Sampling the Best of Life in Utrecht

If one had to choose a single word to describe this lovely old town at the heart of the Netherlands, it would have to be gezellig --a much-beloved Dutch word meaning, roughly, “cozy, not too large, warm, colorful and filled with all sorts of small and satisfying delights.”

Utrecht has such an abundance of these allures that it is a favorite day-trip destination for other Hollanders, anxious to visit this ancient town for a taste of Dutch life at its best.

Much of the town’s charm centers along the Old Canal, dug in 1122. Many of the patrician homes on the canal’s banks had storage cellars that extended almost to water’s edge for offloading supplies directly from barges. Most of these quayside warehouses have now been turned into cafes, shops, restaurants and small offices, giving the city a double-decker main street that is as colorful as any in the country.

While barrel organs have always been an enchanting part of Dutch street life, it seems that Utrecht has more than its share grinding out happiness on street corners, including a national museum devoted to still-working models that go back through the centuries. A visit to this house of musical mayhem is sure to brighten the psyche of anyone of any age.

Utrecht also has the vitality and lighthearted air of a university town, thanks to the one founded here in 1636. Its students are steady customers of the town’s many tapperij , free houses much like an English pub where one may have a foamy Dutch beer, bowl of thick soup or light snack. And, like free-spirited university students everywhere, they have been known to dive into a canal fully clothed for a shortcut to another nearby tapperij and the next beer.

The city’s Old Town is amazingly authentic, including the strict preservation of building facades and even some merchant’s ancient signs. While the shops of sailmakers, ironmongers and other medieval merchants once lined the canals that lie over the town like fine lace, Utrecht now has the Netherlands’ largest shopping center near the rail station. Hoog Catharijne center has 60 acres of nearly 200 shops, cafes, restaurants, buskers and assorted carryings-on. Yet many of the town’s restaurants still serve molenbrood , a delicious bread made from whole-wheat flour ground in the city’s ancient Rijn en Zon windmill. It’s delicious.

How long/how much? Give it two full days for the sights and shopping, another if you’d like a boat trip outside of town. Lodging costs are moderate for today’s Europe, dining the same.

Getting settled in: Hotel Malie has the distinct look of an embassy or consulate of a prosperous small country, although it’s just two 19th-Century townhouses joined to provide 30 bedrooms, a breakfast room, bar and delightful patio in a walled rose garden under trees at the rear.

Bedrooms are of moderate size and quite contemporary in their furnishings, with sparkling baths and color TV. Buffet breakfasts are served in a handsome and bright room with fresh flowers on tables and views of the garden. Malie’s staff go out of their way to be helpful, and the breakfasts are excellent.

Hotel Mitland is a good stop for drivers, or anyone interested in its eight tennis courts, bowling alleys or riding school. Built in a wooded setting on a small canal at the edge of town, Mitland’s dining room-terrace is right on the water, strewn with lily pads and rimmed by willows. The 44 bedrooms here are neat but rather basic, and the drive or taxi to mid-town takes about five minutes.

Hotel Smits has the city’s very best location, dead center of everything and hard by the main square. It’s super-contemporary in the bedrooms, dining rooms and bar, with plenty of white marble and light-colored furnishings. Smits has recently been bumped from three to four stars and deserves it.

Regional food and drink: No one main dish that we know of can honestly be called Utrecht’s own, yet the sturdy Dutch erwtensoep (pea soup), hutspot met klapstuk (a meat and vegetable stew), herring, sole, mussels, Zeeland oysters and other fresh seafood are always at hand.

Desserts and sweets are another matter, with the town’s domtorentjes a particular favorite. It’s a chocolate pastry cup filled with whipped cream and mocha, then topped with more rich Dutch chocolate. Poffertjes , a fritter-like puff dusted with sugar, can be downed half a dozen at a time, and many poffertjes shops in town have them waiting.

Oudaen steam beer is brewed in a medieval castle on the Old Canal and much-favored. And genever (Dutch gin) comes in the old (amber) and new (clear) varieties, both sure to lift your spirits mightily.

Good local dining: Tantes Bistro (Oudegracht 61) is one of those townhouse cellars at water’s edge that has been turned into a warm and most atmospheric restaurant, with vaulted ceilings, a convivial bar, lots of dark wood and old-fashioned fringed lampshades hanging over the tables.

The menu leans heavily on bistro dishes, with snails, mushrooms provencale, steak bearnaise and the like. A $22, four-course menu gives you game pate, a choice of soups, trout or grilled steak and dessert or coffee with cognac.

‘De Oude Muntkelder (Oudegracht 114) is another 14th-Century cellar nearby that is a bright and cheerful pannekoekhuis (pancake house). These pancakes are more like huge, plate-size crepes than the stateside variety, and they’re an addiction all over the Netherlands. They come in an endless variety: with cheese and salami, apple, bacon and pineapple, meat ragout or whatever. Dine at one one of the inside tables, with vines and flowers about, or at quayside tables in the sun. Prices run from $4.75 to $9.

Stadskasteel Oudaen (Oudegracht 99), built in 1311 as a city castle, still has the imposing facade and enormous beamed rooms of a medieval fortress. The “knights’ room” is now a very festive bar-bistro gathering place, while the main restaurant is a more formal and very pretty dining room. Huge copper vats in the cellars below brew Oudaen beer.

An a la carte meal here can get a bit pricey, with Belgian tomato soup made with beer for $6; prawn provencale, $11, and grilled Charlerois steak for $20. Menus are priced from $25 to $37.

On your own: First order of business should be the one-hour boat ride ($5) that starts on the Old Canal and loops the city. The tourist office (Vredenburg 90 on the main square) also has walking tours through the old town.

It’s hard to miss the Domkerk (cathedral church) that rose in 1321, a Dutch lacework study in stone of flying buttresses, filigreed windows, quiet cloisters, medieval bas-reliefs and the tallest and perhaps most beautiful tower in the Netherlands. A structure to match the Domkerk’s majesty is Castle De Harr, near the village of Maarssen (four miles), first built in 1165. It’s everyone’s idea of what a medieval castle should be: formidable towers, battlements, parapets, moat, drawbridge and filled with Flemish tapestries, Chinese porcelains, hand-carved fireplaces and stately dining halls with ceilings soaring upward toward infinity.

Less weighty cultural diversions are the National Museum Van Speelklok tot Pierement (the musical clocks and street organ museum mentioned above), and the Dutch Railway Museum with its steam locomotives and model trains.

GUIDEBOOK

Utrecht

Getting there: Fly KLM nonstop to Amsterdam. Delta, Pan Am, Northwest and TWA will get you there with changes. An advance-purchase, round-trip air ticket will cost about $598. Trains run directly from the airport to Utrecht around the clock, taking about 50 minutes and costing $5.65. A Holland Rail Pass (good for three days of travel within 10 days) will cost $53, children about $2.25.

A few fast facts: The Dutch guilder recently sold for 1.6 to the dollar, or .625 each. Come any time of the year, though the dead of winter can be very nippy.

Accommodations: Malie Hotel (Maliestraat 22; $93.75 double B&B;); Hotel Mitland (Arienslaan 1; $87.50 double B&B;); Hotel Smits (Vredenburg 14; $144 double B&B;).

For more information: Call the Netherlands Board of Tourism at (213) 678-8802 or (415) 543-6772, or write (90 New Montgomery St., Suite 305, San Francisco 94105) for a brochure on Utrecht, another on Amsterdam, a map of the country, information on the Holland Rail Pass and Holland Leisure Card that offers discounts on hotels, car rentals and other purchases. Ask for the Utrecht package.