Today you can read a second post about my daytrip to Utrecht, which my best friend Katrien and I visited a couple of weeks before.

Last week you could read about our visit to the Rietveld-Schröder House (see this post) and today I will tell you a bit more about the Cathedral.

When we arrived in the centre of Utrecht, we strolled around a bit towards the Cathedral. Below you see some pictures of the neighbourhood around the Cathedral, the Dom Tower peeping over the buildings here and there.

On the square before the Cathedral were sand-sculptures about a storm in 1674 and that’s when we realized that the Cathedral on one side of the square, and the Dom Tower on the opposite side of the square, used to be one big building.

Apparantly, in 1674 there was this big storm which ruined the nave of the cathedral, which was once Holland’s largest church.

The cathedral was never restored as it was, so now you have the east end of the Cathedral, an outdoor square (which used to be the nave), and then the tower of the cathedral, also known as Dom Tower. We didn’t feel like climbing the Dom Tower, but we did however enter the cathedral, which can be visited for free, although a small allowance is always welcome of course!

Another part of the Cathedral which is worth a visit is the cloister. You can enter it by going through a neo-gothic entrance, which is situated at the Domplein.

The garden inside the cloister is called The Pandhof Garden. It is a wonderful place to have a picknick, have a bit of a rest or just have a little stroll in. The garden is divided into different sections, filled with flowers and herbs and it offers spectacular views towards the Dom Tower and Cathedral.

At the righthand side of the cloister entrance, is the Chapter House, which once belonged to the Cathedral as well. Now it is the main hall of the University of Utrecht.

After our visit to the Cathedral, we did a little bit of shopping, we had a long lunch near one of the many canals and strolled around the city centre a bit more before going to the Rietveld Schröder House in the east of the city (of which you could read a post last week).

I must say that I just love Utrecht! Ever since my first visit to this city nearly two years ago, Utrecht has a special place in my heart and it quickly became one of my favourite cities in Holland! If you ever have a chance of visiting Utrecht… please do so… you won’t be disappointed 🙂

Love Kathleen

Here’s a post about my first visit to Utrecht!