Our friends Penny & Bruce had mentioned wanting to see some markets outside Germany, so when we invited them along with us, they jumped at the chance. On Friday we dropped the dogs off in the morning and hit the road. Normally I wouldn't mention the drive at all, but this drive was unusual. The weather was CRAZY. It was snowing when we left Stuttgart. The dog kennel is 30 minutes north of Stuttgart, and by the time we got there, the snow had changed to rain. Within 30 minutes of leaving the kennel, the sun had come out and there was not a cloud in the sky. The entire 4 hour drive was like that, switching from sunshine to rain to snow and back again.
Early that afternoon we finally pulled into our hotel and immediately loved it. It has quite a history too. There was a Saint buried on the grounds there (St. Gerlach) in 1175. In 1202, a monastery was built on the site because so many pilgrims were visiting his grave. It was turned into a convent for nuns from 1354 to 1786, when it was sold to a private family who turned into their residence. They built a mansion there, and it changed hands a few times, but was always a private residence until 1979, when the person who bought it then had an idea to turn it into a hotel. It took years to get everything in place, and finally in 1997, renovation was complete and the hotel opened.
We parked the car and as we walked to the check in area, Bruce and Penny drove up. Once we were all settled in, we decided to walk around the grounds. It was beautiful, but we can only imagine how it looks in the spring/summer time when all the flowers are blooming. The monastery is now a church that is open to the public, so we went in there first. Like most large European churches, it was beautiful inside. In the center of the church was the tomb of St. Gerlach.
After we'd walked around for a bit, we used the free shuttle service the hotel offered to go into Maastricht. After we were dropped off, we headed into the old town area. First up was dinner. I never pass up a chance for Mussels and Fries when in Belgium or The Netherlands, so I had that for dinner...it was DELICIOUS.
After dinner we headed into the market area. There was a giant ferris wheel, and all kinds of vendors set up selling things.
My foot has been hurting lately (it's better now), so after awhile I was done walking. Shanna, Penny & Bruce still wanted to see other parts, so I headed to the pub we loved from the last time we were there and waited for them. Eventually they came in, and we had a great time chatting with the owner of the place. Finally we called it a night and the shuttle came back to get us from the hotel.
The next morning we all met up in the lobby, then drove into Valkenburg. We had breakfast in town, then headed to the first cave. There were three caves, two of which had Christmas Markets and one had a bunch of sandstone carvings. There was a bit of a line for the cave, but it moved pretty fast. Once you were inside, you could wander around like normal.
It was COLD outside, so the first thing we noticed was how warm it was in the cave. The cave maintains a constant 53 degrees year round, but with all those lights and people in there, it was probably closer to 65 degrees. We walked in all bundled up, but it didn't take long before we were holding our jackets.
It was neat walking around there. There weren't too many things being sold that you couldn't find at a German market, but it was neat walking around the cave and seeing it all decorated. There was even a make shift restaurant set up inside.
After plenty of shopping, we left the cave and dropped off boxes at the car. We headed to the second cave, but at this point my foot was really starting to hurt, so I sat down and waited outside the second cave. From what Shanna, Bruce & Penny said, though, there wasn't much inside there that wasn't in the first cave.
The final stop was at the cave with the sandstone carvings. As soon as we walked inside, we were amazed at the carvings. These were huge, and all showed various Christmas scenes. As impressive as the first ones we saw were, the ones in the final room were breath taking. They had a huge carving of Bethlehem, complete with a shining star above the city.
When we walked out the caves, everyone was shopped out. We'd found out there'd be a parade coming through town, so we found a restaurant along the parade route and sat down for dinner. The parade was OK...we didn't take many pictures because there weren't any big floats, it was more just people dancing through the town. But it was nice to sit in a heated restaurant and watch it. After that we stopped at the local grocery store, Albert Heijn, and picked up some Dutch goodies to bring home. And I might have picked up a six pack or two of Belgian beer...
The next morning we had one more place to go. Shanna had found out about an Antique Market held every week in Liege, Belgium. It was only a 30 minute drive from Valkenburg, so we hit the road. When we got there, we were a little surprised...it wasn't really an Antique Market at all. I suspect there are multiple markets over the city, and we went to the wrong one. This market sold all kinds of things, though, from food to trinkets to livestock. That's right, livestock. You could buy hens, geese, roosters, ducks and more. I made sure to buy some delicious Belgian Frites (fries) for Shanna & I to share!
After walking through the market, Bruce & Penny were ready to head home. At that point, I probably could have headed home too, but we decided to drive to city center to see if we could find the Liege Christmas Market. We found it there, but they weren't going to open for 30 more minutes. While we waited, we ducked into a small cafe and I had a delicious Belgian Ale called Orval. It was 2 Euros for the bottle, and that was at a restaurant. I've seen that brand sold in stores in the US for $8/bottle. It's amazing how cheap great Belgian beer is in Belgium.
When the market opened, we walked through. Most of the food vendors were still setting up, but we stumbled upon one that specialized in beer from the Hughes Brewery. For those not familiar with Belgian beer, they make Delirium beer, one of my favorites. Not only did they have regular Delirium, but they had my seasonal favorite, Delirium Noel!
So of course we couldn't walk by without stopping for a glass. The market wasn't that big, but like all the markets, it's still fun to walk through. Since Liege is in the French speaking part of Belgium, their food has French influence. So the smells wafting through the market were amazing. One the stands we stopped at had French Canadian things, including Poutine and French Canadian beer! Normal Canadian beer isn't my favorite, but there are some amazing ones from the French Canadian section. So Shanna & I split some Poutine and a Porter beer...amazing doesn't begin to describe it. Poutine, if you don't know, is french fries covered with a thin gravy and curd cheese. I hadn't had it since the last time I was in Montreal about 6 years ago, so I was excited to find it...and it was just as good as I remember.
That was the last place we stopped. From there we grabbed lunch to go, and hit the road to head home.
It was a fun weekend, and I'm glad we went. This Friday we're flying back to the US to visit Shanna's family in Texas for Christmas. In January we're spending MLK weekend in Milan, then we're going to Hamburg for a weekend in February. And finally, for 8 days in July, we booked with a tour company here to head to Russia to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg. So check back over the next few months for posts all about it, plus any other trips we decide to go on!
To see pictures, click here or any of the pictures above.
Looks like a great time! I love this time of year. The photos are beautiful :D
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