Maastricht, Netherlands (after C&P)

After farewelling Christine and Phil, we were lucky to have a further 10 days staying at our lovely Airbnb, very close to the Old Town of Maastricht.

As previously stated, this was a working holiday so, after a good refreshing break, it was time to actually start work! We purchased a portable laptop monitor to share, but especially for Nicola's work, and settled into a loose routine of a few hours of work in the mornings followed by excursions, out and about exploring Maastricht in the afternoons.

On our trusty bikes, we explored the city in every direction, sometimes just cycling randomly and enjoying the sights along the way. We also set off further afield out of the city on several occasions and experienced the hills that everyone had warned us about - "there are hills down there in Maastricht". After the flatness of the rest of the Netherlands, there certainly were hills down in the south, but they seemed more gradual, somehow, than New Zealand's relentlessly undulating hills, and the reward was

always an awesome ride back down into the city on our return.

We got to know the central city really well and used a re-purposed old church as our reference point for our return up the hill to 'home'.

Highlights of Maastricht:
Basilica of Our Lady - Historic Romanesque Catholic Church. Possibly the oldest Christian church in the Netherlands and may have been built on top of a Roman temple.
Basilica of Saint Servatius
Saint Jan's Church (with red steeple). We climbed to the top of the steeple for spectacular views over the city
Boekhandel Dominicanen - Church turned into an amazing bookshop
Bisschopsmolen (Bishop's Mill)
Helpoort - Medieval city wall

Markt Square - Extensive and several times weekly markets including rows and rows of fabric stalls
Vrijthof Square - We weren't so impressed by the noisy & garish, but very popular, fairground dominating the historic space
Kazematten Waldeck Underground - Tunnels and bastions dating back to the 1700s
Bonnefanten Museum - Actually a modern art gallery (the jury is out on our opinion of modern art!)
Stadspark - Riverfront park with scenic views
Waldeckpark - Gorgeous green space
Visiting Loet Geschler's (our Airbnb host) jewellery studio and fellow neighbouring artists

Cycling excursions out of the city:
East to the Netherlands American Cemetery (in village of Margraten) - a military war grave cemetery from the Second World War (approx. 10 kms outside the city). A very impressive and moving site.

North-east to Valkenburg - Steady ride uphill then massive downhill into the town, which was absolutely heaving with visitors on a Thursday, a public holiday for Ascension Day, all lunching!

South for 20 km into Belgium to Voeren and looped return - gorgeous gentle rolling hills.

From Maastricht, we took the train for the 2.5 hour journey up to Amsterdam for the day. Wandering aimlessly, we strayed by accident into the Red Light District and were horrified at the litter and evidence of a big party weekend (this was at midday on a Monday after a long public holiday weekend). We beat a hasty retreat out of the area and much preferred meandering along the picturesque canals instead.

However, it is sad to note that the water quality in every canal, dyke, river and waterway in the Netherlands that we saw, was never clear or clean-looking, always brown and often smelly. They acknowledge a serious issue countrywide that needs to be urgently addressed.

A few months previously, we heard a New Zealander being interviewed on RNZ's Sunday morning’s “Calling Home” – Julian Kerwin, living in Amsterdam, and running a brunch café there. We decided to check out ‘Bakers and Roasters’ and had a beer and very nice glass of Awatere sauvignon blanc. We had a good chat to Julian and it turns out he went to Shirley Boys High in Christchurch but a generation or two after Bruce!

Only days after our visit, a new bylaw came into effect in Amsterdam, banning marijuana smoking in public in an effort to curb ‘grim’ tourist behaviour. The municipality started a ‘stay away’ campaign, aimed first at misbehaving Britons, but cracking down on nuisance tourism in general.

Overall, we cycled approximately 700 km over the month, including a day in Konstanz, cycling with Christine and Phil, then exploring in and beyond Maastricht. We loved whizzing around effortlessly on our bikes and have been so impressed by the cycling in the Netherlands overall.

We bought the bikes for 175 euros each and sold them for 50 euros each, so we were happy with that. They were comfortable to ride, seven gears were plenty for the terrain and there were no problems with them at all. We were really sad to see them go the day before we departed Maastricht.