Hi, nice to meet you!
It is a good idea to travel to Delft and to use this website as your cityguide. Delft is still an undiscovered typical Dutch city where it feels like being in an open air museum. On this blog you can find my stories about this little town in the West part of Holland. I visited and tried already more than a hundred places in Delft and it’s immediate surroundings. The blog gives you practical information and shows you the places to be in this very nice city.
Alice
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Delft Phototours, a photo walk in Delft
Since I have a smartphone with a great camera lens, I hardly use my Olympus OMD camera. My phone makes me a lazy photographer, so when I take pictures for the Instagram account of Exloringdelft, I am not always proud of the results. I do not have the intention to make...
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Say cheese in Gouda!
Yes, it is holiday time! Well not really, I still have some work to do…but with the kids at home I try to combine three things: work, kidsfun and going out to have a break myself. So today we decided to visit Gouda. It is a city a bit like Delft with canals and gables...
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My home in Delft, the best place to stay!
I’ve been busy last the last few months. My husband and I bought an early 19th century house with authentic details and you can rent it for your stay in Delft 🙂 It is located right in het heart of the city center so all the interesting sights are in walking...
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Loco Lama
When you are busy decorating a home like I did last weeks, you need inspiration from time to time. The shop which inspires me best is Loco Lama at the Molslaan. The name sounds a bit weird. But I can assure you, this shop is great. First of all, it is large, second it...
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Pakhuis Frankrijk: vintage furniture from France
Since a few months we own a really nice place in Delft. It’s a home at the city center and for me it is a new project to share my love for Delft with others. I think Delft is still an undiscovered pearl in Holland and I like show this to the world. That was also the...
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Boudoir le Marriage: French traditional cuisine at its best
It must be a disaster when you have a successful restaurant for more than 20 years and a fire ruins it in one night….This happened to the owners of the restaurant Boudoir le Marriage last winter. They had a bistro and restaurant and both were destroyed. They started a...
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Kruydt, fine dining in a special environment
After two years or so, maybe longer, the artillery depot at the Paardenmarkt got a new destination. Now the place is called Buccaneer Delft and it houses off shore related (startup) companies. For someone like me at first it does not seem a very...
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Yoga and me…. At the Womanhood studio
I am quiet a sporty lady. You can find me in the gym at least three times a week. So, if you’d ask me to do some Yoga, I’d hesitate because for me it sounds too slow and unattractive. I like real workouts….! But then, Tami, founder of the Womanhood studio, moved her...
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Atelier Louise
Her name is Loes, her shop is called (Atelier)Louise, and both are warm and welcoming! Loes a lady with experience of life, she has lived abroad for many years and is now back in her home town, runs a very interesting vintage and brocante shop in the Breestraat in...
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Ice-skating at Winters Delft
There is something you have to know about Dutch people…. They all know how to skate on ice!!! If you want to feel like how it is to skate on ice you should try this at Winters Delft. It is an ice-ring situated about 15 minutes from the city center by bike. You pay 11...
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PlugnMake a fablab in Delft
It seems like I’ve been doing nothing last few months as I did not write much about Delft …but the opposite is true. Apart from being very busy with my family, I’ve been exploring some parts of Delft which I did not yet looked at with great interest. But I think you...
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Fresh fish at Les Copains
The Michelin guide 2017 mentions three restaurants from Delft. One of them is Les Copains at the Breestraat. A very nice street at the edge of the city center. They serve mainly fish. Lobster is their specialty dish. There are 3 preparations on the menu. And they are...
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Cortado for coffee
The best early morning sun is the one you can get at espressobar Cortado at the corner of the Burgwal next to the Beestenmarkt. It is quite a new place in town where they serve very good coffee and homemade cakes and cookies. Apart from their sunny terrace in the...
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Let Deliveroo deliver your food!
If you know me, you know that I like good food and I don’t like preparing this myself 😊 Maybe you have the same problem too? So when the Deliveroo guys asked me to try out their services I did not hesitate for a second! Deliveroo delivers meals at home and these meals...
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Toko Idola: Try!
A friend of mine told me she liked the food of Toko Idola, en little Indonesian take away / restaurant in Delft. I never noticed this place, it is a little bit hidden, but it looked nice and clean. So when the right moment was there I tried their food also. I had...
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Sander’s cup of tea
Last Saturday it was Chinese New Year. The year of the rooster according to Chinese zodiac started. To celebrate this event Sander, a guy from Holland organized a tea workshop in his little shop at the Bagijnestraat. Every year Sander visits China to buy the best tea...
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Inspiration at Museum Voorlinden
Not far from Delft, only 20 minutes by car, located in Wassenaar, you can find the best Museum of the Netherlands: Museum Voorlinden. A private initiative open for public. Surrounded by a special designed garden. Despite our great museums in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, I...
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Offline is the new black
In this time of the year I should write about shopping. I did some shopping myself but I did not buy too much this year, although there were lots of extra shopping activities in town. I noticed that there are a lot of places to go to in Delft, but I explored one place...
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You don’t need an A-location when you are good!
Last weekend we had dinner in Delft. We decided to visit a restaurant in the suburbs of Delft in Tanthof. A place you will never visit unless you live there or know someone there. I think it is more than 20 minutes by bike from the city center. But I knew a restaurant...
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It is always good at the Pelicaan in Delft…
That is what my friend replied when I checked in on Facebook while having dinner at restaurant ‘de Pelicaan’ in Delft. She is not the only one who is positive about it. I got this restaurant as a good suggestion a few times already from neighbors and friends. But I...
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Groene Vingers: for plant and flower lovers and those who don’t.
Like me! Hah! Well that’s nog true I do like flowers but not these mainstream bouquets you see at markets or in most of the flower shops. And plants, I only have one plant at home! That’s why I buy flowers from Bloomon every now and then. An online florist with...
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Restaurant VOC
I wrote about quality dining in Delft before. And now I’ll do it again, because there is a new restaurant in Delft, called VOC where you can have an excellent dinner. The restaurant is located at the Oude Delft and when I was there with our foodie friends, we were...
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Hummus in Delft
The nice thing about Delft is, that when places disappear, new places pop up in a second. Like Hummus, a new bistro in Delft which serves Hummus, Hummus and other vegetarian Mediterranean food. And it is so nice!!! I love the retro eighties interior, it reminds me...
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Real cheese at Boerderijzuivel en meer
In Holland you can buy cheese at many places. I normally get some from the supermarket. For me and the kids that’s ok. But now I know that I should not be satisfied with that kind of cheese. Since I visited the little shop Boerderijzuivel en meer at the Oude...
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LU-ST: Lunch in style or stylish lunch?
At LU-ST (Lunch and Style) you can shop for nice designer items and have something to eat and drink. It is a very nice and quiet new place in town. But the owners are not newbies in owning a shop as the have had a few pop up stores before in Delft and now they have...
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A special Hotel in Delft: The knuffel hotel
There are many special hotels in Delft. I would like to try some. But the hotel I want to write about now is not for humans. It’s for cuddly toys! It is in the city center of Delft and it has a nice view on the churches and rooftops. My sons little bear spent the...
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The year of Vermeer
There is something going on in Delft! Today the Year of Vermeer started. This means that ‘till 31 December 2016 there are all kinds of activities in town related to this famous painter. Up to now there was not a real ‘Vermeer’ in Delft, the place where he was born and...
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Prepare your kids
Today I read an interesting article about travelling with kids, written by a Lonely planet author. And everything she sais, is true. I am an experienced traveler with kids. We travel around the world with them (age 5 and 8 now) since they were a baby. Our next trip,...
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Good looking food, good looking book!
Do you know Tastemade? I love to watch their video’s about how to cook de delicious food? My mouth is watering all the time when I see one. And everything looks so easy! I like to see people cooking, I love to browse through cookbooks, bookstore Huyser in Delft,...
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Wanna laugh?
I like to laugh, I must say I am a cheerful and optimistic person, so in my life, I laugh a lot. About things which happen to me, about things I read, about the things the kids say…but it does not happen often that I have a laughter attack. That I laugh about nothing...
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The best paper shop of Delft
As a graphic designer I love paper and everything which relates to paper and craft. I like blogs about it e.g. Oh happy day, Hello Sandwich and Mini Eco. I am also fond of masking tape. So when I was in Japan last spring, I felt like I was in heaven with all kinds...
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Another must see in Delft
Do you like Delft Blue? For me it depends on how it is used. I like the Delft blue series of D1653 ceramics for example, it has a modern design. And I also like the way it is used by Hugo Kaagman. A stencil King, as he calls himself on his website. I wrote about him...
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Sweet memories at the post office
This Summer I had lunch at the terrace at the post office ‘t Postkantoor in Delft. A restaurant in the city center of Delft. I liked it outside, the entourage reminds me to a place in Bali. The building is the former post office of Delft. Last Saturday we had dinner...
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Voldersgracht
I wrote an article about the Voldersgracht for the new magazine about Delft, called Blauww. This canal street is a street which is interesting to visit day and night. During daytime you can shop, have a coffee and lunch. In the evening it offers a lot of dining...
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Fancy some fish?
I normally don’t but it was my husband’s turn to choose a restaurant. So I said ‘yes’ to fish restaurant ‘t Crabbetje in Delft. (the small crab) We did not take an extended look at the menu, we immediately decided to take the two person tasting menu. My faith was in...
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Old Church / Oude Kerk
I do not always visit a church on holidays. Just sometimes when the door is open…mainly in France. In Delft there are a few churches, I do not visit them regularly because I am not religious. But from a tourist point of view they can be interesting. Last week I...
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Wauw Blauww
There is a new magazine in town ant it is called Blauww. Which means Blue…I don’t have to explain that color I think 😉 It is in Dutch…and is it good. I worked on it. It’s a magazine made by people from Delft with a passion for the city. The idea comes from Aad...
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Ray Brandstore, not only for men
Do you know Ray, from Ray Brandstore? I didn’t. Until last weekend. My husband wanted to shop for clothes, he told me he had to go to Ray’s shop, as they would sell the hipster brand Blue de gȇnes out there. It sounds French but it is from Denmark. I had never heard...
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The best kept secrets of Delft
Before the summer holidays started, I had this special party in a castle. There are quite a few interesting castles in the Netherlands but that is another blogpost… My husband bought me a nice dress from Dita von Teese a burlesque dancer and model. It has a retro look...
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Pleck
There is a new place in town called Pleck which means place, but then you should write it like Plek (without the ‘c’), but I think the word Pleck looks a bit more trendy. It is situated at the Voldersgracht, a beautiful canal street. Pleck is a very friendly place. It...
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The Netherlands is small, but Madurodam is even smaller
“I feel like giant here” my son said to me while we visited Madurodam. He is obsessed with giants and now he became one himself. We visited Madurodam because I won tickets at a lottery. Yeah, good reason to go, I know 😉 but my son and daughter already knew the place...
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Glutenfree Nootdorp, near Delft
I am still in my ‘gluten free’ state of mind, I’d like to add two great places for celiac patients. Not in Delft but nearby in its surroundings, in a village called Nootdorp. Like I said in the post about the Welsh Bakestone, I do not mind travelling if my son gets a...
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The Welsh Bakestone The Hague
When I am travelling with my family, I don’t mind to spent some time travelling to a place where my son can have a good gluten free meal. While looking for that specific place you get to see places you would miss if you only stick to the area near your hotel. Like in...
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Beestenmarkt
This morning I sat at a terrace of a café at the Beestenmarkt in Delft and I wondered why did’nt I write about this place yet? I mentioned it on my map, and when I looked around I thought it is a typical place in Delft… It’s a square full of terraces and it is...
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Restaurant Malee
I wrote about restaurant Malee in Delft before . But that was more than a year ago and based on my experience with them as a great Thai take away in Delft. But some time ago I had dinner inside the restaurant. I was a different experience than in most restaurants, so...
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100% gluten free at the Haka
**UPDATE 2018** The Haka still servers food, which can ben gluten free, but not 100% anylonger and they decided to work as a catering service only, so you cannot go to their little restaurant anylonger. That is a pitty but still you can give them a call to order...
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Great architecture near Delft
Last weekend I visited the ‘open rooftop days’ in Rotterdam. A surprising event which was held for the first time. Rotterdam is not far from Delft, only 20 minutes by car and easy to reach by train. It got my interest because of the stunning blue rooftop called Didden...
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Vive la fete
At the moment I am very busy. Our house is in transition. I just read the book of Marie Kondo about tidying up your home. And it hit me right in the face. One of the things you must do if you follow her method is, to hold every item and then you have to answer the...
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In de bush bush
Today I visited the POP UP / Concept Store ‘In de bush bush’ in the center of Delft with a friend. The first thing I thought when I walked inside was: WOW this is overwhelming. It felt like being in the jungle and being there you don’t know where to go, because you...
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Japanese garden at Clingendael Park, the Hague
When we decided to sell our house a few years ago, we invited 3 real-estate agents to estimate the value of our house. One of them, looked at our modern designed garden and said to us with an unhappy face: ow, a Japanese garden… (like in: not suitable for families)...
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