Hattem

The last remains of Castle De Dikke Tinne can be seen at 'het Spookhuys', now a restaurant. The name of the restaurant comes from popular tradition, after the castle was largely demolished by the citizens of Hattem, the story went around that it was haunted...

This smallest of the Dutch Hanseatic cities is home to 3 museums and the beautiful Dijkpoort (Deichtor). Just like Elburg, Hattem was a real trading town, with both the old Hessen routes across the country and the IJssel serving as trading routes for the Hanseatic merchants.

What is nice to know when you pass by is that the Duke of Gelre used to be there (1404), because of its strategic location along the IJssel and opposite the Oversticht of the bishop of Utrecht (who was not a friend of the duke), a small but very impressive castle. That castle was actually called St. Lucia, but because it had walls of up to 7 (!) Meters thick, the thickest castle walls in the whole of the Netherlands, everyone called it 'Dikke Tinne'. There is now a Dikke Tinne festival in Hattem every year, definitely worth it!

If you can't go to the festival, you can see a replica of an iron cage anyway. It is on the Tinneplein. Just watch out for the very delicate children's souls, so judge for yourself what is pedagogically justified, but between 1512 and 1514 Jan II van Wassenaer was locked up in a similar iron cage that was attached to one of the towers of the Dikke Tinne. He was taken prisoner of war by Karel van Gelre and was only released after payment of 20,000 pounds. That was a huge capital then.