Hello, hope you enjoyed my trip coverage so far  on Amsterdam. Getting to write these posts and share my pictures (many) was like being back there again, and immediately brought back a rush of memories. It was a short trip (6 days) but oh, so much fun doing everything I love. I am so very happy we decided to work visiting Delft into our itinerary. It is an incredibly beautiful and bustling city with one of Amsterdams’ most prestigious universities. Their other claim to fame is of course, The Royal Delft factory, museum and shop.

I think what makes this extra remarkable is that in the mid 17th century, there were approx. 32 Delft factories inside Delft alone, and today there is one standing…Royal Delft. Before we left, I had tried to contact one of the last standing still family owned factories from the 17th Century, The Delft Pauww factory, who’s factory was still inside their home!  I was so sad to learn that they shut their doors for good during Covid. So it made being able to visit Royal Delft that much more meaningful. We started off with a cappuccino in their darling little cafè the perused the beautiful goods in their charming shop. We then proceeded to tour the fascinating museum which highlighted approx. a staggering 400 years of making Delftware and how it all began. Utterly fascinating.

Then for me the most fun part was getting to go into the factory and watching the entire process from start to finish. I was surprised to learn there are only 12 highly skilled artisan/painters on staff that go through rigorous training. A master paint goes though an intensive training that lasts 8 years (more than a doctor!)

The factory was spotless, quiet, and beautifully organized. You could see decades of perfecting their craft over the years on full display. The tour was fascinating and I soaked up every minute! Afterwards I was able to speak to one of the reps about my eventual order of Delft tiles for my new kitchen, which was exciting. Even brought a few samples home:)

After an enjoyable morning at the Royal Delft factory, we then ventured into the actual city of Delft, a beautiful canal filled city housing medieval buildings that have stood the test of time, dotted with endless cafès and shops. And yes, like Amsterdam, bikes reign supreme! I found it wholesome and fascinating. Cafe and bike culture is the very heartbeat of this charming city. As with Amsterdam, people could not have been friendlier, kinder, more helpful and so civilized. So without further adue and little narration necessary here are the highlights from my trip to Delft-

You may want to sit down, this like the other posts, are quite photo heavy!

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Step inside to the world of Delft pottery at Royal Delft-

 

Where an enormous oversized pair of blue and white clogs (of course) greeted me!

The first piece I see is this exquisite jar!

The cafe was charming and loved how everything was served on, you guessed it……delftware!

Entering the gift shop…..

Entering the exquisite musuem

I gasped when I saw this…so exquisite and about 2 or 3 ft tall!

This mural wall below was ENORMOUS, hard to capture in a photo, but it took my breath away

Entering the factory

The pretty palette of paints they use behind glass

Lots of pieces to paint!

One of the 12 highly skilled artisans painting a vase, it was such fun to watch the process (FYI there are painting classes offered there which did not fit into our schedule but what fun that would be…next time)

Before firing  and after

A completed plate

A stunning Delft tile wall

 

Walking into the city, of course bikes were everywhere, love this above, so quintessential with her tulips in her basket….

There are scores of gift shops filled with you guessed it, plenty of blue and white!

This above was an interesting idea (not for me at all) but you could create your own tulipiere with stackable pieces..interesting concept

Best kind of window shopping

Charming cheese shops were plentiful

At the end of such an enjoyable day we stopped off for a snack, this avocado toast was so so good, I never thought to put pomegranate seeds to it, but will be trying this at home!

 

On our last day we walked around just one final time to soak it all one last time, the canals, bikes everywhere and charming stores like the florist below left a beautiful and lasting impression of Amsterdam

The airport was super impressive, It had a champagne bar (below) and even a library! Security was so efficient and looked like a science lab, a far cry from what I see at JFK!

Here is the airport library, such a great idea!

And even a flower shop!

And we were finally back on the plane where we were greeted with such lovely KLM flight attendants passing out those darling little houses filled with Dutch gin, such a fun keep sake! If you want to read their history of them doing this, this short article is interesting (click here)

 

 

And here were my overall trip observations, highlights and recommendations which I shared on my last post-

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To celebrate this last post of my trip to Amsterdam, our best selling medium original style tulipiere is our DEAL OF THE DAY! What could be more dutch than celebrating the almighty tulipiere!

Click here to see

Ready to go? I could go back in a heartbeat and with luck, I  will! It was a wonderful trip in every possible way and I will always treasure the memories we made there. I cannot recommend it highly enough and if you missed my two previous posts (part 1 and 2) on this trip, click here and here.

Thanks for stopping by, wishing everyone a fabulous day.  Until next time….