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Any walk should start at the city square.
You'll see the Town Hall, one of the few remaining examples of gothic architecture in Holland.
Old buildings take a lot of maintenance .

Every hour you can listen to the city hall's chimes and watch the puppetshow depicting the moment that city rights were given to Gouda back in 1272 by Floris V.

The main church of Gouda, devoted to Saint John, is world famous for its stained glass windows.
Be impressed by the way in which the artist used small pieces of lead to enforce the image. And recognize Dutch history.

Due to soil pressure, the land level dropped whereas the water level remained the same. In the last thousand years the surface of land has dropped at some places 6 to 8 meters!
So ditches and canals had to be dug, mills had to be built to pump the water out of the polders,
work that was taken care of by steam engines later on. You're sitting in a pub at the marketplace, watching a young couple in the pouring rain on its way to city hall to get married. The bride is soaking wet, but beautiful. So perhaps you could join the party and have a look at the bridal room of the city hall in its old state. On the other hand, if you don't have the guts to be a party-crasher, you can choose a museum.

Through the ages farmers have brought their cheeses to Gouda, a Dutch country  town, just southeast of the Hague. Each week during the summer, a historical cheese market is held in front of the old Weight-house dating from 1668. Gouda cheese derives its name from this historical town. About 60% of the entire Dutch cheese production is devoted to Gouda and its varieties. Traditionally, Gouda cheese is wheel-shaped, but is also produced in squares and blocks. Gouda is a cheese with a fat content in the dry matter of 48%. It has a mild and creamy flavour but as the cheese matures, its character changes and acquires a more robust flavour and firmer texture. The weight varies between 4 kg and 20 kg. A `Baby Gouda Cheese' or `lunch cheese' is also available. In addition to young Gouda a low-salt Gouda is also produced. Steadily gaining in popularity are the varieties: Gouda with herbs, Gouda with Cumin seed. Farmhouse Gouda is produced in both young and mature versions.

Gouda cheese is sold all over the world, but only a very small part of it is really produced in or around Gouda. The brand name is not protected, so Gouda cheese may come from any place in or outside Holland. Most of the cheese is produced in factories. However, there are a number of dairy farms where cheese is produced in the traditional way.

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