The Hague, Delft and Rotterdam: Private Day Tour with Lunch

I will meet you here, introduce myself and tell you something about the Mauritshuis and its history. Among others, this museum has the most famous paintings of Johannes Vermeer inside, both made in Delft of course!

We will briefly walk onto the square within the parliament complex. Here I will tell you about the significance and history of this place.

We will walk through Het Plein ("The Square") and take a moment to look around and talk about the statue that we see, Willem van Oranje: the father of the fatherland. Our current king is a direct descendant of him. We will see him again today!

The Hofvijver pond is situated in front of the parliament building and the prime minister's office (the little tower!). You will learn about the significance of this place and some funny histoy.

The statue of Thorbecke next to the Hofvijver is quite interesting. This statue has to do with our constitution! You will hear more about it.

This is the Champs-Élysées of The Hague. Quite a nice street! We will walk a bit and pass multiple embassies, an art museum, the temporary senate building, a statue gallery of the Dutch heads of states and some more interesting (royal) buildings.

We will see the Grote Kerk ("Big Church") of The Hague. What is that stork doing on top of it? Let's see!

Another statue! This is the only head of government of the Netherlands that has been eaten by an angry Dutch mob! That sounds a bit weird, but you'll find out what happened.

We arrive here by car and we enter the city through its only gate still standing: the Oostpoort ("East Gate"). After a 5 minute walk, we will arrive at our lunch place. on the Beestenmarkt square

We have arrived at the Beestenmarkt ("Animal Market"). This is the coziest square of the city and the ideal place for us to have a lunch and a drink! There is enough to choose from. In the past, this square had quite a different function though.

Next up, we are passing by the first catholic church that was built in the center of Delft. There is something funny about the two towers... Also, it is standing on the spot where Johannes Vermeer used to live and make his paintings.

Now that we are on the Markt ("market") square, we see the second-highest church in the Netherlands: our royal family is buried here. Why in Delft? You'll learn.

On the same square, we can see the old town hall of Delft. It is (partly) one of the oldest historical buildings of the city, dating to the 13th century. Next to being a town hall, the building has also served as a prison for many centuries, with one particularly famous prisoner!

We are now in the old beer brewing quarter of Delft. Where did all the brewers go though? We will also see the Old Church, perhaps the most recognizable building of the city. How old is it exactly and why is it so skewed? Who knows!? Well, I happen to know!

We will have a little peak into the inner court of the former residence of Willem van Oranje, the same place where he was shot! There is another statue of him there, but this one is life-sized. Let's see if you are taller than him!

Close to the Oude Kerk, we will see a heavily decorated facade, that of the Gemeenlandshuis. What is this building and why was it so important? Also, we will "visit" the smallest museum of Delft!

We will walk along the oldest canal of Delft, away from the Oude Kerk. In the south of the city center, we will pass by a large former weapons Armory and the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company (Delft Chamber)! Let's find out more about Delft's role in the golden days of the Dutch Republic. Also around here, we can take a look at the exact spot where Vermeer was standing when he made his famous painting 'View of Delft'.

We will continue our walk back north past a parallel canal. On our way, we will pass by some more interesting places. We end up next to Station Delft, where a private car will take us to Rotterdam.

We arrive on the Coolsingel by car, in the heart of Rotterdam, near the town hall. We will see the outside (and possibly the inside) of the town hall or Rotterdam! After this, we will make our way towards Rotterdam Blaak and then the Old Harbor.

Just next to the modern Market Hall stands a 14th century church. Its tower miraculously survived the bombing of Rotterdam. Today, it is mostly used as an event location. Let's find out more about the church and about Erasmus!

Now we will enter the impressive Markthal ("Market hall"). The two sides of the building contain many apartments and inside you can enjoy different foods from around the world. And don't forget to look up and look at one of the biggest pieces of art on the planet!

We are going to visit one of the funny looking Cubic Houses, a product of the 70's, completed in the early 80's: typical for Rotterdam. Yes, people actually live there! Let's find out how practical that is.

Het Witte Huis ("The White House") was the first skyscraper in Europe! It is also one of the few buildings here to survive the bombing of the center of Rotterdam.

We are now in the Oude Haven ("Old Harbor"). This is now a lively recreational area with quite a view, where we can see some old ships that are anchored here. This is where we will end the tour, allowing you to settle down on one of the many terraces/bars in this area, or continue your way to the city center. You could even go to the south bank of the river Maas from here, within 10 minutes. Whatever it is you want to do after the tour, feel free to ask for some recommendations!