Our visit to Brighton

So I've gotten very behind on keeping up with this blog. But it's time to catch up! I have to go all the way back to May, when we visited our awesome friend in Brighton, UK.

We spent a few days in Bruges, Belgium first, then took the Eurostar train over the to UK.






The Eurostar stops in London, and from there we caught the train down to Brighton. I'm pretty happy with this view over the Thames, of London Bridge, at one of the stops. We still need to see London properly.








Obviously the main point of visiting Brighton was to see our friend, but hanging out by the seaside for a couple days was a great way to do it.


We, of course, had to go see the Brighton Pier. It wasn't a very touristy time of year, which was nice for us since we could take a look around without any crowds.















The Fringe Festival was in full swing during our visit, so we took in a couple of shows. One show was very, very bad. I still can't think of it without rolling my eyes.

But the other, Shit-Faced Shakespeare - in which you see a Shakespeare play but one member of the cast is drunk - was really good. Whether or not the drunk guy was hamming it up, it was still hilarious. Our turtle friend thought so too.

We also took a walking tour of the city, which was really good, as well as going to the Brighton Open Market where I got some yarn and Michel got a book - so a very awesome place obviously.

It was a very short trip, but a very good one. It was great to spend time with a friend we hadn't seen in a long time and to get shown around a city by someone who lives there.

This was also the second place the travel buddies ever visited, and they looked so cute out on our friend's balcony, with the sea at the end of the road.

Eijsden Castle

I feel like we always stumble upon cool things around Maastricht; we don't plan to go to them, we don't even know they exist, we just decide to go somewhere and then accidentally find them. Today it was a castle, and even better, you can take this path to get to it!

We originially set out to ride to Belgium again. Back in early February we set out on this same route, but since it was our first major bike ride and it was cold and very windy, we didn't have the energy to make it. 

Well, we didn't make it again. But this time because the beautiful weather quickly turned to intermittent heavy rains. We got soaked on the way to Eijsden, which is where we turned back last time. We made it into Eijsden this time, but realized it was going to pour again soon, and often, so we should probably abort this mission once again. But on the way we followed some signs to "Kasteel" (Dutch for castle) and we're really glad we did.

Castle Eijsden was built in 1637 and is still privately owned by a Belgian noble family. But, lucky for us, the grounds are completely free and open to the public. 

We walked around the castle, taking in the beautiful gardens. 

Then we got to, in our opinion, the best part: This perfect, beautiful, fairy tale path lined with trees. 

At the end of the path there is a statue, but other than that it's all private farm land so it's back the way you came. 

     

  

This is definitely my new favourite spot around Maastricht. 

It's not a very far bike ride, and it's a free park. So, if you're in the area, go there! 

 

Bruges, Belgium - It really is like a fairytale!

Ever since the movie "In Bruges" came out in 2008, it's been a place we've both wanted to go. The movie is great and part of the reason the characters are in Bruges is that they're boss thinks "it's like a fairytale"- and it is.

View from the St. Bonifaciusbrug.

It's a very well-preserved medieval town with gorgeous stone bridges over quaint canals all over the city center.

This bridge sits just across from the old vismarkt (fish market) and leads to the pretty Burg Square. 

Like Maastricht, the main part of the old city is very small, so nothing is out of walking distance.

We stayed very close to Markt Square, which is the main square in the city. This is where the Belfort is, a beautiful old tower with 366 stairs you can climb. And climb it we did!

          

I have a fear of going up steep, high things (I can't explain it, it developed in the last 5 years and it's a complete mystery to me) so I was very anxious about going up. Luckily, there are four different stops on the way up to take a break.

   

 

Each one has something interesting. And the stairs don't get too scary until the top quarter. Up until then, the stairs are fairly wide, deep, and shallow. But once you get closer to the top, they become narrow and steep. And the very last 33 steps are extremely narrow and steep. Those were the ones causing a mini panic attack. But we did it!

The view is great and definitely worth the climb. The bells were ringing while we were up there, which was VERY loud but added to the experience.

The other goal we had was to walk along the outer canal and see the 4 still-standing windmills and some of the old city gates. We had nice weather for most of the trip so the walk was really nice.

  

For the rest of our stay, we mostly wandered around the city and enjoyed all the beautiful old buildings, bridges, and canals.

Above is a picture of the St. Bonifaciusbrug, in the Arentshof Park. The bridge has the nickname "lover's bridge" and it is definitely a quaint, romantic spot. Go in the evening, if you're staying in the city, in order to have some time there without hoards of tourists.



This photo (above) shows the tower over-looking Minnewater lake. Another romantic spot, this lake is nick-named "lake of love". I found a short and simple explanation of why here: https://bezoekers.brugge.be/en/minnewaterpark

We also had to stop at the Koningin Astrid Park, which plays a big role in the movie.

The beautiful gazebo (above) has an appearance in the movie, but it's a gorgeous spot even if you don't care about that. The playground area (below) plays a huge role in the movie and we just had to try and figure out the angle of the major scene. We think Ray is sitting on a bench facing the playground about here.

The city is beautiful, the food is great, and the drinks are delicious. Michel was in beer heaven, and the hot chocolate and chocolate mousse are just the best. I miss them already.

 

If you get a chance to go, it's definitely worth it to be in Bruges. 

TONS more pictures here: https://goo.gl/photos/uiWExkq49GG4JCJL8

To Lichtenberg Castle!

It turns out there's a ton of stuff to see in Maastricht. With the nice weather we've been having, it's obvious that we need to spend a lot more time outside on mini-adventures.

Last weekend was gorgeous- clear skies, sunny, and warm- so we headed out to see the ruins of Lichtenberg Castle. And this time, we had a group adventure with our friend Nikky (who is also Canadian!).

Lichtenberg Castle is now owned by an environmental organization and mostly consists of a farmstead. It lies to the South of Fort Sint Pieter on the plateau. We had a view of it on our first long bike ride way back in February:

The ride started out well, the route is pretty familiar to us now:
We ride down Wycker Grachtstraat, to Plein 1992, over the Hoge Brug, around Helpoort to Begijnenstraat, alongside Monseigneur Nolenspark on Van Heylerhofflaan, to Sint Hubertuslaan. (Do you read complicated, foreign names or just skip over them? I usually just skip over them.)

This last road takes you up to Fort Sint Pieter (changing names to Luikerweg along the way) but to get to the castle ruins you turn left onto Observantenweg. This leads to a much smaller road and then turns into less of a road and more of a path.

It's a gorgeous ride. With a bit of a hill. We took a break after the first major incline at a really beautiful spot.

This is looking down the hill (they never look as big as they felt...) the way we came.

We were right in front of a wall with a little arched doorway, which turned out to be a small, open air chapel-like place.

It must be very peaceful for the people who come to use it.

 

After our short rest here, we headed up a little further, and then Nikky and I decided we were just going to walk it (Nikky had a flat back tire and I'm just weak). Michel rode up like a trooper. When the ground evened out a bit again, we took another break to have a look around. The view was nice, being up above the city once again.

And there was an entrance to the caves, just off the path and just before the hill got really steep.

We all walked up that hill. The top, though, was finally the top of the plateau so only flat ground to ride on until the castle from there (which isn't a far ride at all).

When we arrived, we noticed a lookout across from the castle entrance. It turns out it looks onto the quarry, used by a major cement company. The cement factory sits at the bottom of the hill along the river.

We spent some time admiring the view, and ran into some friends of Nikky's (I guess it really is a small city) who told us that, in 2018, the company is going to cease production and let the quarry return to being a natural spot. Hooray for giving land back to nature!

After walking into the courtyard of the castle ruins, we were immediately drawn to the remnants of the tower, and the stairs leading up to the top. This is the oldest part of the ruins, and dates back to the 15th or 16th century. The original castle was built here around 1212, but from what I've been able to find online, it's not certain that any part of that original castle remains. It's possible that the lower part of the tower is original from then, but that's not known for sure.

There are so many spots to get a nice view over the city. This one is particularly good for a view over the Maas in the South of the city.

This is the view towards Maastricht.                               And this is looking South towards Belgium. 

  

And it gives a great view of the courtyard.

This section is not part of the original castle, but might have been built on the foundations of it. All of my knowledge (since there were no tours when we went) comes from this website: http://www.castles.nl/lichtenberg-castle

After heading back down, we decided to ride back a little bit and have a sit and a snack, in a bit of a woodsy area along the path, a perfect spot for a picnic.

We decided to head a different way for the ride back; the route would take us around the large fields behind Fort Sint Pieter and then down past it. There's another lookout over the quarry that direction, so we stopped to take in the view again.

After this point, the ride is basically all down hill and man did it fly by. It felt like we were back down at the park in about 5 minutes.

There are tours of the ruins available from the end of April until the beginning of November. So we'll definitely have to go back to see more, and learn more about the ruins and the castle that once stood there.

More photos here:
https://goo.gl/photos/qfD8tNjq8tTgtfGh9

Fort Sint Pieter

Fort Sint Pieter sits at the top of a plateau here in Maastricht and is a great spot for many reasons: 1) It's a public place with a great view over the city and lots of green space you can just hang out in, 2) it's not very far from the city center at all, and 3) there are tours of the fort AND of the "caves" in the area.

I say "caves" because they're actually tunnels. Farmers began mining the limestone that the plateau is made of and they created the "caves" by doing so. And these "caves" aren't just under Fort Sint Pieter, they exist under a large area of the city. This is the website to look at if you want to explore the caves:

http://www.maastrichtunderground.nl/eng

We started out the day by riding our bikes over the Hoge Brug and almost all the way to the Fort. There's a *bit* of a hill to get up, and neither of us made the attempt to ride up, we just walked our bikes up.
This photo was taken from halfway up.

Once at the top, we immediately bought our combination tickets for both the Fort tour and the Caves tour. We had a bit of time before the tours were to start, so we wandered up another hill to the top of the plateau to take in the view. And it was a very nice day for that view.

When it was time for the Fort tour, we gathered around the sign post with many, many other people. Thankfully, they broke us into a few smaller groups to actually go on the tour with. We started with a quick history lesson from our really great guide, Sjoerd, and then headed down into the Fort.

We headed up to see where they shot from the mortar cannons

Went to the hightest point of the Fort for some nice views of the city and the grounds

Back into the fort through some more tunnels

Where the shooters did their thing and some much larger cannons.




It was a very well done tour and worth your time if you're going to be in Maastricht.

The cave tour is also something you must do if you're in Maastricht, and I'm sure we're going to go on the tours of caves in other locations around the city. But even if you end up doing a tour at the same location more than once, you're not likely to see the exact same route. The caves are very extensive and each guide walks you through a different area.

We started out by being informed that we definitely should not lose track of our group and guide; without a lantern it is completely dark in the caves. Combine that with the high humidity, cold temperatures, and lack of a clear path through the tunnels, and you end up with the very high likelihood that you won't find your way out and you'll probably die. I'm paraphrasing there, but I took that as the most important lesson about going into the caves.

The limestone walls are covered in coal paintings and drawings. These tunnels were originally dug out so that the locals could build things using the giant limestone blocks, but eventually they were used for refuge during the wars. And with that came the art.

A very interesting thing I learned about Maastricht is that the first bones of the Mosasaurus were found in these very caves.

The name "Mosa" comes from the name of the river flowing through Maastricht, the Maas (or Meuse in French).

At the end of our tour, our guide instructed us to form a line along the wall to our right and make sure we had one hand touching the wall. Then, he went ahead with his lantern until we were in complete darkness (you can choose to go with the guide and their lantern if you want) and felt our way along the wall until we found the light again. I've got to say, I'm not a fan of the dark. But when the only child on our tour decided to go ahead and do the walk in the dark, I couldn't back out. It was only a couple of minutes but the thing I noticed most was that, in the complete darkness, it really felt like I was in a teeny tiny box, even though the tunnel itself was quite large.

We emerged from the tunnels back into the beautiful, warm day. Michel and I decided to head back up to the Fort and find a spot on the grass to sit for a bit, before heading back. The view of the Fort is very nice from the back of it.

Fort Sint Pieter is definitely worth the visit; pay for both tours for sure! I don't think I've ever had a tour guide as good as either of our guides from this day.

We'll definitely head back, if only to enjoy all the green space and the views.

More photos here:

https://goo.gl/photos/GJfhjpU9J3ha2Bct8