City hall
Gothic.
Rolf Kranz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jan dijkstra — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rolf Kranz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ralf Roletschek — CC BY 3.0 · Ralf Roletschek — CC BY 3.0
Gouda is a city in the west of the Netherlands between Rotterdam and Utrecht, in the province of South Holland, about 19 km northeast of Rotterdam in a straight line. It has about 75,000 residents and is famous for Gouda cheese, stroopwafels, its canals and its 15th-century city hall. The city hall stands in the middle of the wide market square and is one of the oldest Gothic city halls in the Netherlands. The city bought the market land in 1395 to build it, but construction was delayed until 1448. Near the square stand the historic Waag, the weigh house, and the city's oldest still-working inn, founded in 1551. The pale grey stone city hall stands alone in the middle of the cobbled square, with a stepped Gothic facade, small pointed turrets, red and white shutters and an outside staircase. Historic houses and cafés line the square, and on summer cheese-market days rows of orange cheese wheels cover the stones. Visitors wander the square and the lanes and canals around it, visit the Waag and cheese shops, and watch the traditional cheese market on summer days. Gouda makes a day trip from Rotterdam or Utrecht by train.
Gothic.
By the square.
Orange wheels.
Markt, Gouda, South Holland, Netherlands
On summer days.
Yes, from Rotterdam.