Utrecht is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It's also the capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. The city of Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of around 345,080.
Utrecht's ancient city centre has many buildings and structures. Some of them come from the High Middle Ages. Utrecht was the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It has lost the status of prince-bishopric but still remains the main religious centre in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age. Nowdays Amsterdam is the country's cultural centre and most populous city.
Utrecht is very unusual city. Its centre is very different to other parts of the city. During our holiday in the city we visited The Dom Tower of Utrecht which is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. Its height is 112.5 metres and this Gothic-style tower is the symbol of the city of Utrecht. We also visited Museum Speelklok that is National Museum in the centre of the city which displays mechanical musical instruments from several past centuries. Museum Speelklok is a museum very suitable for children, because many musical mechanisms still works and play music; personnel show children old mechanic and musical toys.
If you know who is Miffy or even have seen cartoons with him, you'll be pleased to see a monument to Miffy and a monument to Dick Bruna who was its creator.
During our holiday in Utrecht, our friend invited us to rent bicycles and visit outskirts of the city. We accepted his invitation. We rented three bycicles and led to discover new places.
Our travel took almost a day. We followed a canal for some time and saw beautiful old buildings on our way. We visited two castles. The first one was small, but nice. The second one was very big and has a huge territory. The second castle we held a festival and there were crowds of people coming in the castle and leaving it. The people were dressed up as a midevial warriors, witches, wizards, knights etc.
We also visited a farm which produces and sells products. There were many parents with their children enjoying local and natural food and drinks in the farm. All visitors were allowed to touch animals. There were family of goats, hens, pigs and everyone could feed them.
We went to Castellum Hoge Woerd which is a museum where visitors can see a very old Roman boat and stuff found with this boat.
Of course, we saw old-fashioned windmills.
Our day outside of Utrecht we finished with a dinner at a restaurant on The Oudegracht. We ordered wonderful pancakes.
Take a trip to Utrecht, towns and villages nearby ! You will never regret it !
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| We stopped at a windmill |
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| Gates |
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| A farm |
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| This farm is designed for parents and their children |
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| Hello, little goats ! |
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| Pigs |
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| A small castle outside of Utrecht |
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| Entrance to a castle |
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| A big castle outside of Utrecht |
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| It was a festival |
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| A canal |
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| A water tower |
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| The Central Station |
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| Life is beautiful |
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| Rietveld Schröder House |
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| View of the city from The Dom Tower |
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| View of The Dom Tower |
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| A street of Utrecht |
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| A statue |
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| Monument |
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| Water pump |
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| The Oudegracht |
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| View of The Oudegracht |
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| Miffy |
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| At the monument to the creator of Miffy |
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| Cocktail |
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| A vegetarian dinner is on the table |
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| At Museum Speelklok |
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| Hello from Museum Speelklok |
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| Lunch break |
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| Bon appetit |
