Tuesday was a full day exploring in and around Utrecht. We had two locations on the agenda - De Haar Castle in the morning, and the Dom Tower in the afternoon. Both looked like amazing sites to visit, and we were excited to do some exploring!

Tuesday, September 3rd

Today, we were spending our time in the area around Utrecht. I had booked us tickets to two different attractions in the area that I was eager to explore. We got up at a reasonably good time, and drove over to a local bakery to grab some things for breakfast. From there, we continued to our first stop of the day at De Haar Castle. We had heard about the castle from a couple of people, and I had come across it in doing research for the trip. It looked to be a very spectacular and stunning castle, and not something I expected to find in the Netherlands.

De Haar Castle - straight out of a fairly tale.

The castle was about a 20 minute drive from where we were staying, so it was quite easy to get to. It was a pleasant drive, as the castle was located out in the countryside. I wish we had a bit more time in the area, as there is quite a nice looking golf course right near the castle.

Our entry ticket was for 11:00 AM and so our plan was to arrive a little bit early and check out the local area. It was pretty quiet when we arrived, and there were only a few cars in the parking lot. This enabled us to get a prime parking spot, and then we were able to get into the general area around the castle and start to look around while it was still quiet. At this point we could only see the gate house, but evne that looked amazing.

You initially enter through a set of gates over a drawbridge and into the area where all of the tickets and administrative buildings are situated. They have done an amazing job integrating all the need tourist facilities into what I assume were original outbuildings for the castle. It all looks really really cool.

The gatehouse protecting the entrance to the castle. We were off to a very good start!

The administrative area before heading into the castle grounds.

We had paid for admittance into both the grounds and the castle itself, and the castle opened up at 11 o’clock. The grounds opened earlier, so we had about half an hour to wander around before the castle opened. It really wasn’t enough time - there was so much to see in the gardens surrounding the castle. And as there were not a lot of people, we were able to take lots of photos of the amazing castle and it’s grounds.

A view of the castle and the rose gardens out front.

No proper castle would be without a moat!

The view of the main entrance.

Just having some fun… gotta love arrow slits.

The castle even has it’s own chapel. Sadly, it was not open, so we could not go inside.

De Haar Castle is the largest and one of the most luxurious castles in the country. The current structure, designed by the renowned Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, was built between 1892 and 1912. It features 200 rooms and 30 bathrooms, showcasing a blend of medieval and modern architectural styles.

The castle’s history dates back to 1391 when the De Haar family received the original structure and surrounding lands as a fiefdom. Over the centuries, the castle changed hands several times, notably passing to the Van Zuylen family in 1440. The castle was severely damaged in 1482 and underwent significant rebuilding in the early 16th century.

By the late 17th century, De Haar Castle had fallen into ruins. In 1890, Etienne Gustave Frédéric Baron van Zuylen van Nyevelt van de Haar inherited the property. His marriage to Baroness Hélène de Rothschild brought the financial resources needed for a grand restoration. Cuypers’ renovation included modern amenities such as electrical lighting and central heating, making it one of the most advanced residences of its time.

The castle is surrounded by extensive gardens and parklands, reminiscent of the French gardens of Versailles, with waterworks and over 7,000 trees. Today, De Haar Castle is open to the public, offering a glimpse into the opulent lifestyle of its former inhabitants. Once the castle opened, we went inside and started to do the self-guided tour.

The castle has been set up to show you how it looked in its heyday in the 1930s. You in essence get to walk through some of the areas that the owners and their guests would’ve been in as well as through some of the bedrooms and then down and into the original kitchen. It was all really interesting to see, and although there were quite a few people around, you could still find ways to get some good views all of the interesting elements of the castle. We must’ve spent a good couple of hours looking through the interior of the castle and then eventually back out onto the grounds to check out a few more things around the castle grounds.

The main “great room”. What else would you call it? It seems more like a cathedral than someones home.

A wider angle view. It’s hard to describe all the amazing features of this room. The carved facades and stained glass are just breathtaking.

A detailed view of the stained glass.

The tour eventually takes you upstairs, where you walk along the edge of the gallery overlooking the great room.

Off to one side of the great room is the most amazing billiards room ever.

The study

One of the ornately carved doors in the castle.

In the dining room, they had it set-up for a proper fancy meal. Mom and Mackenzie got to try it out.

An example of how ornately carved all the rooms are. This is typical of the ceilings throughout the castle. I cannot imagine how long it took to do all this work.

Another sitting room.

I love the fireplace and the suit of armour.

I called this the tapestry room. On one end was this super ornate carved screen.

And along the wall was this massive tapestry.

In the room they also had a selection of small carriages on display.

One of the many guest bedrooms.

This was a bathroom that was set outside one of the bedrooms.

I really liked this desk - quite a piece of furniture.

There were “his and hers” master bedrooms. Not surprisingly, this was “his”.

The carvings on the bed are just crazy!

The kitchens, down in the basement might have been my favourite part of the whole castle.

So much copper…

The pans were all lined along the walls.

Even with a kitchen this big, it was hard to imagine how you would cook enough food for the volume of people on hand.

There was also a deer park, with a small herd of deer that we were not very impressed with. Mackenzie thought it was the saddest she ever seen. We walked around for a little while, and then eventually made our way back to the entrance area and had a late lunch in the little restaurant within the castle. The food is great and although it hadn’t been a spectacular day, weather-wise, it was really nice to sit outside enjoy the scenery and have lunch.

This was a secondary building, off from the main castle. It was equally stunning, but you could not go inside, so I’m not sure what it was.

Selfie time, with the castle.

Every angle gives a completely different view of the castle.

There was even a hedge maze. We walked it, but it was not really all that impressive.

I think this is one of my favourite views of the castle.

One last selfie, then it was time for lunch!

It ended up being about 2 o’clock by the time we finished up our lunch, so it was time that we headed back into the old city to continue onto our second stop for the day. At 4:00 PM, we had booked a tour of the Dom Tower, in the heart of Utrecht.

The Dom Tower, from one of the nearby squares in Utrecht.

Prior to heading for our tour, we had enough time for a quick look around inside of St. Martin’s Cathedral. We did not have enough time to do it justice, as it it really is quite an impressive structure. We had enough time to walk around, admire some of the amazing stained glass windows and check out the alter and pipe organ. It certainly deserved a bit more time then we had.

Looking down towards the very impressive alter in St. Martin’s Cathedral.

The front entrance was stunning, especially the stained glass.

A closer look at the beautiful stained glass windows in the front entrance.

The imposing pipe organ, at the back of the cathedral.

There was a drawing of the tower in the tour shop, as we waited for the tour to be organized.

The Dom Tower, or Domtoren, is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, standing at 112.5 meters (368 feet) high. It is a prominent symbol of the city of Utrecht and a remarkable example of Gothic architecture. The tower was originally part of St. Martin’s Cathedral, also known as the Dom Church, and was constructed between 1321 and 1382.

Designed by John of Hainaut, the Dom Tower was intended to be a grand statement of ecclesiastical power. However, the cathedral was never fully completed due to financial constraints. In 1674, a severe storm caused the nave of the cathedral to collapse, leaving the tower as a freestanding structure.

The Dom Tower has served multiple purposes throughout its history. It functioned as a belfry, housing a private chapel for the Bishop of Utrecht on the first floor and serving as a watchtower with living quarters for the tower guard on the second floor. The tower also features a carillon with 14 bells, some of which were cast by the famous bell-founder Geert van Wou in 1505.

The tower has undergone several restorations, the most significant being between 1901 and 1930, which included raising its height to the current 112.5 meters. Today, the Dom Tower remains a popular attraction, offering guided tours that provide visitors with stunning views of Utrecht from its galleries at 70 and 95 meters.

We were doing one of those tours, and we met the tour guide at a nearby tourist office, where the small group gathered before heading over to the tower itself, as the tower is not generally open to the public, except these tours. And you can see why, after we went inside. It’s quite a small structure, in terms of area, but provides some pretty amazing views. After initially getting inside the tower, we went up. I think the tour guide said 59 steps to what was one of the main living quarters for the bishop at the time. It was a beautiful room with glass windows and an ornate chandelier and the guide gave us a little bit of history and background on the tower at that point in time.

The first stop, the chandelier room. You can see the trap door in the floor, which opens to the street below and was how they brought provisions into the tower.

From here, we started the climb up the almost 600 stairs to the top of the tower. There were three stops along the way we got to explore different parts of the tower as we headed up. The first stop after the chandelier room was probably the least interesting. The guide gave us a little bit more background, and there were some artefacts from the original structure to be seen in the room.

This level had some cool artefacts that they had rescued, including some great gargoyles.

There were many more bells to come.

You could look down through the floor to the rooms below.

The next level was much more interesting and was probably the highlight of the tower as we got to see the room where the bells for the tower are housed. Some are bigger than a person and all are spectacular. It was really cool to walk around the bells and check them out. From there, we continue to climb and got up to a level where you could actually go outside and walk around and get a view of the city, which from this height was really cool. On this level on the inside, there is actually another set of bells that are played through a type of music box that automates the process. These are the bells that you hear every 15 minutes when you’re in the city.

The final climb up to the very top where we would be going today, got super tight and narrow. The spiral staircase was barely wider than my shoulders, and I even got a little claustrophobic at times as the guy ahead of me was struggling to climb the stairs and had to stop a lot.

This led us to another small area outside where we had more great views out over the city. We got to walk around this area for a little bit before making the trek all the way back down.

It was pretty great and I really enjoyed going up and getting a look at both the inside and the outside views.

Weather this afternoon had certainly been the worst of the trip as it was starting to rain as we were heading into the tower.

As we were climbing, and once we got outside on the top the rain continued. Thankfully, it had pretty much stopped as our tour came to conclusion. This allowed us to continue to wander the streets and explore this old city a little bit more.

This was the second highest level of the tower. I have no idea how they got these bells up this high…

Heading through a very cool door, inot the best part of the tower.

This is the “music box” that plays the bells every 15 minutes. You hear them throughout the city, and the mechanism is just fascinating.

Looking up into the top of the tower.

From this level, and for the top, there were amazing views out over the city.

Looking down onto the canals.

Getting artsy with the gargoyles.

More city views.

The very top of the tower. It would have been nice, if the weather had behaved a little better.

After finishing our tour, we made a stop at one of the local cafes, right outside the tower. While touristy, I had noticed the place the day before and it had piqued my interest. The cafe was called “Lebowski’s” and was themed after the movie The Big Lebowski. How could you pass that up, especially when i discovered that they make their own beer. It was a must visit.

Of course there was a stuffed giraffe inside…

One last view of the Dom Tower.

A small, interesting side canal as we explored the city.

We explored for a while before heading back to the canal and finding another restaurant to have dinner at along the canal itself. As it turned out, we ended up eating in the restaurant directly across the canal from the restaurant we had eaten in the night before. The food was good and then we called it a night and headed for home, as we were all tired from a full day of exploration!

Dinner along the canal - we opted for Italian this time.

Dinner this evening was directly across the canal from where we ate the night before.

The inside of this restaurant was just as amazing as last night’s.