- Known for its picturesque canals, medieval buildings, and all important cellars, this Dutch City is home to UNESCO sites, and many, many bicycles.

It is time to get news headache about Utrecht.

(playful music) Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

(gentle music) (playful music) Here in the land of tulips and windmills, there is a city that once marked the northern edge of the Roman Empire for continental Europe, and the city's name actually comes from that Roman legacy.

Today we're in the Netherlands, to get curious about Utrecht.

Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, and lies just about in the center of the country.

As with many Dutch cities and towns, Utrecht is shaped by its picturesque canals, and along those canals, life buzzes along with swarms of bicycles click clacking on the cobbled streets and over the charming bridges, and darling shops and cafes lining those peaceful canals.

So it's no surprise that Utrecht is often described as the cozier version of Amsterdam or Venice.

(playful music) Utrecht's origins go back to a Roman fortress, as with many European cities.

It's Roman name, Trajectum Ad Rhenum, meaning Ford on the Rhine, later became Ultrajectum, and then we get the name Utrecht.

And incredibly, those more than 2000-year-old Roman foundations are still here, which we will soon visit.

In the Middle Ages, the first bishop of Utrecht spreads Christianity throughout the Netherlands, and establishes his church here in Utrecht.

And that church goes on to become a very tall and very important landmark of the city.

In the 16th century, the Union of Utrecht helps to create the nation of the Netherlands, and you can also find the oh so colorful UNESCO status, Rietveld-Schröder house, an icon of modern design.

(playful music) Then for even more color, you can also find the world's longest rainbow bike path.

In a country where bikes are the preferred mode of travel, an accolade like this is a treasured one.

(playful music) Not too shabby for a little city as cute and cozy as this.

So here's what I'm curious about in Utrecht.

Who built the largest castle in the Netherlands?

What is a unicorn doing here, and this little fella doing here?

Where can you find a honeycomb of tunnels, underneath the city?

Why is this church in two pieces?

When did a feminist race car driver create this beauty?

And how did this water loving city get its shape?

Who, what, where, why, when, and how.

So much to be curious about in Utrecht.

(playful music) We begin our curious journey into Utrecht along its cultural heritage, its canals.

Laid out in the Middle Ages, these waterways create a beautiful labyrinth of ever flowing water.

These canals were kind of the subway of the Middle Ages, zipping you from one end of the city to the other with no traffic lights in between to slow you down.

(playful music) Okay, so today zipping is not really recommended, a more leisurely float is really the way to go.

(playful music) So for that, we board a traditional canal boat to learn the history of these iconic canals.

- I was born in the city, raised in the city.

I studied here, I was married here.

My first daughter was born here.

- And you've been riding bicycles since the day you were born.

- That's correct.

- That's the law here.

- That's correct.

And I'm still coming here by bicycle.

- That's wonderful.

That's wonderful.

And those ever present Dutch bicycles will speedily get you from point A to point B, but for the more leisurely route and historic route, we'll stick with our boat.

So let the history lesson commence, and try not to be too distracted by the beautiful architecture surrounding you.

Of course, the city was built thanks to these canals, tell us a little bit about the history of the canals.

I know part of it was natural, other parts were manmade, and where somewhere in the Middle Ages was this city carved out by these beautiful canals.

- It started all in the year 1122, when the city rights of Utrecht the were given by the emperor of a big European empire.

A few things were given, but two things were very important.

One of them, the citizens were allowed to dig one big canal to the south.

That was important for that trade, for the merchandise.

And the second one, they were allowed to make a moat around the city.

- [Christine] These canals rerouted the Rhine river, which once flowed through here.

And much of that medieval city plan is still intact today.

Those industrious medieval citizens created a super highway of sorts to keep the canals and trade flowing into and out of the city.

- Trade from, let's say, the Baltic Sea to northern part of France, central part of Germany.

And what did they do?

Well, they traded with, merchandise was wood, wine from the south for the north, grain, everything they did, and they did it all by ship.

- All by ship.

- All by ship.

- And I love that you're mentioning the products, the wine and the wood and the grain, because that's what these cellars were for.

- These cellars were for storage, and they even were more or less purpose made.

And they all belong, the cellars, to the houses above it.

- And this brings us to what makes Utrechts canals unique.

The canals and streets are part of a two tier system, with the street level for carts, bikes, and now cars.

And these canal level platforms down here so that the boats could pull right up, and the products, whether it be grain, wood, or wine, would be offloaded here.

And then go straight into these lovely little doorways into cellars for storage.

And then they could be taken up to the street level if needed.

Today, those historic cellars are used for everything, from charming canal side cafes, to chic clothing boutiques.

Just look at how far back these cellars go.

Trade, and this form of storage became so useful, and so important to the city, that it is said that for every house at street level, there is at least one cellar, and underground passage beneath it.

It is believed that there are nearly a thousand of these cellars crisscrossing underneath the city.

And that's such an interesting feature, I think, of your city.

- I tell you a small story about it.

A few years ago they started a project for renovation and conservation of the cellars.

They did a wise thing.

They checked before that, they checked in old maps and they even installed the radar if there is something happening there.

And yes, before they started, they thought there were around 700 cellars, but they found about 200 more.

- Isn't that incredible?

It's like a honeycomb of passages here under these cobbled streets, a marvel of medieval engineering.

But with all this marveling going on, I couldn't help but notice some tiny touches of cuteness here too.

Because along the canal, in between those cellar doors, there are some little watchdogs, or watch unicorns or watch elves, as the case may be.

As we are cruising by here, I see a lot of modern day street lamps.

But at the base of each of them, or at least some of them, I know in the mid 20th century, these wonderful little bits of sculpture were added.

- They had the lamps already in their possession, because they were designed to give light by gas.

They changed it.

They changed it for electricity.

One side is a street, it's no problem.

The other side there was, it was not nice.

So one of the citizens said that there's a nice place to make some small pieces of art.

Well, they started with it and there are.

- They got carried away.

- And there were more of.

There are more of 300 different pieces like this.

Also, one of the king is here, but all type of things, you can find them here.

- I think it's wonderful, I've seen everything from a unicorn to.

- Everything.

- It looks like a family around a table, or maybe somebody kind of working with a horse and carriage.

- I know one with with a hip.

- Rhinoceros.

- A rhinoceros on it.

- That one, that one.

- Rhinoceros.

(playful music) - [Christine] How precious, Can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon cruising down a canal with a charming guide, surrounded by gorgeous architecture, historic cellars, and going on a little scavenger hunt in search of unicorns.

(playful music) Next we head up to dry land, and into the center of town to visit the tallest structure in the city.

In fact, at nearly 370 feet high, it's the tallest church tower in the entire Netherlands.

The Dom Tower of Utrecht, the symbol of the city.

Dom Tower is part of St. Martin's Cathedral, and the church has undergone many, many changes over the years, including one that wasn't manmade, (playful music) which is explained here at the cathedral square, at the foot of the tower.

Because look closely, opposite the tower across the square, is a peaceful little church cloister.

But you can't reach it by walking through the tower, you have to cross the square.

So why is there a big space between this part of the church, and this part of the church?

Who chopped the church in two?

Well, we have a history making storm, possibly a tornado to thank for that.

The great storm of 1674 destroyed the entire nave or middle section of the church.

(playful music) So to this day, there is one part of the church here, and other part here.

(playful music) And if you look carefully at the square, you will see the outline of the nave.

See these dots?

That's where the columns once stood.

How curious.

But what happened to the rubble of the destroyed nave?

Well, look again at Cathedral Square and you will see a little wooden box with a staircase inside.

Where in the curious world does it lead?

Let's find out.

Utrecht has Roman roots.

In fact, we get the name Utrecht from that ancient Roman fortress named Castellum Traiectum.

And if you're wondering where that ancient Roman fortress was, well, we are standing on it.

In fact, let me take you underground to get a better look.

That's right.

You can just walk down these steps, and go back in time 2000 years to the foundations of Utrecht under the cathedral, when hundreds of years before the cathedral was built, ancient Romans built this, the Roman fortress, Castellum Traiectum, in 45 AD.

Archeologists excavated the site in the early 20th century.

Can you imagine being here, and uncovering these treasures for the first time in nearly 2000 years?

Like these bright blue pieces of pottery, this glittering piece of jewelry and this happy little face smiling out from the past.

And these Roman foundations are just the first of many layers of history here.

What I love is there are many indications here of different time periods.

I know right along here there's, kind of this deep black line that goes the whole way across.

What is that, and what does that tell us about that part of history?

- Yeah, that's very unique actually.

It dates back from 69 AD, when there was a rebellion here in the the Netherlands nowadays.

Nowadays the Netherlands.

And what they did, they were trying to defend themselves, getting a better position inside the empire, so they attacked some of the fortresses, and also Castellum Traiectum got in a fire, and burns down completely.

- And that would've been the ash.

- That is the ash still remaining of that fire?

- Isn't that incredible?

- Yeah.

- More than 2000 years ago, and it's still that.

- And it's still laying here.

- Same color.

That's incredible.

- And it also has to do, because when it was destroyed, they rebuild it again.

- Okay.

- So they just build another layer on top of it.

- They said, oh, we'll just build it right on top.

It's fine.

We'll keep on going.

Okay.

And I love this area right here, 'cause from there you can see where it goes into, what I think are natural stones.

- Yes, they are.

- So what time period is this?

And is this the beginnings of the first church?

- Yeah, so this is like the really beginning of the medieval time period when Willibrord here, it was like, there were already walls standing here, so it was a good place to get Christianity going.

He built one of the first churches.

- Just in case the name Saint Willibrord doesn't jump to mind right off the bat, let's pause here to learn a little bit about this very important person in the history of the church, and the history of Utrecht.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Romans left their fortress behind, and a new settlement formed here at the end of the seventh century.

And that's when an Anglo-Saxon priest and missionary named Willibrord, built his church here, and went on to spread Christianity throughout the Netherlands.

Because of him, Utrecht became a center for Christianity for two centuries.

He then becomes the first bishop of Utrecht, and later becomes Saint Willibrord, and today is a patron saint of the Netherlands.

And the remnants of his original church are still here.

Amazing.

In fact, because this was, and is such an important Christian site, many more churches are built on top of this original one over the centuries.

If you look closely, you can make out the different time periods by the different types of stone.

Were these bricks, or is this natural stone, or a mix of both?

- Is this also.

This is also natural stone.

So first on top of them, you can see a church that has been built in the 10th century.

Had already been replaced by a Romanesque church.

And that's the biggest church that you can see on top of them.

- It's incredible.

- Yes, it is.

From the 11th century, but it wasn't good enough because in France they got gothic church and they were thinking, yeah, we have a Romanesque church, but you also want a gothic church.

Let's just redo.

- Redo it.

- So actually the map of the church is almost the same.

They just rebuild it in the gothic style and higher.

- [Christine] And higher and higher deed.

So after that Romanesque church, we get the gothic church.

And then that great storm of 1674, when the entire nave was destroyed.

And if you're wondering where all that rubble went, well some of it is down here.

(playful music) But as fascinating as this underground museum, and archeological site is, there is something very important to remember.

What we see here is just a tiny portion of the original Roman fortress, which still lies underneath the city.

(playful music) And to find those outlines of the Roman fortress, you don't need to dig, in fact, just go back above ground to the cathedral square, where, in addition to the markers for where the middle of the church once stood, there are also the outlines of the Roman fortress.

You can see them here in metal markers embedded into the square.

And it gets even better.

Some of the lines also show the border of the Roman Empire.

How curious.

(playful music) Next, we travel just outside of Utrecht to visit a fairytale castle with a quite curious history.

(cheerful classical music) Rising majestically from the center of 135 acres of park lands, formal French gardens, ponds, and of course the ubiquitous canals is a fairytale castle, complete with towers, ramparts, and the obligatory moat and drawbridge.

This medieval castle is incredibly well preserved, isn't it?

Well, that's because this isn't exactly a medieval castle.

In the 14th century, a Dutch nobleman decided to build himself a castle right here just outside Utrecht.

Unfortunately, over the centuries, the castle fell into disrepair, until 1892 when a descendant of that original nobleman inherited the castle, and decided to restore it to its former glory.

Fortunately, that guy was married to a Rothschild.

So together that is exactly what they did, and that is where we get De Haar castle, the largest castle in all the Netherlands.

This is just part of the incredible story of De Haar castle.

De Haar Castle is named for the Dutch Noble De Haar family.

It is believed that a smaller tower was built on the spot in the Middle Ages, and then over the centuries, the castle expands.

But sadly is also damaged through wars, and even that same storm of 1674, which damaged St. Martin's cathedral, and the castle was left to ruin for many, many years.

(cheerful classical music) But that all changed in the late 19th century when Baron Étienne Van Zuylen van Nijevelt van de Haar, I know those noble names are really long, marries, the French Baroness Hélène de Rothschild of the famous Rothschild banking dynasty.

The De Haar's were Catholic, and the Rothschild's Jewish, so this caused quite the controversy in the elite social circles of the 19th century.

In fact, Hélène's mother disinherited her for marrying outside the Jewish faith.

But this didn't stop the incredible Baroness, who was a pretty awesome woman.

She was a feminist, a writer of plays, poetry, and novels.

She was in control of her own money, which was rare at the time.

Owned mansions across Europe, traveled around the world, fled the Nazis in World War ii, and lived in the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

And on top of all that, was one of the world's first female race car drivers, and possibly the first woman in Europe to have a driver's license.

How's that for a resume?

And with the money she inherited from her late father, she financed the rebuilding of magnificent De Haar castle.

(cheerful classical music) So let's ascend the stairs past the Griffins and lions, and the drawbridge.

How cool is that?

And head inside to explore this stunning piece of history.

Oh my goodness.

Okay, so from the outside, I knew that it had a height to it, but this is incredible.

Incredible.

Was this called the Great Hall?

- Yeah, the main hall.

- The main hall.

Okay.

So, so many details to look at, but let's begin at the beginning.

The doorway we just walked under, we have three figures, and we've got a whole lot of coats of arms.

I recognize the red and yellow one, first of all, which family was that from?

- [Cindy] Yeah, that's from the Van Zuylen family.

- [Christine] The Van Zuylen family.

And that's the column that we keep seeing.

- [Cindy] Yeah, actually Van Zuylene is column.

- [Christine] It translates to column.

Perfect.

- Yeah.

- And up above that we have the red with the silver, which family is that?

- It's from Van Nijevelt.

So together they make the Van Zuylen Nijevelt family.

- [Christine] Excellent.

So these are all the different branches that came from the original nobleman back in the 14th century.

- Yep, that's correct.

- Fantastic.

All right, so here we go.

So much to see.

We have so many figures, as you're kind of walking around in the back of your head, I feel like I'm being watched.

So we're being watched here from the balcony.

These are different ancestors, different descendants.

- Yep, all family members.

- All family members.

- [Cindy] But that one in the corner is particularly, it's Pierre Cuypers.

Maybe you know him.

- The architect.

- [Cindy] Yeah, from the Dutch Museum, and also from the Central Station in Amsterdam.

- [Christine] Was that a bit of a joke that he put himself center stage here, do we think?

- [Cindy] Yeah.

No, it's true.

- [Christine] He probably just sort of said, well this is what's going to happen, and didn't run it by the family, and be like, I'm taking center stage if I'm doing all this work.

Yep.

If you've ever been to Amsterdam, you've already seen architect Pierre Cuypers work.

Two of the city's most important, most impressive buildings, the Rijksmuseum, home to the world's largest collection of Rembrandt's.

And what is probably the prettiest train station in the world, Amsterdam's Central Station, were both designed by Pierre Cuypers.

(classical music) So with a resume like this, it's no surprise that the Barons scooped him up to design their home sweet home of Kasteel De Haar.

The project, of course, took many, many years to complete, and no expense was spared.

Modern conveniences like hot and cold running water, electricity and central heating were all installed here.

It is said that not even the queen of the Netherlands lived in this level of luxury.

The rebuild also included the exterior gardens, the chapel, even an entire village that once stood here was moved to make room for the gardens.

But before you go thinking this was some kind of cruel haves versus the have nots, Cuypers actually designed the buildings of the new village to look like mini De Haar castles.

Now who could complain about that?

(classical music) Next, onto the interior details of the castle, which of course had to be exquisite.

Beginning here in the main hall, designed to tell the story of the Baron's family history.

But the Baroness's family history was just as important, so here above the doorway, you will find the symbol of the Rothschild family.

The fist holding the five arrows symbolizing the founding father's, five sons and their five dynasties.

And to fill the largest castle in the Netherlands, it took a whole lot of art, sculpture, tapestries, and furnishings.

Can you imagine having that assignment, scour the world and find the prettiest decor for your home?

Sign me up and let the shopping begin.

So the Baron and Baroness did exactly that, they traveled the world and then decorated their castle with their cosmopolitan, eclectic treasures, including a few from medieval churches across Europe.

Didn't he incorporate some pieces that were medieval with something more modern?

- Yeah, actually this one is from the 1900s.

So it's relative new.

- [Christine] And it looks just like, you know, a 14th or 15th century stained glass piece.

That's amazing.

- Yeah.

But this one over here is actually from the medieval, and he brought it over here.

- And then they're just side by side, so everything kind of meshes together and it gives that feeling.

And of course, since it's in the gothic style, you have all of these beautiful gothic arches, and they repeat everywhere.

I mean level upon level, upon level.

I mean, there's just so much to look at.

I'm like a kid in a candy store here.

And somehow in between all this grandeur, a family home was kept for the Baron and Bareness, and their two children.

What I think is kind of, with all this grandeur, my favorite spot, this seems like a little cozy gathering here.

- This is the family couch.

- The family couch.

- Yeah, and they used to sit over here, drink some whiskey sour, reading a newspaper, just altogether.

- And this is really, just where the family would hang out like a regular family.

- A regular family.

Yeah.

- Back in the centuries before everybody watched Netflix or played with their phones, and didn't talk to each other.

But here's maybe a silly question, would they have just had casual time here in this grand hall or would this have been in a smaller room?

- In a smaller room.

- Okay.

Because I was wondering.

I was like, you'd be like, mom, I don't wanna do my homework, and it's gonna echo here into the rappers.

Okay, excellent.

And there's a wonderful and curious footnote to the story of De Haar Castle.

The Baron and Baroness met at a masquerade ball, and then held their own masquerade balls here at their castle for many years.

And that family tradition is still continued to this day because the descendants still live here, well, for a few weeks each year at least, when they host a grand party.

The guest list over the years has included Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot, and Yves Saint Laurent.

How curious.

(playful music) So from some picture perfect canals lined by those iconic Dutch buildings whose beauty rivals Amsterdam or Venice, and some very important historic cellars connecting those canals and buildings, built to support the trade that made this water loving city thrive, today, watched over by a curious character or two.

To a soaring church tower that is just as fascinating up high as it is down low.

Infused with stories of saints, storms and silhouettes.

To a medieval looking castle rebuilt by a noble Baron, and an especially sassy Baroness.

Utrecht has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of beautiful Utrecht.

As they say here, tot ziens.

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(cheerful music)