MAASTRICHT – a lively old town in the Netherlands

MAASTRICHT, the wellknown Dutch city. After our holiday in Belgium (more about that later), we made a 2-day stopover here.

Maastricht, divided in two by the wide river Maas, is an extremely old city. In “newer” times, the Romans built the first bridge over the river, 2.000 years ago. The bridge, however, collapsed in 1275 and was replaced by the Sint Servaasbrug (St. Servatius Bridge) a few years later. This bridge is mentioned as the oldest in the Netherlands, although it was actually rebuilt after WWII. The old town of Maastricht is beautiful, with many medieval buildings, including the huge Basilica of Our Lady, the Basilica of Saint Servatius and Saint John Church.

There is also still a good part left of the old fortifications, including Hell’s Gate, in the southern part of the old town. The weekly market on Fridays offers all kinds of delicious local food, of course including cheese. There are restaurants all over as well, especially around the Market Square around the Town Hall. In supermarkets in Maastricht, we noticed a special thing, ready-packed ingredients for small households, including all you need to prepare a dinner for one or two people, very practical.

We stayed at the camper site Papillon Maastricht, 3 kilometres outside the city centre, with a great river view.

From the camper site, it’s possible and convenient to take a bus directly to Maastricht, but here is a little warning: on Sundays, the bus only drives every 2 hours, AND the one we took, was 4 minutes EARLY and drove off immediately, so be by the bus stop a bit in advance. Apart from that, all was good. The camper site has all the required facilities and nice hiking options along the River Maas (Meuse). There was even a fruit truck, delivering fresh fruit in an old ambulance.

Maastricht is worth a visit.