Today we finally had a chance to visit the beautiful Westhove Castle, located between the villages of Oostkapelle and Domburg. The castle dates back to the early 13th century and was partially destroyed and rebuilt in 1572 and again in 1948. Now it’s a Stayokay youth hostel, still surrounded by a moat, with a small museum (one room) that didn’t look too interesting. Very cool. We didn’t go inside because the whole interior is dedicated to the youth hostel, but we could see in a few windows and it looked like, well, a castle. Jon has a thing about castles so we really wanted to visit at least one on our trip so he could cross it off his list. Plus, castles are cool…don’t you like the Lego one I made for Sam?
After the castle visit, we continued driving to the village of Domburg which was so adorable. The whole village itself spans about 1 square kilometer, and its few main streets are filled with small shops and restaurants with patio dining for excellent people-watching. In summers Domburg is full of tourists who come for the beautiful beach, the seaside golf course, and the quaint resort town atmosphere. The famous Dutch artist Piet Mondrian often spent his summers at the Domburg sea and both he and James Whistler (of Whistler’s Mother fame) both painted several works depicting the coast.
So of course I am more than intrigued by this unusual town that has both a 13th century castle and a beach worthy of Whistler’s and Mondrian’s attention. I like it so much that we’re going back tomorrow morning. Maybe we’ll even paint a picture or two.
images: #1 is mine, the Whistler from artandpopularculture.com, the Mondrian from moma.org
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