A day at Muiderslot Castle

A few weeks back during the kiddo's fall holiday we decided to check out Muiderslot Castle, located in Muiden, Netherlands.

This castle was built around 1285 and has been preserved quite nicely. This is the first castle we've seen since coming to Europe since we haven't been to Germany yet, and we were quite impressed. I loved they still had the loo rooms so you could see the conditions in which they used to use the restrooms. Let me tell you, you needed to be a small individual and I hope if you were pregnant they brought you a chamber pot! We are small people and could hardly fit through!

Anyway, enough about that, on to the castle!

To get there we took the bus line that runs outside our house to Amstelstation and from there popped on bus 322 out to Muiden. From there it was a very fast 15 minute walk, everything is very well marked.

Once we arrived we showed our Museumkaart and went right in.

We spent a little time walking around the outside of the grounds:

Boats in the Harbour

In the Gardens

The Castle from the Gardens; this picture was actually better than I thought with the flags.

The moat is awesome.

They were actually doing some restoration work while we were there.

The entrance.

More looking out where the harbour runs into the sea.

As you walk in, the well is the first thing you see. It is all boarded up though, just ornamentation. Just beyond this you can see chairs, there is a little cafe. Decent food, wine, hot chocomel.

This is a shot of the courtyard from above.

The inner workings of one of the turrets.

Seriously, the bathroom...how would one even fit in there?! Not to mention, it goes straight into the moat! Guess there was no jumping off the ol' castle walls back in the day.

Murder Hole. The teenager was quite fascinated by the idea of dropping boiling hot oil through it on attacking soldiers.

A view of the flags and the gardens, I should note that is actually still a working garden.

The fireplace. I can just imagine the castle guard lighting his fire to stay warm as he walks the wall in the evening.

Once we were finished at the castle we decided to check out the village of Muiden as we didn't know if we'd ever go back there here are a few shots:

Shackled up to do her time for being sassy.

Boats were coming through..check out this video

I found it fascinating that these boats were just big enough to fit through.

A little pond we passed...I loved all the fall colours.

So, there you have it, our time in Muiden at Muiderslot Castle. If you have an extended period of time in Amsterdam I highly recommend this day trip. It is cheap and very entertaining for the kids as they are free to roam a medieval castle! You don't get that opportunity often!