Most people in the UK have only heard of Maastricht in connection with the EC treaty, they couldn't tell you what it's about, nor could they tell you even which country it's in!
The city is tucked in the bottom left hand corner of the Netherlands, and surrounded on three sides by Belgium and Germany. It's also very close to France and Luxembourg is only a short car journey away.
Don't make the mistake of thinking it's in Holland - that's in the north of the Netherlands, it's the capital of Limburg provence.
I attended a business conference in the beginning of March 2003, and quite by accident managed to land in town at exactly the same time as 'carnival' - which they take very seriously - more about this later.
The old town is about one kilometre square, and is a maze of narrow pedestrianised streets there's a bunch of old churches of varying ages faiths and denominations, but somehow manages to keep a sense of uniformity. For the tourist, there is a bewildering range of shops and pubs.
The city has about 120,000 residents, about the same number as Dundee, but there the similarity ends.
The old town is located between two tributaries of the Maas river, the town expanded to the west bank of the main Mass river in the late 19th century, and that's where many of the local government buildings are located.
Carnival was a real eye opener for me - it takes place six weeks before Easter, and the whole town goes bananas. It's like the fourth of July, St Patrick's day, Hogmanay and Mayday all rolled into one.
The streets are crammed with people, all in fancy dress, all in various states of high spirits, not a spot of bother - I only saw one policeman, and even then he was only helping a boy of about five who had been separated from his parents.
Unfortunately I couldn't spend all day in the city, I had work to do, when I did manage in during the late evening, the place was swarming with the remnants of samba drummers, brass bands, and weirdly, a hoard of people wearing kilts (not one of them Scottish).
I take it there are several processions through the town, after which people just spend the rest of the night dancing, singing and listening to ompah music played at deafening volume from the pubs.
The other thing I noticed was the number of 'coffee shops' on the edges of the town - apparently some residents of nearby Belgium and Germany take full advantage of the Netherlands legendary relaxed view on 'blow', and as a result has one of the highest proportion of shops per head of population anywhere in the country.
I fully intend to go back, the people are astonishingly friendly, and even though I made a miserable attempt to speak in Dutch, they always replied in English. After a few pints of the local brew, it all sounded much the same anyway!
You can fly direct from Stanstead by Ryanair, or take a connecting flight from Amsterdam - if you get a chance - visit. It deserves to be a far better known destination.
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Hotel - Nijverheidsweg 35, 6227AL Maastricht, The Netherlands, Nijverheidsweg 35, 6227 Maastricht, Limburg, The Netherlands, Nijverheidsweg 35, 6227 AL Maastricht, Limburg, The Netherlands
When my daughter lived in Bonn Maastricht was only a short drive away. We used to love to have garlic mushrooms and fresh bread at one of the restaurants on the Square and then wander the cobbled streets for the sfternoon. Most relaxing. You brought back some good memories there! Sue.
jillmurphy 27.04.2003 13:05
Oh, the carnival sounds fantastic!
tracey_angel 26.04.2003 11:17
This sounds like a great place, to spend a weekend and just check it out. I quite fancy having a peek. Trace :)
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Apr 26th, 2003
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