Hand Slap Seals Deal in Holland Market Town

Cram all the good and beautiful things this country has to offer into one town and it has to be this one, as colorful and appealing as a pyramid of its renowned cheeses sitting like a 17th-Century still life in the slanting sunlight of picturesque Market Square.

The equally famed Dutch barrel organs are here, chased by squealing children as they make their merry way over the little stone bridges that span canals lacing the inner city. Windmills too, creaking along nostalgically to remind us of a time and life that were far more simple.

Now add a Gothic town hall that looks like a wedding cake, lovely old canal houses with intricate ironwork fanlights and whipped-cream cornices, radiant leaded-glass church windows set in place by artisans of the 16th Century. And everywhere, flowers and more flowers.

One of Gouda’s traditions takes place in Market Square between farmer and cheese merchant as they bargain, each slapping the other’s hand to signal a change in price. A final slap and handshake seal the deal, both apparently happy.

Here to there: KLM flies to Amsterdam nonstop, Pan Am and El Al with one, TWA, British Caledonian, CP Air, British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France with a change. An hourly train from Amsterdam gets you to Gouda in 50 minutes.

How long/how much? Try to make it two days rather than a day-tour from Amsterdam. That way you may visit a cheese farm and see some of the polder country nearby. Dining and lodging costs are moderate to inexpensive.

A few fast facts: The Dutch guilder was recently valued at 40 cents, 2 1/2 to our dollar. Summer and fall are your best bets for a visit, spring having rather iffy weather. Walking will get you around town, the VVV tourist office renting you a Walkman for $2 per half-day for an inexpensive guided tour. Or rent a bike for $2.75 a day.

Getting settled in: Try to book into De Zalm (Markt 34; $67 double with marvelous breakfasts), Holland’s oldest hotel that dates from 1528. It’s right on Market Square, loaded with antiques, old tiles, winding staircase, stained-glass windows and pleasant rooms. Breakfast is different every day. Ours included a mango milkshake, salmon mousse, plover-egg sandwiches, fruit puddings and all the rich Dutch coffee we could drink.

Food in the dining room is so special that it draws dinner guests down from Amsterdam. Free pickup at airport, but no elevators because De Zalm is a historically protected building.

Pension Twin (Turfmarkt 117; $24 double) is for the budget-minded who don’t mind sharing the two private baths for eight rooms. Modest is the operative word here, but the family owners speak perfect English, there are no steps to climb and it’s right on a canal, just a few steps from Market Square.

The town has only four hotels. VVV will be happy to book you into a private home for your stay.

Regional food and drink: Nothing rises to the Gouda specialty level here, except cheese, of course. Farmhouse Gouda is the only way to go, its higher fat content and smooth richness spoiling you for anything else. Cheese stores sell young, middle and old Gouda, the last being the best and most expensive. Farms will sell you their best for about $3.45 a kilo.

They have the best Indonesian restaurants here outside Jakarta, so don’t leave without one lunch or dinner at a rijsttafel place. We have one for you below.

Siroop wafels, wafers with a caramel filling, have been the town’s favorite sweet for centuries. Buy a sackful or a decorative tin to take home. Foamy Dutch beer goes with just about anything you’re served here.

Moderate-cost dining: Vidoca (Koster Gijzensteeg 8), an informal and funky upstairs bistro, will serve you excellent French food at modest prices. They also have wonderful recorded American jazz: Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald with your escargot.

Warung Srikandi (Lange Groenendaal 108) has a 10-dish rijsttafel for about $12, plenty of food for two. Authentic Indonesian decor and art on the walls, a very pretty place where the chef-owner is one of the friendliest we’ve met lately.

Konditorei Kranendonk (Korte Tiendeweg 15) is just off Market Square; downstairs an irresistible bakery, upstairs a bright and cheerful cafe with fresh flowers on marble tables. This sparkling place was serving croquettes, salad and coffee at lunchtime to a full house of business types for about $2 per.

On your own: Start on Market Square with the Town Hall, begun in 1450 and late Gothic outside, Renaissance within, one room completely covered with Gobelin tapestries. The head custodian is a real historian who cares a lot about the town’s past.

A few steps away you’ll find St. John’s Church, another ornate study, with the longest nave in Holland and 70 Gouda Windows of scenes from the Bible and Dutch history. St. Catherine Museum, a 17th-Century hospital, is noted for its reproduced period rooms of old Dutch kitchens, schoolroom and the like. Charming.

Try to time your visit for the summer cheese market on Thursdays or the general outdoor market Thursdays and Saturdays. The VVV office will call ahead and arrange for you to visit a cheese farm outside town, a very informal and non-commercial outing. Farm wives make the cheese, passing the family methods down to their daughters, as they have for centuries.

For additional information: Call the Netherlands National Tourist Office at (415) 543-6772 or write (605 Market St., San Francisco 94105) for a brochure on Gouda and its sights, a map of all Holland, another booklet on the country’s Touristmenu restaurants, 500 of them where you’ll have a sumptuous meal for $7.50. Ask for the Gouda package.