Maastricht is the furthest-south City in the Netherlands, way down on a little peninsula of borders stretching between Germany and Belgium on either side. It is also a very old and historic city - possibly the oldest in the Netherlands (as well as Nijmegen) - settled since 500BC, conquered by the Romans in the Gallic Wars, and more recently was birthplace of the European Union and Euro currency. Forgetting the history lesson, it is also famous for being one of the only parts of the Netherlands to have hills! It was also a great city to walk around for a day last year, exploring the tourist sights and city streets.
I make a point of seeing cathedrals in most towns i visit in Europe, and in this case the first one I walked into surprised me by being actually a bookstore instead! I remembered after the fact about seeing this on lists such as 'most interesting bookstores' etc etc online, but I arrived purely by chance this day. It may seem a shame to repurpose an impressive old cathedral, but actually Maastricht and Europe in general has more cathedrals than they know what to do with! This keeps a stream of tourists coming through and spending money which can be used to help maintain the building. I didn't buy a book, but of course I contributed to the takings of the Cafe...
I checked out actually three other churches/cathedrals in Maastricht, each of which were quite interesting in different ways. The Basilica of Saint Servatius on the main Vrijthof square is biggest and most impressive, and I was particularly interested in the carvings and design in the South Portal (the entrance for rich people). The Basilica of Our Lady was also cool for the very dark atmosphere and interesting light. I spent a long day in Maastricht, and managed to also fit in a trip to the modern art museum over the river, the Bonnefanten Museum, which was housed in quite an interestingly designed building - as with many modern art museums I can be more interested in the building than the art!
Maastricht was a walled city, and much of the walls on the southern edge are still up, and make for a nice walk around the ramparts and through the city park (Stadspark) and the older areas of town. There was also plenty of art and sculpture scattered around the city, my favourite of which was the old Bear Pit (berenkuil) in the city park, part of which used to be a zoo i.e. an actual bear pit! I've only shown the dead giraffe and girl on top, but the pit was filled with all sorts of wildlife sculptures around the walls and bottom. No trip to the Netherlands is complete without stocking up at the supermarket before heading back to Germany, so of course I grabbed plenty of my favourite Dutch junk food again this time...