Dom church and tower, Utrecht

Favorite thing: The Rune stone at the Domplain at the entrance of the Pandhof was a present of the Denmark for the 300th anniversary of the University of Utrecht in 1936.

The stone is a copy of a real stone at the Danish Jelling, a UNESCO heritage.

Favorite thing: At the Domplein square in front of the Pandhof next to the Dom church is the statue of Jan van NAssau located.

Jan was the younger brother od Willem van Nassau and is the heir of the Kings and Queens of the The Netherlands.

Favorite thing: I asked the nice Utrechtian girl that conducted us on the guided tour of the "dom" how many times she climbed those many hundreds of steps every day... she said about 2 or 3, which means more steps than some people climb on their entire lifetime. On the top there's a bell, which had to ring while we were up there, deafening me for a couple of hours.

Favorite thing: The tall tower was supposed to make part of the adjoining (?) church, but back some 600 years ago, when they were building it, they started out with the tower and then ran out of money; so part of the church was later built with low-quality, cheaper material, which later collapsed!! And that's how the missing middle section of that church was born.

Favorite thing: The spooky-looking gothic tower is the highest in the Netherlands. I climbed it and bought myself 1 year worth of working out, doing so. If the weather is good, you can see Amsterdam and perhaps the entire country from up there!

Favorite thing: In 1253 the Roman cathedral was badly damaged by fire. Between 1288 and 1517 a new church was built in French Gothic style. During a fierce storm in 1647 the connection between tower and church collapsed.It was badly constructed due to lack of funds. It was never rebuilt. It was not until 1826 that the last rubble was cleared away and the Domplein (Dom Square) was constructed.

Favorite thing: The Dom Church's courtyard is a herb garden with a beautiful cloister. The courtyard belonged to the Dom Church, established in 1254. It is the only Dutch church in French Gothic style. The sculptures above the arches of the cloister depict the legend of Saint Martin.

The small and very tranquile garden is well wort a visit. Just pop in and spend some time here..

Favorite thing: The Dom tower is the highest church tower from the Netherlands, 112 meters.
The tower is more then 600 years old.
It takes you 465 steps to go all away to the top.
When the weather is clear you have a view till Amsterdam.
The tower and the rest off the church are a few meters apart from each other, cause the middle part off the church was destroyed by a tornado.

Favorite thing: So you can see 4 states from the top of the Empire State Building? That's nothing, in Utrecht you can see an entire country from the top of a 100-meter tower!

Favorite thing: These gargoyles can be spotted when you enter the Dom churches little garden. A really nice place to just relax