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
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