This weekend we decided to get out of Rotterdam and spend a night in Maastricht.
Some quick info about Maastricht:
After an uneventful train trip to Maastricht (the uneventful kind are the best kind), it was a short 50m walk to our hotel. Once booked in, it was time to explore. Maastricht is located in a very religious part of the Netherlands and so there are lots of old churches to visit. We visited Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek, St Servaasbasiliek and a church with a red tower. The reason for the red tower is apparently because the tower is built from limestone and the limestone naturally turns black when exposed to the elements. Since the residents didn’t fancy the idea of a black church, they painted it with ox blood (somehow that seemed less sinister?). Today the ox blood is spared, but the church is still painted red (ox blood red to be precise).
- It is just over 2 hours by train from Rotterdam;
- It is situated at the same latitude as Brussels and Cologne and is approximately midway between these two cities;
- Andre Rieu (the guy who brought back the waltz) comes from Maastricht;
- Settled in approximately 500 BC;
- The first dutch city to be liberated by allied forces during WWII.
After an uneventful train trip to Maastricht (the uneventful kind are the best kind), it was a short 50m walk to our hotel. Once booked in, it was time to explore. Maastricht is located in a very religious part of the Netherlands and so there are lots of old churches to visit. We visited Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek, St Servaasbasiliek and a church with a red tower. The reason for the red tower is apparently because the tower is built from limestone and the limestone naturally turns black when exposed to the elements. Since the residents didn’t fancy the idea of a black church, they painted it with ox blood (somehow that seemed less sinister?). Today the ox blood is spared, but the church is still painted red (ox blood red to be precise).
Other sights around Maastricht included the St Servaas bridge (the oldest bridge in the Netherlands), the old town walls and gates, the old city centre, the market square, St-Pietersberg fort, and the local limestone quarry (St-Pietersberg Grotten).
The St-Pietersberg Grotten were created during centuries of limestone quarrying. There are over 20,000 passageways and the real attraction is the drawings and inscriptions left behind by miners and people that used the caves to hide in during times of war. The guided tour is a definite must do if you find yourself in Maastricht.
And then it was time for the trip home, which unfortunately was not uneventful. Shortly after leaving Maastricht the train we were travelling in hit a car. The loud bang followed by screeching brakes and a shaking carriage is definitely not an experience we want to repeat. Although we are not sure what happened to the driver (or passengers?) of the car, luckily no one in the train was injured.
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek
View from the top of the 'ox-blood red church tower'
Treasury in the St-Servaasbasiliek
Tiled floor in the St-Servaasbasiliek
Old and new alongside the river Maas
St-Servaas bridge on the river Maas
One of the town gates (Helpoort)
Stadhuis at the market square
The Vrijthof (the main town square) with St-Servaasbasiliek in the centre
A statue of D'Artagnon!!
A friend
Inside the St-Pietersberg Grotten
St-Pietersberg Fort
A canon on top of the old city walls
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