Continuing my journey to as many cities as possible in the Netherlands:
Next stop - Maastricht.
Lying in the southern end of the Netherlands, in the province of Limburg it surprisingly super accessible from Belgium rather than the Netherlands by train, With regular train service from Liege.
The city derives its name from the Maas river, along whose banks it’s situated. Full disclosure I’ve been to this city like a million times, but it was mostly to party. So last Thursday was my first time being an actual tourist here. ☺️☺️☺️
So how to make this trip more interesting; I made it a date trip and was hoping it went well
We the most famous landmark of this city is the St Pieter’s fort and the tunnels, about an hours walk from the station. Technically you cant explore the caves without a guide so the tour is the best option and Maastricht underground is an amazing tour to do. Their guides are hilarious and super friendly, they really do make the tour interesting . It’s offered in Dutch, English, German and French and costs 7,50 for the caves or 10,50 for the combined fort and caves.
The fort tour isn’t the most impressive, as its a structure that one could explore themselves , on the other hand you get an idea of the history of Maastricht and its special significance.
The tunnels- Now this was definitely the highlight of the trip and I am kinda amazed I didn’t do this before.
The caves are actually man made limestone tunnels, thus calling them caves is a bit of a misnomer.
Nonetheless its totally worth it. The tunnels are a vast labyrinth extending all the way into Belgium. Used to be 200kms of tunnels to explore, but due to a cement company excavation work only 80km are now available to explore (corporate greed ruining things again).
The tour starts off with a brief history of how the tunnels came to be and our guide Bas did this is in the most interesting and hilarious way possible.
Oh and before going any further I should mention Also its really dark - without the torches its impossible to see anything.
Apparently the tunnels played an important role during the French siege of Maastricht. It’s unbelievable that families with all their belongings and live stock used to live in them during the sieges, even farming chicory, making smokeless ovens, wells to sustain themselves.
Now, another special aspect of the caves are the charcoal art- which is amazing to behold. though not as old as the Lascaux caves in France some of the artwork could be dated to 300 years ago (mid 1700s). this was done by the farmers actually as a way to attract tourists - coz each family owned the part of the tunnels right underneath their farms ; so how does one get the most tourists - show them art.
While most of the art is beautiful and probably made by artists- don’t be surprised by doodles on the walls done by bored farmer families/ soldiers who were stuck for months on end there during the aforementioned sieges. These included some 300 year old doodles of dicks- making me wonder how little we have changed over the last few centuries
While the caves are wonderful and you want to explore as much. Stay with the guide/ group. It’s a maze, its not just a story the guides tell you to scare u. I experienced total darkness for the first time in my life. It’s so dark that u cant even see your own hand in front of your face. I couldn’t even see my dates face even if it was only 1cm from my face.
My only complain from this tour- that it was too short!!! I would love for it to be longer and explore them more.
PS. The caves are also great place to make out!!!
After the caves I would advice anyone heading out to visit the church turned into a library. The aesthetics are wonderful and it definitely gives a old world feel. They have a great collection of books, mostly Dutch. But a ton of English titles too. The placement of the cafe in the church has a bit of a surprise - with its central table shaped like a cross, but that can only be noticed once you climb to the second floor. I would so recommend this !!!
To end the day we walked over to the city park (Stad park) where u can chill on the grass, smoke some grass by the river, all the time admiring the last of the city walls that still remain.
If your ever in Belgium and have a day do visit Maastricht in the Netherlands.
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