Maastricht

Back it Wanda, it had just gone 1pm but I knew it wasn’t far to get to our sleeping spot for the night so we decided to go there and then have lunch.
It was just 6 miles to get us over the Belgian border and into The Netherlands and the city of Maastricht.
Our original plan was to do the local Fort and caves but we have to book well in advance for the caves which we didn’t know so we’ve decided to check out the city instead.
After a quick lunch in Wanda of Belgian pizza breads we set off at 2:30pm on foot into the city centre.
It only took us about 20 minutes and as we got closer the traffic got busier and busier and the car parks fuller and fuller. We thought something must be going on and as we rounded a corner and entered the pedestrianised zone there were just thousands of people and it was just shoulder to shoulder.
Our first stop was the City Square and we there were lots of what we thought were market stalls out. As it turns out it seemed like more of a cross between a crap antiques fair and a bootsale.
From the City square we headed into the city Center and to our surprise all of the shops were open and it was full of people. Every single cafe we could see was rammed with people and some of the cafes and restaurants were huge and all of there outside seating areas were full. The shops were heaving and they weren’t cheap shops either. We’re talking designer shops like Superdry, Nike and Pandora, not to mention the independent boutique stores selling handmade stuff. It really was crazy.
In the centre of all this we found an open cathedral, and as we love a European church we popped in.
This cathedral wasn’t anywhere near as Gordy as some of the ones in France and Spain. There wasn’t the insatiable amounts of gold leaf which we were expecting, in fact this cathedral was quite modest by European standards just boasting a huge hand painted Muriel on the rear wall.
From the cathedral we continued on pushing the gaggle of people and turning off down ally and walking through an open archway we found ourselves in a working water mill making flour for the bakery next door. Walking out the other side we saw the wheel being forced around by the rivers current so we decided to follow that river to the edge of the city where we had a great view of Maastricht.
We had now walked 4 miles so we decided to turn around and head back to Wanda and on the way back we found a church that has been converted into a bookstore. We popped in to take some cheeky photos and again this store was packed, but the bookshop itself looked amazing.
About 1/2 a mile to go we passed through a local car park and it’s still completely full, and it’s now 5pm, this is definitely the busiest city we’ve ever been to and until recently we’d never heard of it.
Back at Wanda we had a late dinner at 7:30pm of Belgian chicken schnitzel, tonight we are camped on a piece of waste ground just outside the city centre with a few other campers and motorhomes free of charge.Read more