Still dreaming of travel? Today I thought I would share with you our trip to Maastricht in the Netherlands which we visited in September 2019. Why did we go to Maastricht? It was easy to get to from the Highlands – we flew direct to Amsterdam and then we got the bus which only took two hours.
I didn’t know a lot about Maastricht, just that the European Union was founded there in 1992, Andre Rieu the famous violinist is from there and holds large open air concerts there regularly, and there is a fabulous bookshop in a church that I had to visit.
Before we did anything on our first full day, we had to find somewhere for breakfast, and we found a fabulous chocolate cafe. My beloved ordered his usual healthy option of granola, but it was a granola with chocolate overload.
I had read about the Bookstore Dominicans which is in a 13th Century church and is absolutely fabulous. It was turned into a bookshop in 2006 and I could have spent all day there. There is even a cafe where people can take books to look at or bring their laptop to and spend some time studying or working in the fabulous atmosphere.
I love how they haven’t hidden the original building and have even included aspects that make it clear that it was a church, such as the central table in the cafe.
There is a beautiful rainbow walkway which lots of people were posing on to have their pictures taken.
When we were wandering the streets we came across this shop that sold accessories for pets, including prams. Not long after we actually saw one of these prams in use – that pug looks ancient so I think it’s wonderful that his owner still takes him out.
Whenever we travel, whether it be in this country or abroad, I always love finding statues and street art. Here are a few examples from Maastricht.
We also love the things you see in shop windows including this interesting painting of Van Gogh, some disrespectful garden gnomes, and fabulous love shoes which I think would look great on Ken (for some reason he didn’t agree with me).
One type of shop that there were plenty of, was ice cream and frozen yogurt shops. Of course we had to sample them on more than one occasion.
Here’s a few images from around the city – I love the way the houses look like they were stacked together as an afterthought. The beautiful church will feature in another post as my beloved climbed to the top of the tower.
Maastricht is a beautiful city with lots of things to see and explore, so there is more to come…..
Until then, stay safe. x
Tasmanian Abroad 
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