Cheese Town in The Netherlands: Gouda

As my trip to The Netherlands was taking shape, I was looking forward to visiting the town eponymous with cheese: Gouda. I had never stop to contemplate what this cheese town in The Netherlands could actually be like, much less look it up.

Gouda’s name doesn’t sound like it reads

Once in The Netherlands, I learned the town name is pronounced something like “Hao-da”. It does sound ridiculous vs. the pronunciation of the letters in English (or Spanish, or many other languages). But that is the cool thing about Dutch: it is very much its OWN thing. I tried not to be pretentious since it was only a half-day visit. So I stuck to “Goo-da” but I avoided saying it in front of locals to not offend 🙂

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring
Approaching town center coming from the nearby train station

Getting to Gouda

My visit to Gouda would be a daytrip from Rotterdam. Staying in Rotterdam, made it very easy to squeeze in a side trip since the ride was so short – about 20+ mins. From the Gouda train station, it was a 5-min walk to the shopping/pedestrian street leading to the heart of town. Easy-peasy!

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring

Tourist in Gouda

We stopped at the tourist info office at the heart of town (the “VVV“) and oriented ourselves. It is a small office and a good place to get info, plans, etc. if you have not done much research beforehand. They sell a handy and compact visitor booklet for 5 euros that is worth the spend. It orients you to town and the places to be sure to notice/see intown.

The tourist office is within a historic building, De Waag, where they weighed cheese brought in to the market for sale. Considering Gouda’s cheese market was established in 1198, we can say a lot of cheese has gone through it. Now, the Waag hosts the VVV and a small museum.

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring

Cheese Town

We learned that Gouda became the “it” place for the cheese commerce beating other competitor towns. I thought the cheese was named for the town because it was made there but, no, it was made in the region. Gouda was just like the trading center. Who knew?

The central square still hosts a cheese market one day a week. The Gothic building at the center, City Hall or Stadhuis, built around 1450, was placed alone to avoid it catching fire should a fire start around it.

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring, city hall, stadhuis
Gouda, Holland, cheese town inThe Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring, stadhuis, city hall, rathaus
Gouda, Holland, cheese town in The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring

Cheese Tasting

We opted to do a cheese exploration by visiting the Gouda Cheese Experience. It was a neat place with some hands-on interaction (not making cheese but in other ways) which made it interesting for kids and adults.

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring, cheese experience
True hands-on!

At the end, we had the chance to taste some cheeses before heading out. It was a good way to learn more about cheesemaking in all its aspects (ingredients, process, packaging, etc.).

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring, cheese experience, cheese tasting

Amazing stained windows at Sint-Janskerk

Taking a small side alley from the market square, one enters the quaint area around the church of St John’s (Sint-Janskerk). The area is small and kept much as it has been for ages. It became one of my favorite spots in The Netherlands!

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, exploring, cheese experience
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture, Dutch canal
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture, Lazarus Gate
The beautiful Lazarus Gate
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture, Lazarus Gate
The reverse (or garden-side) of the Lazarus Gate
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture

The church is protestantly sparse – devoid of the warmth that I am used to in a place of worship. However, it hosts 72 amazing 16th century stained windows (most of them, not all). These stained windows were taken down during WW II so they would not be destroyed. They were stored all over the place until the war ended and they could safely hang in their usual spots.

Using an audioguide is highly recommended (included in the entrance fee) to better appreciate the art and what it depicts. It was time well spent!

Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch cheese, Dutch architecture, St John Church, Janskirk
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch architecture, St John Church, Janskirk, stained glass window
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch architecture, St John Church, Janskirk, stained glass window
Gouda, Holland, cheese town, The Netherlands, travel, Dutch architecture, St John Church, Janskirk, stained glass window

The church was built in the mid-sixteenth century after fire destroyed the medieval church that was located there (not an uncommon fate for churches in those times). Another claim to fame is that it is the longest church in The Netherlands.


I hope this gives you a small glimpse into this curious Dutch town – and that perhaps you read this and it makes you want to eat some Gouda cheese!

More Than Just Where a Treaty Was Signed: Charming Maastricht

The charming town of Maastricht sits in the “tear drop” southeastern corner of The Netherlands by the Meuse River (“Maas” in Dutch, hence the town name). a stone’s throw from Belgium and a hard ball kick from Germany, as it were.  The town is known these days more because of the European union project since Maastricht is were the sane-named treaty launching the European Union was signed here in 1992.

I went to visit a college friend who was residing there as an ex-pat because I happened to be working in Frankfurt at the time.   The town is an old town, settled by the Romans who built a bridge across the Meuse River in the 1st century AD.    Maastricht also sat an an important point in Charlemagne’s empire around the 9th century AD which later evolved to the Holy Roman Empire.   The city has been ruled by French, Spanish, German, dukes, princes, bishops, and, of course the Dutch.  The city almost ended up in Belgium when Belgium separated from the United Kingdom of The Netherlands in the 1830s.  Finally, it was the first Dutch city to be liberated by the Allies in WWII.  All this to say that, though you may not know much about Maastricht as me before I went, it is an old and quite historical place.

I found the locals to be quite friendly.  I recall how the old owner of a pub my friend frequented told me when we went there to hang out and have a beer that he loved Americans because they liberated his town from the Nazis.  This was over 50 yrs after the fact and he must have been a kid when it happened but the feeling was fresh and strong.

The town is quaint and beautiful, what other adjectives can I use?  Walk its streets as does everyone there and shop or just look around )like in the high-end Stokstraat street).  Admire the architecture and details (like what they used to joist furniture and other stuff up to higher stories of the buildings).

Going up the 70m tall red bell tower of the Protestant Church of St. John’s (St. Jan) is a must.  St. John (as in St. John the Baptist) was built in Gothic style around the 12th and 13th century and it provides great views of the town below and the neighboring Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Servatius (St. Servaas) with its twin towers, built on the site where the saint was buried in Romanesque style also around the 11th and 12th century.  Walk around their grounds and then end up in Vrijthof Square, visiting a museum or hanging out a café.

I hope that more people venture beyond ever-popular Amsterdam to discover towns like Maastricht to get a more complete view of The Netherlands.  Take a look at the gallery of photos and tell me what you think!  Click on a photo to enlarge it

 

And Work Took Me Places…

A lot of my international travels have been part of or enabled by work.  Whether is being asked if in 24 hours I could leave for Helsinki to spend 3 weeks there in the middle of winter, or whether the miles accumulated by years of sometimes-weekly travel have allowed me to go out of the country for vacation, work has always been a key factor in my exploring.  I would say it is second only to my zest for travel and exploring!

As part of this reflection, I thought it would be cool to capture where all have I been to related to work whether for a one-day meeting to year+ assignments.  Here it goes!

GERMANY

In Germany, my discoveries were how great German food is (not just the ones I had known like wursts).  Also, my colleagues made it a point of making sure they were showing me places like beer halls and good restaurants and that hospitality -no offense intended- took me by surprise, especially when compared to other countries where I had expected a warmer culture.

Sulzbach/Bad Soden (outside of Frankfurt, Germany)

Dusseldorf (Germany)

Munich (Germany)

FRANCE

I have been to a good bit of France but for work these two sites were it.  In the Riviera, I enjoyed being by the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean and yet seeing the Alps at a distance, staying in Cannes or Nice, depending on the week and the mood!  Paris, well, what can I say.  An incredible city even if it was hard to develop social contacts due to the long hours at work and perhaps the language barrier (I spoke basic French then; medium after I left there and focused on learning the language).

Paris (France)

Sophia-Antipolis (France)

View from the terrace of the apartment building where I lived in Paris!

THE NETHERLANDS

Basically shuttling between client offices in both towns.  I was amazed at how small the country is and yet how exotic it felt to me.  Den Haag much more subdued than Amsterdam.  Amsterdam, just phenomenally interesting.  Getting to work with the Dutch allowed to see how their cultural traits are unique and how some of the stereotypes I had heard of showed up in work settings.

Den Haag (The Netherlands)

Amsterdam (The Netherlamnds)

OTHER EUROPE

The rest of the European work sites were of shorter durations than the ones above with the longest being 3 weeks.  But they all allowed me to explore each of the places and/or visit with friends who lived in those places.  Work definitely gave me a good opportunity to see more of Europe.  How else would I have spent 3 weeks in Helsinki had it not been for work?!

Geneva (Switzerland)

Oslo (Norway)

Vienna (Austria)

Helsinki (Finland)

London (UK)

Madrid (Spain)

View of Oslo Fjord

LATIN AMERICA

My experiences in Latin America have been phenomenal.  Perhaps the cultural affinity or the approach to life, especially in Brazil, but I have seldom been disappointed or failed to enjoy my stay.

Chile trumps all other places in L.A.  by sheer duration of my work experience there (over a year).  I had worked there many, many yrs before (check my other blog entries) and I got to see more of the country in that year.  What a beautiful country!

In Peru, I got to explore more off the beaten path locations by the nature of the work assignment.  I got to see many places the average tourist sees and many they would never get to.  And, I got to enjoy the food of Lima which is just outstanding!

Brazil offered me good food and great fun besides the work.  Spending weekends in Rio or going out for the nightlife of Sao Paulo, Brazil never disappointed.

Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Quito (Ecuador)

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Santiago (Chile)

Lima (Peru)

Cuzco (Peru)

Puno (Peru)

Huaraz (Peru)

Panama City (Panama)

Mayaguez (PR)

Church in Barrio Bellavista, Santiago

AFRICA

Here I definitely got to see some diverse places from Muslim and Arab Egypt, to deep Africa in Tanzania, to cosmopolitan cities in South Africa (I visited Cape Town too but not for work).  I have enjoyed the unique experiences each offered whether it was visiting HIV/AIDS patients in the rural areas around Mwanza, to going for food in very local places in massive Cairo, to getting into the history of apartheid in Joburg.

Johannesburg (South Africa)

Cairo (Egypt)

Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Stone Town (Tanzania)

At the Apartheid Museum in Joburg

CANADA

I got to spend a LOT of time in Toronto and had a lot of fun with a great crew of Canadians whose key contribution to my skill sets was to have me start calling a puck “puck” and not “the thing”.  I also learned that I needed better pacing drinking Canadian beer as it was stronger than the American variety.  Finally, I learned how to curl (as in the game/sport).

Toronto (Canada)

Montreal (Canada)

What has been your most interesting and rewarding international work experience??

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