July 01 - Antwerp to Maastricht (Netherlands)

 July 01 - Antwerp to Maastricht (Netherlands)

Travel day today. 

First a tram and then train to Maastricht, the latter being very comfortable as we travelled 1st class!  This happened to be entirely accidental as we just jumped on the nearest carriage.  However, when the conductor came along he said “don’t worry I’m the boss of the train” and then sat down to talk with us most of the journey. 

On arrival our accommodation owners let us drop off our bags and then we took off exploring town (incidentally the previous guests, who we missed by seconds, were Australians who had just left for Utrecht where Midnight Oil are playing). 

Our town sights happened to be mainly religious and the first was a Romanesque church called ‘The Basilica of Our Lady’ a.k.a. ‘The star of the sea’.  Quite striking at the entrance, the statue of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, surrounded by candles,  The church was pretty dark inside, and it was a bit difficult to see much, but there were some nice mosaics and the cloisters were pretty cool as well. 

Our next stop was to Sint Janskirk (St John’s Church) which is quite striking in appearance as it has been painted red. Although plain inside it has a tower which gives you some pretty good views around the city. 

Lastly, on our wanders around town we hit upon a bakery still using a watermill.  Fascinating to watch, the smell was fantastic, and I reckon we’ll be revisiting before leaving town.