Maastricht

Maastricht (Mestreech in Limburgish, Maestricht formerly in French, Mastrique formerly in Spanish) is a 121,501 inhabitants city by river Meuse located in the southern part of the Netherlands, being the capital and largest city of the region of Limburg (as well as Meuse-Rhine Euroregion). The city is placed adjacent to the border with Belgium and not far of the border with Germany. It's a thriving cultural and regional hub, becaming well-known through the Maastricht Treaty and as the birthplace of the euro currency

How do I arrive to Maastricht?

  Maastricht has many different ways to arrive from both the rest of the Netherlands and the neighbouring countries. 

• Train: there are trains that link Maastricht with Den Bosch (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Utrecht (aprox. 2 hours) or Amsterdam (aprox. 2 hours 30 minutes) twice every hour as well as other destinations like 4 trains every hour to Valkenburg (aprox. 12 minutes) and Roermond (aprox. 45 minutes). Maastricht is also connected with Brussels, Paris or Cologne via Liège.
• Bus: there are buses from Maastricht to Valkenburg (aprox. 30 minutes). There are also routes to Germany, like to the city of Aachen (aprox. 35 minutes), Düsseldorf (aprox. 1 hour 25 minutes) or Cologne (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes); and to Belgium too, with destinations such as Liège (aprox. 40 minutes), Leuven (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes) or Brussels (aprox. 2 hours).
• Car: if you rented a car from Maastricht you can reach many Dutch destinations like is Valkenburg (aprox. 15 minutes), Roermond (aprox. 35 minutes), Venlo and Eindhoven (aprox. 1 hour), Den Bosch and Tilburg (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) or Amsterdam (aprox. 2 hours 10 minutes); in fact many of the closer destinations are in Germany, with Aachen (aprox. 40 minutes), Cologne or Düsseldorf (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) and in Belgium with Liège (aprox. 30 minutes), Hasselt (aprox. 40 minutes), Leuven (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Brussels (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes) and Antwerp (aprox. 1.5 hours). 

Once in Maastricht the best way to move within the city is using a bicycle, public transportation (maily buses) or walking.

History

 

Maastricht's map

During the reign of Augustus Caesar the Romans built a bridge across Meuse in 1st century AD, connecting Cologne and Bavay. Roman Maastricht was relatively small. According to the legend St. Sevatius, Bishop of Tongeren, died in Maastricht in 384. Maastricht was an early Christian diocese (until it lost the distinction to nearby Liège in 8th-9th century), part of the Carolingian Empire. The town was plundered by the Vikings and then becoming an important trade and manufacturing center (mainly wool and leather). In 1579 the city was sacked by the Spanish army, conquered by Frederick Henry of Orange in 1632, being occipied from France in 1673-1678 and in the War of Austrian Succession. Maastricht was annexed to the First French Empire, being the capital of Meuse-Inférieure department. After the Napoleonic era it became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, capital of the province of Limburg. When Belgium seceded in 1830 the Dutch garrison remained loyal to the Dutch king (but most of the inhabitants sided with Belgian revolutionaries). Maastricht was neutral during WW1 and taken by the Germans during the Battle of Maastricht, recovered by Allied forces in 1944 (most of Maastricht Jews died in concentration camps). After WW2 the industries were shifted to service economy (Maastricht University was founded in 1976) and since the 1990s large parts of the city have been refurbished. In 1981 aand 1991 European Councils were held in Maastricht resulting in the Maastricht Treaty (1991), leading the creation of the European Union and the euro.
 

What can I visit in Maastricht?

 The city has some very interesting churches but the main thing is Maastricht is walking randomly all over Maastricht, its streets full of cafes and narrow streets, mainly around the squares Vrijthof, Markt and Onze Lieve Vrowplein, and the southern part of the wall. Maastricht has an important festival, Maastricht Carnaval.

These are Maastricht's main attractions:

• St. Servaas Catholic Basilica (10-17 Mon-Sat and 12:30-17 Sun; 4,50€/ 3€  adults/ retiree and students): Romanesque church with an eclectic mixture of styles, dating back as soon as the year 1000. It's built where St. Servatius of Tongeren (first bishop of Maastricht) was buried and its abse and towers made up of brick are visible from all over Vrijthof. It can also be visited the cloister's garden and the treasury, whose highlight are St. Servatius's reliquary bust and his tomb.
• St. Jaan Protestant Church (11-16 Mon-Sat): 17th century Gothic church with an austere inside. From its flashy red 43 m tower (2.50€/ 1.50€  adults/ kids) there's an excellent view of Maastricht (despite its stairs are a bit claustrophobic).
• Museum aan het Vrijthof (10-17:30 Tue-Sun; 11.50€/ 4.50€/ free  adults/ students and kids under 18/ kids under 7): small museum with temporary expositions that are worth to be seen. On its cafe there's a yard and Spaans Gouvernement, where Charles V of Germany (and I of Spain) used to be hosted when he visited to Maastricht. 
• Cellebroeders Chapel (guided tours on request): late Gothic chapel, formerly part of a much larger monastery, with an unique vault with the original medieval paintings, beautiful chandeliers and a monumental organ.
• Onze Lieve Vrouwe Catholic Basilica (10-17 Tue-Sun; 6€/ 3€/  adults/ students/ people under 22): Romanesque Mosan style basilica that has a part added in the 19th century by Pierre Cuypens, one of the highlights of Mosan art. The main sightseeing point in the basilica is Our Lady, Star of the Sea.
• Maastricht Nature History Museum (10-17 Mon-Fri, 13-17 Sat-Sun; 7€/ 6€/ 4.50€  adults/ students/ retiree and children): dynamic museums focused on the Carbonaceous period and the Cretaceous Sea with animals of the forested hillsides, the chalk grasslands, and the gravel pit pools or check out the older ‘brown’ section of the museum.
• Bonnefanten Museum (11-17 Tue-Sun; 14€/ 7€/  adults/ students/ kids under 18): main art gallery in Maastricht with an excellent collection of old European paintings and sculptures and Contemporary art from Limburg. There are temporary expositions too.
• Maastricht Underground: complex of tunnels under Mount St. Pietersberg with many different tours: Casemates Waldeck (guided tours; 7.50€/ 5.95€  adults/ kids under 12), 14 km-long network of underground passageways or mine galleries built from 1575 to 1825 used to approach and surprise the enemy during siege (during WW2 it was used as shelter for bombings); North Caves (daily guided tours at 14:15; 7.50€/ 5.95€  adults/ kids under 12), labyrinth of more than 20,000 corridors where the guide shows drawings of people who worked here (manual labourers who cut out the blocks) every day a few hundred years ago as well as various artist (was used as storage of works of arts during WW2) and Zonneberg Caves (weekend guided tours at 14:50; 7.50€/ 5.95€  adults/ kids under 12), network of quarry-tunnels date back centuries but are most intriguing for their occasional charcoal murals and the stories linked to their use in WW2 as a virtual city for hiding the population during times of bombardment.
• Fort St. Pieter (daily guided tours at 12:45; 7.50€/ 5.95€  adults/ kids under 12): strong five-side fortress surrounded with a deep trench from 1710 that is part of the defensive system of the south of Maastricht, connected with Maastricht Underground.
• Jesuit Caves (guided tour booking on advance; 7.50€): unique underground museum (1860-1960) in the corridors of the Cannerberg built for Jesuits scholars and theologians spent their leisure time, creating charcoal drawings, coloured paintings, sculptures and statues resulting in a unique collection of art pieces.

Vrijthof square with St. Servaas Basilica and St. Jaan Church

Fort St. Pieter

Valkenburg Castle ruins

Going 12 km east it's located the popular touristic destination Valkenburg aan de Geul (Valkeberg in Limburgish), a 16,416 town in the southeastern part of the province of Limburg by the small river Geul. The most popular sightseeing point is Valkenburg Castle Ruins (10-17:30 from Feb to Nov; 10-16:30 from Dec to Jan; 13€/ 10€  adults/ kids under 11), only castle on a hill in the Netherlands originally built 1115, destroyed under siege (by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor), rebuilt and again destroyed by John III, Duke of Brabant the important sightseeing point is Museum Roman Catacombs (Tue-Sun; 12.50€/ 7€  adults/ kids under 11), a reproduction of Roman catacombs (from 3rd-4th centuries) designed by Pierre Cuypers. Nearby it can also be visited Dreilandenpunt, meeting point of the borders of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in the highest hill in the country (323 m).

Where can I do and eat in Maastricht?

Boekhandel Dominicanen

Maastricht has an interesting cultural offer with the cool Cinema Lumière (Bassin 88). As for going shopping there is theme market at Markt (general on Wed, fish on Fri and 2nd hand on Sat-Sun). But the without any doubt the most outstanding shop is Boekhandel Dominicanen (Dominicanerkerkstraat 1), bookshop located in a former church.
Maastricht has many good restaurants and places to eat, many of the best ones located around Tongersestraat, Rechtstraat, Vrijthof or Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. In case your budget is reduced you can enjoy the bakery Bisschopsmolen (Stenenbrug 3) or the fast-food cafe Friture Reitz (Mark 75). In case you want to spend some more money and your budget is medium, these are the recommendations: Marres Kitchen (Capucijnenstraat 98) specialised in Mediterranean food, the Belgian restaurant Witloof (Sint Bernardusstraat 12), De Brandweerkantine (Capucijnenstraat 21) specialised in fusion food and the Dutch restaurants Café Sjiek (Sint Pieterstraat 13) and Eetcafe Ceramique (Rechtstraat 78). 
The city has an interesting and varied cafe scene with places like Cafe In den ouden Vogelstruys (Vrijthof 15), Cafe de Pieter (Sint Pieterstraat 22), De Gouveneur (Boschstraat 105a), Zondag (Wycker Brugstraat 42) or the brand Coffeelovers.

Posted in: Europe,Netherlands