When the weather is good—which doesn’t happen all the time by the way in the Netherlands, even during summer, Dutchman and I always take advantage of it. Like several weeks ago, we went biking outside the city to the little village of Oud-Zuilen (spelled also as Oud Zuylen), located north west of Utrecht.
We just want to be outdoors really and biking is the easiest way to do this. The Netherlands is a very flat country. It’s a biker’s dream country so to speak. And my idea of a lovely afternoon is biking to a small pretty village for a relaxing afternoon tea. I initially wanted to sneak in a visit to the resident castle—Slot Zuylen, but decided not to push it through as Dutchman is allergic to archaic buildings. That’s how it goes with relationships you know. The big C which is compromise =)
Oud-Zuilen is just 20 minutes with the bike from Utrecht centre. You just have to follow the Vecht River.
The best place to have a drink (afternoon tea), snack (apple tart), lunch or dinner is at Restaurant Belle named after the famous resident of Slot Zuylen Castle, Belle van Zuylen. The restaurant is located on the River Vecht, just a stone’s throw away from the castle. It has an elegant interior and a lovely outdoor terrace where one can watch the boats passing by and the draw bridge going up and down every half an hour. The restaurant also has a brick wine cellar where you can hold a private dinner. Now that’s really cool.
We had luckily the weather on our side that weekend so we sat on the terrace and ordered our tea. I didn’t want to eat a lot so we decided to share the apple tart.
This is just one of the things I love doing on a nice weather day in the country. Chilling on the terrace of a charming café restaurant and watching the world go by. Well in this case, watching the village go by.
Visit Period: May 2015
Destination: Oud-Zuilen, Stichtse Vecht (Utrecht), The Netherlands
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