Come to Maastricht in the right month, May or June, and you can dine at a sidewalk cafe on white asparagus, a glorious seasonal treat. The classic dish is asparagus with rolled-up thin slices of ham, two hard-boiled eggs and small new potatoes with chives.
Come to Maastricht during the right year, and you can feast on Pilgrimage Days, a 10-day religious celebration held every seven years. Sound and light shows, musical performances and historical exhibitions are staged, but the highlight is a remarkable costumed procession in which religious relics are borne through the streets of the city. The next Pilgrimage will take place in 2004.
Come to Maastricht any time, and you can take leisurely strolls on narrow pedestrian streets that curl through the oldest city in the Netherlands, admiring well-preserved old structures, exploring historic churches and fortifications, shopping in some of Holland’s most prestigious shops and pausing at the pubs that are the heartbeat of the city.
But know that you’ll only get to Maastricht if you make an effort to do so — it’s situated in a sliver of Dutch territory sandwiched between Belgium and Germany a good way off the usual tourist track. And know that in this city — familiar to Americans mainly as the site of the 1991 Treaty of Maastricht, the basis for the unification of Europe — things may not always be what they seem.
One stately old church I admired is now a party house, I learned; another had been turned into a rehearsal hall. The onetime courthouse and jail has become the tourist office, and the old red-light district around Stokstraat now is home to the city’s classiest shopping.
That’s not all. Maastricht (population 130,000) may be small, but its very smallness makes it friendly and easy to divine, I discovered. Moreover, it’s a lively and sophisticated place. Though it’s more than 2,000 years old, Maastricht is far from stodgy. It’s a university town, and throngs of students, plus the constant influx of visitors, keep spirits young.
I found its well-preserved inner core a delight to explore. Inside the ancient city walls are old churches and fortifications, pedestrian streets lined with shops and restaurants, homes that date back centuries, even working water mills from an earlier age.
And I found a city that lives and breathes with the current of life.
“Maastricht is not a Disney site,” said Wim Gloudemans, director of the city’s tourist office. “We’re a city; tourism is OK, but it doesn’t make the show.”
Maastricht’s proximity to major cities makes it a popular weekend destination for Europeans, who comprise 90 percent of the annual 2 1/2 million visitors here. Cologne and Brussels are just 60 miles away, Luxembourg 100 miles and Paris 250 miles. Many visitors come from Amsterdam, a little less than three hours away by car.
At the center of the action, as well as the center of the town, is Vrijthof Square, facing the Basilica of St. Servatius.
The city’s pedestrian streets fan out from the square, and one side is lined with cafes where one can pause for a beverage or a meal; at night the crowds are so thick that it’s easier to walk in the street.
Stokstraat, the shopping district, lies close to the Maas River, which was the reason Maastricht came to exist 2,000 years ago. Situated near a fordable section of the river, the early settlement soon became an important stop on one of Europe’s major east-west overland routes.
When Servatius (later made a saint) moved his bishop’s see to Maastricht in the 4th Century, the city flourished as thousands of pilgrims came to visit.
After the departure of the Romans in the 5th Century, the city developed as an important trade center. But when the see was moved to Liege in the 9th Century and Emperor Charlemagne chose Aachen for his coronation, Maastricht lost prominence.
Napoleon put the city on the map again when he made it the capital of French Nedermaas, which included most of what are the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg. In the 19th Century, Maastricht became an important Dutch industrial city, and today 20 percent of the population is still employed in industry.
Many remnants of Maastricht’s varied past remain, and exploring them is part of its appeal.
Still standing is the Helpoort, a fortified city gate that is the oldest of its kind in the Netherlands, dating to the 13th Century. Visitors can ascend on a steep spiral staircase to the sentry room, which has exhibits, old cannonballs and gift items for sale, including a Helpoort wine.
Close by stands the Pesthuis (Plague House), a former water-driven paper mill built in 1775. It takes its name from the nearby barracks that housed those infected by the plague.
Visitors can walk atop portions of the medieval walls, a pleasant stroll that gives another perspective of the city. And on the fringe of the old town lie the Casemates, underground mining galleries used by the military in times of siege. Regular tours last about an hour; a more comprehensive tour lasts three.
Roman ruins from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Centuries lie under the Derlon Hotel, one of the city’s top hotels.
The illuminated ruins, uncovered during excavation for the hotel, can be seen in the cellar, along with museum exhibits.
Close to the Derlon is the Basilica of Our Lady, whose high facade and towers make it look more like a fortification than a church.
The basilica’s treasure house, like the one in the Basilica of St. Servatius on the Vrijthof Square, contains magnificent reliquaries and other ecclesiastic objects.
Shoppers tend to head for the Stokstraat area. (“As a child, I was not allowed to come there,” Gloudemans says of the former red-light district. “Now it has the most exclusive shops, the most expensive fashions in the Netherlands.”) But boutiques, specialty stores and jewelry shops are found throughout the inner core, and a couple of department stores front Grote Straat, the busiest pedestrian passage.
And for a glimpse of the past, drop into the 400-year-old mill building owned by Lejeune Bart. He’ll show you how he still grinds wheat into flour the old-fashioned way, using two 3,000-pound stones powered by a water mill on a canal out back.
If your feet tire, you won’t have any trouble finding a place to rest. Maastricht has 400 pub/cafes at which you can pause for a glass of beer and perhaps a regional snack — Rommedou (Limburger) cheese, potted meat, ham from the Ardennes, leek or chervil soup and, in spring, turnip soup. The local beer is Ridder, made by the last surviving brewery of the 24 that once operated in Maastricht.
DETAILS ON MAASTRICHT
Getting there: Maastricht lies in the Netherlands on the Maas River about 16 miles north of Liege, Belgium, and about halfway between Brussels, Belgium and Cologne, Germany.
Touring: Pick up “City Walk” leaflets from the tourist office and do your own tour of the city. The tourist office also conducts guided tours; contact the office for times.
Boat cruises: Several sightseeing boats run along the Maas, some running as far as Liege, 20 miles south. Information: Rederij Stiphout, Maaspromenade 27, 6211 HS Maastricht, The Netherlands; phone: 011-31-43-325-4151.
American Military Cemetery: Ten miles from Maastricht is the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands. A total of 8,301 Americans are interred there.
Parking: Parking is prohibited throughout the entire city center unless explicitly indicated. There is underground parking beneath the Vrijthof Square, as well as parking on the other side of the Maas River (walk across the pedestrian St. Servatius Bridge, the city’s oldest, dating to 1287). Parking meters take Dutch, Belgian and German coins.
Information: Netherlands Board of Tourism, 355 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017; 212-370-7360. In Maastricht, Visitor and Convention Bureau/VVV Maastricht, Het Dinghuis, Kleine Staat 1, 6211 ED Maastricht, The Netherlands; 011-31-43-325-2121.
