Gouda by Candlelight

Welcome to the beautiful, 15th century Gothic village of Gouda.

I would guess most of you have heard the name Gouda before, and yes, this is the village where Gouda cheese is made. But us Americans pronounce it totally wrong. Intstead of "goo-daa", it is "kh-oww-dha", with that lovely, aggravating Dutch 'G'. 

Stole this from Dutched Pinay! Sorry!

The centrum of town has an amazing building in it, that even G said was particularly beautiful, even by Dutch standards.

But what could make a lovely little Gothic village even more beautiful?

Seeing it all lit up by only candle light!

(I am sorry my photos are not that great, so I will supplement with photos by other people as well as my own.) 

G and I arrived, asked for directions, and were greeted by lovely blue glowing water lanterns in the first canal we come to. 

In the entrance to the bank, there were carolers, singing English carols!

As we went along the street, a heavenly smell caught our noses. Stroopwaffels! Now, this is the first time I have had one, and once again the Dutch outdo themselves with pastries.

two fisting pastries

They were fresh and still warm, caramelized sugar syrup spread thickly between two waffle wafers (like waffle cones but flat). Really yummy.

A quick shot of the Calliope so you can imagine the sounds too!

We wandered around the darkened square, lots of contained fire, heaters, people sitting on the cafe terraces with blankets on and random women with candelabras on their heads. There were also people that had decorated themselves with lit Christmas lights. 

We found a terrace with fairy lights and a fire bowl, and had erweten(pea) soup  and an Unox Broodje. And Gluhwein! Another delicious and warm Sangria type beverage. That warmed us up good for a while!

We headed back to the main square, and the mayor started reading the Christmas story, followed by the choirs singing. As they were performing, every window in town began to be lit up with candelabras by the residents. Many faces lit by candles peered down at the large, festive crowd. 

When I say every window, I mean every window, including 1500 candles in the gorgeous building in the center of the square. 

Some of the crowd joined in the caroling, including yours truly and G. Some of them were in English, but many were traditional carol tunes with Dutch words. I just went along and sang in English, and I don't think anyone minded. 

The caroling and story reading went on for quite a while, and just when poor G's feet were frozen to the stone bricks, it was time for the count down. 

As we walked back to the car through the narrow, brick streets, people were singing, the Salvation Army Band was playing, the calliope was still banging and piping, and people with trays were offering fresh cut Gouda cheese on platters. It was a gorgeous, Christmas-y, romantic evening. What a beautiful experience.