Weesp & Muiderslot Castle

 29th October 2023, Sunday

Today woke up around 7 plus, thinking it was late as per Singapore time. The weather was also nice and sunny. So we decided to head out to have a walk in the forest behind my friend's house. We had our breakfast and headed out for a walk. The wind was blowing strongly and it was cold (temperature was about 13 deg). We strolled through the path, greeting everyone we saw along the way. Some people were jogging, strolling and walking with their dogs. We saw wild mushrooms in the grass, potatoes ready to be harvest in the fields and modern windmills. There was even a super big dog holding a long branch on its mouth and wanted to bring home with it. The owner said the dog was only 18 months old and it was very obedient. We walked till 9 plus and decided to head down to Almere centre to go to a mediterranean eatery named Eethuis Lila. My friend had dined once and found the food nice by far, so she was recommending to have breakfast there.

Great day for a walk!

Breakfast place - Eethuis Lila

So we went and took the bus to head down to Almere Central.  When we reached there, there was no customers yet. However, they only serve breakfast dishes and soups so we can't order others from the lunch and dinner sections. We decided to go with a Harira soup and a big breakfast set to share which included breads, pudding, eggs, Moroccan mint tea. The food was quite nice. After the meal, we walked to the central area where there were a lot of branded shops around. We also went to a asian supermarket to see what asian food are they selling. After that, we decided to head down to Muiderslot Castle in Weesp and have ice cream there. So we walked to the bus stop and took a free bus to Weesp. It was about 30 mins ride to Weesp main station. From there, we went and look for bus 110 to go to the castle. However, it was a 45 mins wait before the bus comes. So we decided to head down to the town and get ourselves some ice cream from Nelis' IJssalon. It was 15 mins walk to the place, most of the shops were closed. When we reached there, we ordered 2 scoops in a cup for 2.5 euro and we took mango and pistachio flavour. Ice cream was quite smooth and not bad, just the mango one was quite sour and pistachio flavour was not strong enough (not as good as the one I had in Florence).  

Breafkast!

Famous ice-cream in Wessp

Reflection of Sint-Laurentius church

Then, we headed back slowly to the bus stop while eating the ice cream. We took some photos along the way back and waited for the bus to come upon reaching the bus stop. A young couple walked up to us asking if they could pay with their credit cards for the bus fares. My friend told them we were not sure and they could ask the driver when the bus comes. Then we had a small talk with them while waiting for the bus. They were from Mexico and Spain, they met each other while working in Finland and they were there for short holidays. And they told us the expenses in Finland was much expensive as compared to Netherlands. After that, we boarded the bus to head to the castle. From the bus stop, we still had to walk a 10 mins distance to the castle gate. We purchased a entry ticket for myself since my friend had free entry to the castle. And so we went to explore the castle and it started to drizzle too.  There were 2 routes - Knight's route and Tower's route to access different rooms in the castle. The castle was used as a water shield to fend off enemies in early years and served as a trading point in the later years. The count Floris V who lived at that time was collecting trade toll for every boat that passed by the castle. There was also a poet who lived in the castle after the Count. There was a torture room and armoury room too. We spent exploring the castle for about 2 hours. Later we went to the garden outside the castle to take a look. There was nothing there, all the flowers and veggies are all dead. Maybe it will be nicer in spring or summer period.

Knights' Armours

Fire place for warmth with the bench able to turn around

Torture Room

We decided to make our way home as the castle was closing at 5:00 pm. But before we left, we walked to the water shelter outside and took a look inside. There was a video on how the dutch had used water to defend their lands in war times but it also scarified its own people in order to have this water defence system. So it become a question of whether water is a foe or friend to them. After that, we headed out to exit the castle. We walked back to the bus stop and took the same bus 101 to the central station. From there, we took the free bus back to Almere Poort. Along the way, we caught sight of the moon rising out and it was so round and big. The sky was getting dark too when we reached back to Almere Poort. We went to supermarket to buy some ingredients for the coming week and bought a wrap and two Netherlands Balls back for dinner, Once done, we made our way back home where we ate our dinner and rested for the day.

Model of castle

Moon of the night

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