A Day in Maastricht

I spent the day mostly in the southern part of the old city of Maastricht. I walked out of the hotel and walked east past the train station at which I had arrived, past the convention center where my father’s meetings were, and directly to the Maas River. The hotel offered an excellent map.

A bit more on local history: according to their tourism literature, Maastricht was originally a river crossing. The Romans recognized the strategic importance of the site, and fortified the area around 50 BCE. Until the 8^th century, it was a bishopric of the Catholic Church, and during the Middle Ages, the city grew rich on the textile trade.

The city is associated with the idea of a unified Europe, due to the Treaty of Maastricht. They are proud of the multiculturalism of the city. They cite a strong influence from Burgundy. In my walk around, I heard significant amounts of Dutch, English, German, and French.

Where I reached the river, there was a nice park around the provincial government buildings. Maastricht is the provincial capital of Limburg:

Provinciehuis Limburg


Maas River

Mt. Sint Pieter, south of the city

I continued north on a beautiful walk by the river and crossed the hoge brug, a modern footbridge just south of the city center. I then entered the old city at the Jerker Tower, which is part of a fortification that was built from the 16^th to 18^th centuries:

Jerker Tower

Inside, the old city is absolutely picturesque. It is built around squares and churches, the shopping district is interesting, and most of the streets are used only by pedestrians.

I spent most of the time just wandering around this area. I climbed the tower of the Church and Tower of Sint Jan. It was a very long and narrow spiraling staircase up to some amazing views of the city:

Tower of Sint Jan's

view from the Tower

I also saw the city government building and the fun shops in the surrounding area:

Stadhuis

I walked back across the river at the much older Sint Servaasbrug, a site that was originally bridged in the 13^th century. I wandered a bit in a newer area called Wyck and then wandered back across the A2 highway and south paste the technical college, back to the hotel.

I went to dinner with my father at a little restaurant on the Vrijthof, the main square near Sint Servaas and Sint Jan. Mussels were very popular; everyone around was eating them—they were excellent. There also seems to be a fondness for sauces; mayonnaise, garlic sauce, and mustard available with everything, and the menu offered many others.

My sleep schedule finally seems to be sort of falling into place.

Today, my father gets out of meetings a little after noon, so we’re hoping to spend the afternoon riding bikes. The area around here is perfectly flat. Also, the city is full of bicycles and scooters. They always get their own lane, set apart by red pavement, and their own crosswalks. We plan to take a brief ride to the next town along the Maas River, Eijsden.