We have done the "Sauerkraut-Fahrt” in Germany, and now, after Alkmaar, Edam, Amsterdam and Gouda, we have done

the ultimate “Cheese Cruise” too, it seems!

This was our third visit to Gouda, but we didn’t come for the famous cheese market. Yet, we found it difficult to walk past the town hall and the “Waage,” where the market is held each Thursday, without stopping and taking a photo.

Instead, the weekly fruit and vegetable market, which also included a fish stand, was on. So Austin could indulge in his Dutch raw herring with onions! 

I prefer the more filleted version of raw fish in sushi.

With our museum card in hand, we visited the Sint Janskerk, well known for its beautiful windows. The church sided with the Spanish King Philip II during the Reformation and was spared from destruction. It still contains an array of windows from catholic times depicting biblical stories dating back to the fifteen hundreds. After the Gouda Council prohibited the practice of the Roman Catholic religion, more windows were installed, now featuring worldly events like the siege of Leiden, for example. The Spanish king and queen sponsored the two largest windows before the reformation. They can be seen at the bottom, incorporated into the biblical story, a bonus of footing the money for the artwork. All the windows are of such bright colours and variety that one could spend hours studying them. 

Luckily, the windows were carefully removed in anticipation of WWII attacks and stored in wooden crates until the end of the war.

The nearby Gouda Museum is located in the former hospital. The ground floor, which is the old hospital chapel, contains paintings and altarpieces that were removed from the churches when the country converted to Protestantism. Underneath the chapel is a “mad cell” for psychiatric patients and a 17th-century torture chamber with all the horrible devices you might expect, among others, a garrote. Apparently, women were not hanged from the gallows like male criminals were. It was considered inappropriate, as bystanders might be tempted to look under their skirts. Instead, they were strangled on the garrote, which kept their feet firmly tied to the ground. 

The upper floor houses many beautiful paintings and ceramics from local artists. Currently, there is also an exhibition called “Blazing Fires,” featuring paintings on loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, all

 containing open fires in some form or another. 

We walked all along the canal circling the city, back to our mooring, when we saw a familiar boat. It was the Carpe Diem of German boaties Abo and Helga, who we met last year in Berlin, on the Weser and again in Bremen. It was an unexpected pleasure catching up with the lovely couple! Later that night, we enjoyed dinner at a terrace restaurant on the market square.

The next stretch of our route was slightly flawed. The phone number of the first lift bridge after Gouda obviously hadn’t been updated, and nobody seemed to be responsible for opening it. Finally, after a long wait, a bridge keeper from Gouda cycled up and did the honours. We were cruising along the Hollandse Ijssel and were looking forward to stopping at the medieval town called Oudewater, where I had passed the test on the "Witches Scale” years ago. We were in a lock when the lockkeeper told us that the next lift bridge had a “problem" and it could last an hour or a day until it was fixed. C’est la vie, the French would say! Sh…t, we said! In the meantime, a queue of 10 boats or more had accumulated on either side. With holidays in full swing and the weather warming, rivers and moorings were filling up.  

Eventually, after an hour's wait, we got the all-clear for the next bridge. However, by the time we got to Oudewater, all moorings were taken. A bit further on, we found a nice spot on the river bank in Montfoort. It turned out to be a lovely place. Mooring was free, and we could test our new solar panels, which gave us enough power to keep batteries and two fridges going for our two-day stay.  

Right next to a green path was a public swimming pool, and the squealing of the kids and the intermittent whistle of the lifeguards brought back childhood memories. The pool was packed the next day when temperatures reached 33 degrees Celcius. Trees provided some shade, and when it got too hot, there was the nearby air-conditioned Albert Heijn supermarket to seek refuge in! It was just as hot the following day. Kids were jumping off the boats into the cool river, and so were we - well, maybe not exactly ‘jumping'! The current was not very strong, and even I could easily swim against it and then leisurely float back.

 On the last evening, when it had cooled down a little, we were finally ready to explore the small town. We entered through the old IJssel Gate, where, until 1853, fees were collected by the guards. The Great Church of Montfoort survived the reformation unharmed. Not so lucky was the 12th-century castle greatly destroyed by the French in 1672. Only the old Bailey is left today. A volunteer tourist guide told us that the French were in Montfoort for six months, as they could not get any further. The Dutch had done their usual trick again and flooded the areas around town, so they were unsurpassable. The inhabitants stayed strong; after all, the name “Montfoort” comes from the Latin: “mons fortis” - strong mountain.

Just south of Utrecht, after passing a lock, we crossed the fast-running Lek between commercial barges to get into the Merwedekanaal, where right after another lock on a quiet sidearm lies the harbour of Vianen.

 Vianen has all the usual ingredients one gets to expect from a Dutch canal town: a nice town hall, a couple of town gates, a weigh house, a church and a museum. On top of it, the town has its own hero, nobleman Lord Reinoud van Brederode. After a fire, he rebuilt and expanded the church. His impressive mausoleum is situated in the same Church. His son, Hendrik van Brederode, was a leader in the revolt against Spanish rule. He also introduced reformed religion to his hometown, Vianen. Mention the name “van Brederode” in town, and you can be sure to get the full story!

Passing through the same lock, we turned back onto the Lek. The Lek is an arm of the Rhine with some giant river weirs. We are currently following the Old Rhein, or “Oude Rijn” as it is called in Dutch, and are slowly heading towards our winter mooring.