|
Holland |
 Belgium |
 U.K. |
Eastbourne | South Yorks incl. Sheffield, | Conisbrough Castle | Cadeby |
Tallinn |
Stockholm |
Copenhagen |
Agadir |
Westendorf |
| Helsinki | Barcelona |
Prague |
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Holland |
| Belgium |
| U.K. |
Eastbourne | South Yorks incl. Sheffield, | Conisbrough Castle | Cadeby |
| Tallinn |
Stockholm |
Copenhagen |
Agadir |
Westendorf |
| Helsinki | Barcelona |
Prague |
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 Restaurants |
 Bars |
 Internet
Cafe's |
 Hotels
- try also www.hoteldiscount.com |
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Plein of Onze Lieve Vrouw |
I've got no suggestions as yet of where the good places to eat and drink are
(maybe next time). Two very important suggestions for the spring/summer
weekends
1) Don't eat too late (say after 20:30) as the restaurants seem to fill up rather
quick!
2) Don't stay at a hotel on the Markt.
Why? Read on.....
My intrepid explorer friends Rog & Fiona and I met up in Maastricht and
had the good fortune to arrive during a glorious spring afternoon on Saturday
28th March 1998. They came by car from Antwerp and I by the wonderful
Dutch Intercity+ train. The first business of the weekend is to sample
the local beers.
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Bars and Beer
:- Grimbergen is one of my favorites and is available in most bars on tap (van
't vat). Go for the double as the triple lacks the flavor and 'style'
of the double. We sampled the beers
from a lot of bars and they were all outdoor and very good. Being outdoor
you enjoy the ambience a lot more and since there are quite a few pleins/squares
(at least 4 that we found) you need never go short of a place to sit in the
sun, drink a great beer/coffee and watch the world go by (hopefully in a summer
dress with a short skirt!). All of the bars we visited had a good selection
of beers. Other beers of note to be
found in the area (not necessarily local) are Leffe, Kriek (a favorite of Fiona,
our female Australian contingent) and Kwak (an average beer with THE silliest
glass!). |
Falstaff St. Amosplein 6 - Tel 043 3217238 Choice of 90 beers. It's situated on a nice little bsquare not far from one of the main squares. This picture was taken during carnival time |
Food
Unfortunately we got a little too interested in our beers and the atmos and
were a little late searching for food. The Rough Guide said that there
were huge amounts of restaurants. There were but they were also full at
9pm. It took half an hour to find a restaurant we fancied that had some
space.
Hotels
:- Don't book one on the Markt square (or take some good earplugs).
We booked into the Hotel La Colombe, one recommended by the Rough guide and
got a rude surprise when we went to bed. Our hotel and one accross the
square were both having a competition as to who had the loudest disco.
I bet you're thinking, "The wimps! They went to bed too early!".
WRONG! The discos seemed to go on until 6am!!!!!! My advice to you
is to find a hotel a little way away from the main squares.
Hotel de Posthoorn, Stationstraat 47. Tel : +31-43-321-7334 (Fax : +31-43-321-0747) has been recommended by my good friend Monty. Twin room inc breakfast and tax is NLG135 (correct as of March 2000)
Hotelboot, moored on the river on the Maasboulevard near the Helpoort. Tel +31 43 21 90 23
Other Items of note Take care of your belongings. Rog & Fiona saw a guy grab an old ladie's purse. The nice end to the story is that she shouted for help and everyone on the square converged on the thief and cornered him/wrestled him to the ground! Another guy used his mobile to call the police. Those who were to far away to help, applauded when the guy was caught. Community spirit is alive and kicking in Maastricht!
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