A Weekend in Maastricht

This past weekend, Mr. Traveler and I decided to take advantage of our free weekend (i.e. no baseball games) and head down to Maastricht.

Statue in Maastricht

Before leaving, I did a bit of online research about the area and decided I'd like to see what some some sources called "the underground" of Maastricht. From what I could gather from the various websites using Google Translate, a series of passageways run under and around Maastricht. In the past, these passageways were used to store valuable items during wars, as a hideout, and as an avenue for smuggling. When we arrived in Maastricht, I was still a little confused, however, about where these passageways were located and why they were originally formed.

The tourist information center (or VVV) was one of our first stops in Maastricht (after grabbing a great lunch at Cucina 50). When we walked in the door, the room was packed from wall to wall with tourists. Even though summer is high tourist season in the Netherlands, I didn't expect this type of crowd. Soon, we discovered the reason for the additional bodies. Andre Rieu, a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer with the star power only big name pop stars garner in the States, was performing that evening only blocks from our hotel. I'm actually kind of surprised we found a hotel for the weekend at all. Anyway, the crowd was quite overwhelming and I couldn't make heads or tails of the "underground" options from the brochures, so finally Mr. Traveler offered to ask for help.

The VVV employee told us there was a tour to "the caves" leaving in 10 minutes. We needed to hurry out the back door towards the water. There, we would find the boat and be able to purchase combo tickets for the boat and the cave tour. This sent me into a bit of a panic; leaving the building, we didn't know exactly where the boat was or if we needed to get cash. Luckily, we found an ATM (or geldautomaat) pretty quickly, even though we ended up being able to pay with our PIN card.

Even though it seemed like a hassle getting on the boat, once we were on, I realized how much nicer the ride was than taking a bus to the same area. The boat had a bar, which offered both hot and cold drinks and a variety of snacks. We also heard a little about the area and specific sites during the ride.

View from the Boat -- One of the Few Moments with Blue Sky

Soon we got to the first and only stop on the boat's route. We climbed up a hill... Let me pause for a minute. You see, if you are reading this and you don't live in a country with no changes in elevation you might not realize the significance of this statement. However, after walking on pretty much exclusively flat land for the past 10 months, the presence of a hill was actually quite remarkable... Anyway, we climbed up the hill, past a vineyard that was labeled as the first vineyard in the Netherlands (I have no idea whether this is the first continuously operating vineyard or just the oldest), and to an area of picnic tables that was labeled as the waiting spot for the cave tours.

When the tour began, we found out that "the caves" are not actually caves at all. Instead, the underground passageways are the result of mining. Large blocks of marlstone have been harvested from the area for hundreds of years. In fact if you click on the picture below and look at it in its larger form, you should be able to see signatures from the 1600s.

Old Signatures in Mine

Over time, as the miners chopped out layer after layer of marlstone blocks, the tunnels have grown deeper and deeper. The writing on the walls also became more elaborate, in the form of advertisements and artwork.

Dinosaurs

In addition, facilities were created to make stays (like the ones of several residents during the end of the Second World War) more comfortable. Wells were dug in the caves, a loud speaker system was installed, and a bakery, a chapel, and a hospital ward were built.

At one point, our guide asked if we were all feeling brave. "Sure," a couple people said hesitantly. Our guide led us to a large column, set the lanterns to the side, and let us walk around the column guided only by our hand on the wall.

I actually found the tour even more interesting than I thought I would. Although I was extremely glad that we caught the only English language tour of the day. Without our guide's extra information (even though she did say sizzle instead of chisel, which I thought was quite funny), the tour would have been pretty humdrum.

After the caves, we took a few pictures in a local field, overlooking the city, before returning to the boat.

Maastricht

As we walked towards the dock, we saw the boat pulling away. Since we didn't know how long it would be before the next boat arrived, we decided to just wait on a bench by the water. As time passed, a dark storm cloud seemed to be getting nearer and nearer.

Storm!

I hoped that the boat would arrive before the storm, but we didn't have that sort of luck. Instead, we pulled out the umbrella and huddled up just in time for the clouds to let loose. By the time the boat got there, my left leg and arm were completely soaked, but we were able to keep the cameras and most of the rest of us dry.

The storm blew over as we rode back, and when we got to the city, we were able to continue our sightseeing sans umbrella.

Our first stop was the Selexy Dominicanen bookstore, a large bookstore located in an 800 year old church, used only a few years ago as a parking garage for bicycles.

Selexy Dominicanen

The rest of the evening was spent wining and dining around the city and trying to avoid the Andre Rieu crowds.

In the morning, we woke up to a steady drizzle, but by the time we had finished eating breakfast, the rain had almost completely abated. Since I had left my camera in the hotel after our bookstore visit the night before, I wanted to walk around and take photos of the city. Even though most shops and some sites were closed since it was a Sunday, I still enjoyed walking around the city.

Aftermath of Andre Rieu Concert

Random Waterwheel We Happened Upon

Statue with Grasshopper

Odd Architecture

Despite the rain and the clouds that seemed to hang in the sky threatening to pour down at any moment, I really enjoyed our little weekend away. I was able to relax and take a little time off from thinking about our impending move. Of course, now that we're back, the countdown has begun. Right now the thing I'm looking forward to most is seeing our puppy dogs. I hope they remember us.