A fight for the titel

I guess there's not a single person, who wouldn't hear about Maastricht and if there is, than he/she should do his/her lesson asap. Yup, history is one of these things Maastricht can be really proud of! It's the oldest settlement in the Netherlands with the oldest (1st century!) bridge in this country. There's an argument about which city is older: Nijmegen or Maastricht. Well, if it would be about a title of The Oldest Settlement, than Maastricht would  definitely win, but they should really forget about a titile of The Oldest City in Holland. It's Nijmegen that as first recieved Roman city rights. Maastricht never had these. It received the city rights in 1204.

The City Hall

A bookstore located in a Dominican church. According to The Guardian it's the most beautiful bookstore in the world.

Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Basilica

We went for a little day trip on Saturday to this adorable, charming city. Many people in Holland says, that going to Maastricht is a bit like going abroad. And there is some truth in it. You could really get the feeling you're not in Holland anymore. Romanesque churches, cobbled streets, clearly old and beautiful buildings in the city center... feels more like Belgium! Why should we be even surprised? The city lays just by the border, faaaaaar away on a south. It's closer to Brussels from here, than to Amsterdam. 

The sign above the door says: "Don't even dare to cross here without praying Ave Maria"

Church of Saint John the Baptist

Sint-Servaas Basilica

I was quite surprised, that I haven't notice any of the traditional dutch red brick houses with white stripes. Maybe they are in some other part of the city, I haven't seen them. Maurice was also astonished by the roofs. Not very typical to the dutch architecture. And there were not many bicycles! Comparing to any other dutch city the number of these vehicles was seriously low. Maybe it's because of the hilliness of Maastricht or maybe it's because of the bad weather. Yeah, we were not very lucky with the weather. Perhaps we should come back next spring.

Just look at these roofs...

Tourist information ;)