Gouda is a city known primarily for the full-fat cheeses produced in its vicinity. In summer, the famous cheese market takes place here every Thursday, where producers sell their products in traditional costumes.
Although Gouda cheese is not produced in the city but on farms around it, it has always been sold here. The city authorities took special care of the composition of the dairy products sold and its high quality, and carried out strict controls. Today, the Cheese Museum in Gouda operates in the former building of the municipal scales, whose front wall is decorated with a bas-relief depicting the weighing of cheese.
The biggest attraction of Gouda is the local cheese fair, which takes place every Thursday during the season. Vendors in regional costumes stand on the plate surrounded by tenement houses and the town hall, encouraging people to shop. In winter, on the other hand, you can take part in the Christmas market at the Market Square.
Most of Gouda's monuments come from the times of its greatest glory, i.e. from the 15th to the 17th centuries. St. John with beautiful stained glass windows, the Chapel of St. Agnes, the building of the former hospice, which today houses the Gouda Museum and one of the oldest grain windmills in the Netherlands, Młyn de Roode Leeuw.
