An hour out of Amsterdam I needed to change trains to my next destination. It was the town of Utrecht and the night before my friend Niels had convinced me to take a few hours and have a look around. The town – like Amsterdam and many other Dutch cities – is built around a series of canals, but unlike Amsterdam, the city and streets are built a full story higher than the water level of the canals.

The canals were used for transporting goods, and along the side of the canals are doors that lead to warehouses. The goods would be unloaded directly into the warehouse spaces underneath the city and sold in the stores above. Pretty cool. The old spaces underneath the city are now being transformed into shops, cafes and homes.

I spent a few hours just wandering around the city, diverting down interesting little side streets and following the canal as it meandered though the city.

Unlike the previous few days in Amsterdam, it was a beautiful sunny day and I really enjoyed taking the time to explore the gorgeous little town of Utrecht.

This post is tagged The Netherlands, Utrecht