August is vacation time! After a few schedule changes I ended up taking the kids to Belgium and the Netherlands for a week. We saw a few of Rory's races and had a blast exploring the area. The weather was absolutely dismal, but we didn't allow that to dampen our spirits.
Maastricht reminded me a bit of Boulder. It is a university town with a thriving cultural scene. Lots of cool places to have coffee, fun shops, etc. We drove from our hotel in Belgium and parking in the center of the city was not a problem (though the price kind of surprised me after cheap Spanish prices).
You can see most of Maastricht on foot or by bike. We spent the morning walking around the city and we were not disappointed. I wish we could have spent another day or two exploring the city, so we will have to return in the future.
Near the town hall we stumbled upon a market with all sorts of things. One portion held the daily food market. I am always interested in seeing other markets and I can't help but compare them to our fabulous Mercat de Lleon in Girona. The Maastricht market had clothes, fabric, flowers, baked goods, etc. It was fun to wander through and the kids found some cute little felt keychains made by a local woman and they bought them to add to their keychain collections.
I adore bookshops and libraries. I just can't help myself in a bookshop. Maastricht has a Dominican church that was built in the 13th century and is now the Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore and it is really worth a visit.
The children's section had plenty of English books and I allowed (haha) the children to each choose a book. Then we wandered over to the adult books and Eston had to remind me that we were limited with our suitcase weight, so I should exercise caution when purchasing books. The shop also has a great cafe, so it is a great stop with kids after waking around town.
We found these statues near the Sint-Janskerk Church. The church has a tower and you can climb about 459 (we started to lose count) very narrow stairs to the top of the tower. Highly recommended as it has a great view of the entire city. Aurelia made it up on her own (age 4) without issue, but be aware that the stairs are quite steep and narrow.
My kids could have spent the day walking along the river and marveling at the boats and the houseboats. We tried not to be too stalker-ish, but it was too tempting to take a peek in the boats! We loved this area of the city.
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