More Adventures with the Dutch Girls

We spent today with Dieuwke and Caroline - they both had a day off work.  We drove to Zutphen.  Along the way we had the required stop for coffee and a sweet treat,

The smell was devine

And then on to Zutphen, an old Hanseatic Town.  The town was granted a charter in 1190.  The Hanseatic League was the name of the groups that joined with other towns to improve and increase trading - the most important in the Netherlands were at or near the river Ijssel.  They owed their prosperity and wealth maily to the favorable locations at or near the water.  Zutphen joined in 1285.  The Hanseatic Leage lasted for four hundred years.  Originally, it was a walled city

Pieces of the wall remain today.  There are countless reminders of just how old a city it is.

Even with some drizzle, it was so charming.  We visited St. Walburga's Church.  It was originally built on this site in the 11th Century.  It was named for  St. Walburga

She was brought to the Netherlands from Germany.  [Isn't she lovely?]

Although this is a Dutch Reformed church, it very much has the look and feel of a catholic church, with little side chapels, statuary and artwork.

In 1561 the building of a "Librije" (library) was begun abutting the church.  (see another blog with still more photos)