Netherlands Trip Day 5 - Delft to Den Bosch (Wednesday July 24th, 2019)

November 06, 2019

Netherlands Trip Day 5 - Delft to Den Bosch (Wednesday July 24th, 2019)

Netherlands Trip Day 5 - Delft to Den Bosch (Wednesday July 24th, 2019)

I had a bit of hard time sleeping that night partly due to the heat and partly due to the noise on the street. I kept listening for the church bell. During the middle of the night, I started to think about how to transport ourselves to Kinderdijk, the windmill farm by the low land and one of our destinations. I started to research transportation options and had decided that we were going to drive to Dordrecht and take the ferry over to Kinderdijk due to limited parking at Kinderdijk. Sun was up early that day and so was I. I got up well before 6:00 am to get ready.

Our beds in the attic

View of Nieuwe Kerk from the attic window

View of Nieuwe Kerk from the attic side window

Stepping out early morning with view of the Nieuwe Kerk

City Hall (Stadhuis) early in the morning

Tower of Nieuwe Kerk and statue of Hugo de Groot, a 16th century lawmaker

Church Tower with the more subdued and plain protestant design

Building along Kerkstraat

Taking in the view one last time

The small brick buildings by the Nieuwe Kerk

Canal and Nieuwe Kerk in front of our hotel

Rear view of the Nieuwe Kerk

Our hotel - Hotel de Emausproort

Today's heat will reach over 100F. After breakfast, we will be driving to Dordrecht and taking the ferry to Kinderdijk, the windmill farm. After visiting Kinderdijk, we will continue to drive south to sleep at Den Bosch ('s-Hertogenbosch) tonight.

Breakfast time

Good way to start the day

Ready to go!

Waiting for the ride

Crossing Delft's canal - leaving Delft

The driving distance from Delft to Dordrecht is only about 25 miles. We were trying to make the 9:30 am waterbus to Kinderdijk. We left Delft shortly after 8:00 am. Our destination is Dordrecht Merwekade, the waterbus pier.

Passing Rotterdam on the way to Dordrecht

Parked at Dordrecht Merwekade

202 blue line to Kinderdijk

On board the 202 waterbus

Enjoying the 30 minute ride to Kinderdijk

At Kinderdijk, shortly after 10:00 am

Mom in the clog

Kinderdijk is a public area with large number of molen (windmills). It is free of charge to enter and explore the area. However, this area is best explored by bike. There is a souvenir shop just outside the bike path of Kinderdijk that provide bike rentals. So with the 100F (38C) heat, we all rented bikes and headed down to Kinderdijk to take in a bit of Dutch country life.

Got the bikes

Nice straight bike path with molens on both sides

Selfie on the bike

We reached a view point by the river where both sides of the river are lined with molen. This is an instagram spot. So we stopped a take a few photos before moving on.

At the Kinderdijk view point

Molen reflecting in the river

MM at the view point

Looking back at where we biked from

We continued biking until we reached a right turn towards "Alblasserdam". We made the right turn and stopped at cross bridge. We took another break and decided to turn back at this point.

The right turn towards Alblasserdam

Cows grazing in the field

Reaching "Alblasserdam"

View from a small cross bridge, local boys were dipping in the river

MM at the cross bridge

We biked back to the souvenir shop shortly after 12:00 and returned our rental bikes. Everyone made it back safely. We decided to take our lunch at the "Buena Vista" cafe right next to the souvenir shop before we drive further south to Den Bosch.

Pancake menu at Buena Vista cafe

Gourmet coffee

Cappucino

Ready for the big burger

Dutch mini pancake (poffertjes) with chocolate sauce

Bitterballen - Dutch fried meat balls

Club sandwich

After lunch, we took the waterbus back to Dordrecht. Dordrecht is a historical city of the province of South Holland. We got a great view of Dordrecht Island on the way back. The city looked like it came straight out of a late-medieval painting. The old buildings looked like they were about to topple over onto the cobble stone streets. It was also devoid of crowd.

"Aqua Runner" our waterbus back to Dordrecht

The cobble stone street of Dordrecht

Behind the historical landmark Groothoofdspoort

The 15th century landmark is now a restaurant

The Dordrecht Maiden

After spending a short time in Dordrecht, we were heading to Den Bosch in the North Brabant province. We will sleep in Den Bosch tonight. It was about a 45 minute drive southeast of Dordrecht, perfect time for a short nap for everyone after a hot day in the sun.

Den Bosch or 's-Hertogenbosch to be proper, is a city located in the North Brabant province. 's-Hertogen means Duke's and Bosch means forest. So this city simply means "Duke's Forest" as the Duke's of Brabant in the Duchy of Brabant.

When we got into town, we pulled our car close to our hotel - Hotel 't Keershuy right in the center of the town. We unloaded our luggages and the valet took our car to the parking lot somewhere nearby the hotel.

Our third hotel of the trip - Hotel 't Keershuy

Hotel 't Keershuy is located right in the center of Den Bosch. The first floor of the hotel is a bar as well as the dining area for breakfast. We checked in at the bar and made our way to our rooms above the bar. Unlike our first two hotels, Hotel 't Keershuy is air conditioned. Our room - also located at the attic is fairly well air conditioned. The cool conditioned air was greatly needed during the record heat wave we were experiencing. After settling in, Joanne and I took a walk to get acquitted with the city. We bought some fruit at a grocery store for the kids. After getting back to our hotel, Joanne had settled on where we were going to eat tonight - an Afghan restaurant named Zaher.

Mom enjoys a complimentary drink at the hotel

Stepping out on our pm city walk in 100F heat

Local city bus - we're in Brabant now

"Orangerie", a historical church now an event venue

Picking up some aardbeien at a nearby market

On our way to dinner, walking by the canal

Teenagers practicing sailing in the canal

Zaher, our dinner spot

Zaher is an Afghan restaurant located in the heart of Den Bosch. During this whole trip, our dinner choices have been either Indonesian or other type of Asian cuisine. Joanne found this place and we decided to give a try. This meal turned out to be one of our most favorite meal of this entire trip. The restaurant is opened by a young Afghan refugee named Nadima. During the course of our meal, we chatted with Nadima and learned how she escaped the war-torn Afghanistan and entered The Netherlands via a fake passport. She was eventually caught but she was able to apply for asylum. Nadima learned cooking from her mother and now owns a thriving restaurant in Den Bosch with a great crew supporting her. She was rather surprised that someone from America would come all the way over here to Den Bosch and show up in her restaurant. Well, we did and we enjoyed one of the best meals we have ever had.

After dinner, we took our paseo along the main square. After getting some gelato in front of our hotel, Joanne and I went for another evening stroll to burn off some of the calories.

Nadima, the owner of Zaher

Beautiful plate for our starter

A special vegetarian starter made for mother

Our multiple starters

Rice and bread

Rice dish full of flavor and spices

The feast begins

The meat entree with many small side dishes

Ice cream dessert

Business card of Zaher

At this point, words and pictures cannot describe our fullness after this meal. We were so surprised that we could get such great ethnic food in Den Bosch. We chatted more with Nadima and thanked her for the great hospitality. We strolled back to our hotel while the sun was gradually setting. We passed by the main square and sent mom and the kids back to the room to shower while Joanne and I continued our late evening paseo to close out the night.

On our stroll back to the hotel by the main town square

The main town square, the "Well House" is located in the center and the statue of the 15th century painter Jheronimus Bosch is located at the left

View towards city hall and the Well House

Symbol on the Well House

Based on my research, the Well House or "Puthuis" is a reconstructed Well House completed in 2016 that is based on the original city well from the 16th century. The well itself has a coat of arms - a lion and a double headed eagle on top. Per further research, these are the coat of arms of the House of Habsburg. Back in the days of the newly founded Dutch Republic (roughly 16th century, the time of the Reformation, or the Eighty Years War), this region took the side of Catholic or the side of the Holy Roman Empire. I reason that is why the renovation artist used the Habsburg coat of arms to decorate the city well. Later that evening we will visit the prominent St. John's Cathedral or Sint-Janskathedraal in Dutch which remains a Catholic establishment today versus the protestant churches in North and South Holland province. We are now in official Habsburg territory bordering the Dutch Republic if I had lived in the 16th century. Which side would I be on - Catholic Habsburg or Protestant Republic?

City Hall

Mural on an old building

A bike along the street

Passing by a HEMA, the Dutch version of Target, on the way back

The Moriaan, one of the oldest brick buildings in town, dated back to the 13th century (the building to the right of the white building)

An old bank building at the cross street of our hotel

Getting some gelato after dinner, more dessert!

Fruity flavor

Continuing our walk after dropping off the kids and mom towards the train station, crossing the city canal

Going towards the train station

Unique features along the city canal

The dragon statue is right in front of the train station

A line of old buildings on the way back from the train station

Walking back to the town square on the way to St. John's Cathedral - one of the largest Catholic Cathedrals in The Netherlands, a symbol of power for the old world

A building sandwiched between other buildings. This is actually typical of Dutch architecture to save property tax by having a small facade.

Approaching the tower of St. John's Cathedral

It's always exciting to see high Gothic style Cathedral in Europe. It reminds me of the Notre Dame in Paris.

Part of the facade is being renovated

A monochromic take of the church tower

Full view of the Cathedral looking from the church square (from south facing north). Of course the apse is facing east and the transept is facing north and south thus making the church a crucifix