A food tour of Utrecht and a walk around the Singel to work it off
Today, we took the train to Utrecht for 10 Tastes of Utrecht: Food Tour with Full Lunch and 2 Drinks. Our guide, Joeri, contacted me this morning to offer to meet us at Utrecht Centraal station, but we said we’d be happy walking to the “official” meeting point, Dom Tower.
Dom Tower – Utrecht
He was waiting for us, and we spent the next three hours learning about the city and enjoying some delicious foods. Our first stop, of course, was the interior of Dom Tower.
Resistance Monument in front of Dom Tower – The National Remembrance of the Dead is held in Utrecht at this monument every year on May 4, Liberation Day.The Iconoclasts (Protestants) removed the heads from statues when they took over the church from the Catholics. They started to destroy God’s head (at top) and thought better of it.
And then the food tour began!
The cafe in the Dom was closed, so Joeri brought us here; it was too early for beer, so we “settled” for coffee and apple pie.We sampled a LOT of cheese here. If we’d visited later in the day, I would have bought some, but I didn’t want to schlep it for hours.Outside Cheese and MoreMozzarella Half-Sandwich from Broodje Mario. Delicious!Happy customers!So cheap!Stadskasteel Oudaen (a “city castle” built in the 13th Century along the Oudegracht canal) – today, it’s a restaurant with its own brewery.Utrecht main library entranceThere’s a sculpture on the wall of the main floor for each continent.Coat of arms of the House of OrangeThe Spectacle of Books – a project to give unpublished books an audience.In the market, we had herring and kibbeling (fried breaded cod). Yummy!Belgisch Beercafé Olivier – a former “hidden” Catholic church. We had Jenever and a local Pilsner (Joeri called it a “head butt”), and they were both quite enjoyable.Ready for the head butt – note that the Jenever is filled completely to the top!Diane and Joeri admire the décor at OlivierWe are standing exactly as far away from the Dom Tower as it is high – 112.32 meters.Amazing fair-trade chocolates at Puccini – flavors like Thyme, Lavender, and Limoncello. Diane had Ginger and I had Cinnamon, and we enjoyed them.
We’d had a great time with Joeri, and I highly recommend the tour. Skip breakfast. Come prepared to learn and to enjoy interesting conversations.
Joeri had suggested we take a walk along the Singel canal after the tour; a long walk seemed like a great idea, and off we went!
Vintage clothing by the gram!
“Culture Boat” (a floating “coffeeshop”)Part of the medieval city wallLiberation TreeThe observatoryYou can take a paddleboat around the SingelTruus van Lier – a resistance fighter, executed by the Nazis
After our walk, we stopped in the Hoog Catherijne shopping center to rest up before walking over to the Utrecht Centraal station for our trip back to the hotel.
Our tour was a great way to end our stopover in the Netherlands; we fly home tomorrow morning. I hope to have nothing interesting to write about.
