Utrecht used to be the most important medieval city in the Northern Netherlands, until Amsterdam took over the title in the late 16th century.
In more recent years, Amsterdam also holds all the cards for cannabis, prostitution and being the go-to venue for UK stag parties. Although, that’s all changing now, they are trying to gentrify Amsterdam. Hotel prices have rocketed up, most bars close early on weekdays and they intend to move the red-light district ‘out of town’.
I think Amsterdam wants to attract a better and wealthier class of tourist from America and China, and presumably Russia too (once Putin starts behaving himself). Therefore, Amsterdam’s more low-brow attractions of drugs, porn and late-night vomiting are going to be up for grabs.
I doubt Utrecht will be putting in a bid though, despite being only a 30-minute train ride from Amsterdam. Utrecht is already very gentrified, and it seems to be doing very well without us Brits getting stoned, singing football chants and being fished out of canals.
Utrecht did have a brief flirtation with the seedier side of life when one of its more famous daughters, Sylvia Kristel, became the star of the Emmanuelle soft-porn films of the 1970s. As a child, I remember the kerfuffle Emmanuelle caused in the UK in 1974. The first porn film to be shown in mainstream cinemas. Although, the censors cut out a lot of the really rude bits. Most punters came out of the cinema with deflated trousers and wanting their money back.
As well as giving birth to Sylvia, Utrecht can also claim Gerrit Rietveld. He was an architect and furniture designer with no known links to soft-porn, nor soft-furnishings either. His famous designer chairs look rather hard and uncompromising.
These were not the chairs to choose if you were cursed with piles. I can only assume haemorrhoids weren’t around in the 1920s, or they were overshadowed by more troubling ailments such as tuberculosis, polio and diphtheria.
Rietveld did leave quite a legacy in Utrecht in the shape of the Rietveld-Schroder house, a stunning example of De Stijl architecture. De Stijl was a Dutch art movement, the most famous exponent of which was the painter Mondrian. Indeed, a visit to the Rietveld-Schroder House is like walking into a three-dimensional Mondrian painting.
They only let a few people in at a time, it is a bus ride outside of Utrecht and you have to book well in advance. So, if modern architecture really isn’t your thing, you may be better spending your time in the quiet bars and cafes of the old medieval city. This is where Utrecht really scores over busy and boisterous Amsterdam, it is a more genteel and relaxing version of the Netherlands.
Utrecht has a cathedral, but only half a one. The rest collapsed in a storm a few hundred years ago. It also has a very modern and well-designed concert hall called the TivoliVredenburg. This was the main reason for my day-trip to Utrecht, from Amsterdam, as I went to see the band Sparks (yes, they are still going).
It was quite easy to get to and from Utrecht with return trains to Amsterdam all night. Surprisingly, Amsterdam was still open when we got back. Gentrification has got a way to go if you know the right late-night places.
I do wish I’d spent at least one night in unrushed Utrecht, an antidote to the anarchy of Amsterdam. Although see the anarchy while it lasts, it will be a distant memory soon.
See my other adventures in The Netherlands by clicking here.
JOHNNY SPANGLES - THE TIGHTFIST TRAVELLER 