Jun 11, 2026
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Gouda’s Golden Day Awaits
Discover cheese markets, stroopwafels, and medieval charm just an hour from Amsterdam.
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Love Netherlands
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Dear Netherlands,
Amsterdam in April has a particular kind of quiet. The tulips are out in the park. The café terraces are full by ten. Somewhere in the Jordaan a church bell is telling the hour, and a barge is gliding past, and a child is learning to cycle without training wheels. This is the version of the Netherlands you came for.
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Photo: Shutterstock
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In today’s email:
- Gouda Day Trip from Amsterdam: The Complete Guide
- At The Café — Café De Klomp — The Oldest Café in Friesland
- Around The Web — Dutch Surnames of North Brabant: Origins and Meanings, Giethoorn Day Trip from Amsterdam: The Complete Guide, Dutch Surnames of Gelderland: Origins and Meanings + more
- From Love Netherlands — 5-Day Dutch Heritage Itinerary: Trace Your Roots Across the Netherlands
- Dutch Food You Will Love — Hutspot — The Dutch Mash With a Siege Story
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Gouda Day Trip from Amsterdam: The Complete Guide
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Planning a Gouda day trip from Amsterdam is one of the most rewarding decisions you can make during a visit to the Netherlands. Just 45 minutes by direct train from Amsterdam Centraal, Gouda rewards visitors with a beautifully preserved medieval town centre, the world’s most famous cheese market, Europe’s longest stained-glass church, and the warm aroma of freshly baked stroopwafels drifting across cobblestoned squares. Love the Netherlands? Join our free newsletter for hidden Dutch gems → inlovewithnetherlands.substack.com Unlike some Dutch day trips that feel rushed, Gouda genuinely repays a full day. The cheese market alone could occupy an entire morning, and that’s before you’ve explored the church, the museum, the canals, or sat down for a proper Dutch lunch. Why Gouda Deserves a Day of Your Netherlands Trip Gouda (pronounced HOW-dah in Dutch) is one of those Dutch cities that…
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At The Café
Café De Klomp — The Oldest Café in Friesland
Café De Klomp in Leeuwarden’s old centre has been pouring beer since 1620, making it Friesland’s oldest continuously running pub. The room is small and dark with wooden tables polished by four centuries of elbows. Frisian is spoken behind the bar and at half the tables — a separate language, not a Dutch dialect. Order a glass of Beerenburg, the local herb-infused jenever, and listen to a Saturday afternoon unfold around you in a language most Dutch people don’t speak either.
👉 Visit the café
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Around The Web
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From Love Netherlands
If your surname ends in “van” or “de”, your family tree very likely leads to the Netherlands. This 5-day Dutch heritage itinerary is built for diaspora visitors making their first trip back. It takes you from Amsterdam’s Golden Age canals to the wide skies of Friesland. Along the way, you will visit national archives, ancestral churches, and windmill-dotted villages that look much as they did 300 years ago. Whether your family left for South…
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Photo: Shutterstock
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Dutch Food You Will Love
Hutspot — The Dutch Mash With a Siege Story
Hutspot is a thick mash of potatoes, carrots, and onions, served alongside klapstuk (slow-cooked beef brisket) or smoked sausage. The story is that the Dutch found a pot of it abandoned by Spanish soldiers fleeing Leiden in 1574 — the city had been under siege so long they’d been eating it themselves to survive. Every 3 October, Leiden still serves hutspot for free at its annual Ontzet festival. It’s the kind of plate that looks unassuming and tastes like centuries of practical Dutch winter cooking — sweet, savoury, and made for a long evening.
👉 Read the full story
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