbrug.
We met the barge in Rotterdam, and then it went up a canal to Delft. A tower in Rotterdam as we were leaving.
A circus was in town and we saw some camels from the canal.
We moored to another bike-tour barge in Delft.
Our after-dinner walk in Delft took us to see the leaning tower of the Old Church. They worked on the building for a hundred years and then the tower began leaning before construction of the rest of the church was finished – bummer!
They went ahead and finished the rest of the church anyway, but also started building a New Church a bit further from the canal.
Delft also had an office of the Dutch East India Company (in Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, “United East India Company”). You can see the VOC above the door.
From Wikipedia:
The VOC was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world and it was the first company to issue stock. It was a powerful company, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.
This early 1600’s financial innovation (along with the similar Dutch West India Company) and a simultaneous Dutch technological revolution in shipbuilding led to a competitive advantage in shipping that helped the Dutch become the dominant trade power by the mid-17th century. There is some interesting reading at Wikipedia: Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815).
The sun was going down but still shining on the Old Church tower.
Lots of coats of arms on this building.
Street lamp in Delft.
Sunset.
