If you are interested in seeing or learning more about delftware, you can visit the De Porceleyne Fles factory and take a tour. The factory is an easy twenty-minute walk from the city center. It is quite fascinating to learn the history of delftware, which was created by immigrant Italian potters inspired by Chinese porcelain brought back by early Dutch traders, and see how it is made today. At the height of its popularity in the late 17th century, there were many manufacturers throughout the country; now De Porceleyne Fles is the only "official" producer of delftware.
The company also had an architectural ceramics division and there are examples of the doorways, archways, fountains and other architectural elements which it produced. Unfortunately, that division closed in 1980. Shops throughout Delft, indeed the entire country, sell delftware.
A bit of trivia: Delft is also home to the first Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop in Europe, and, much as I love Europe’s creamy gelato, I made a beeline for some New York Super Fudge Chunk, as it had been over a year since I’d had a taste of either Ben and Jerry’s or Haagen-Daaz.
Other cities which can easily be explored from Amsterdam (and may or may not have scoop shops) include Gouda, Rotterdam, and Utrecht, and The Hague, which — not Amsterdam, as many assume — is the capital of the Netherlands
