Maastricht is situated in Limburg, extreme southern Netherlands. It is the capital of the Province of Limburg, very close to Aachen in Germany and Liege in Belgium. The city of Maastricht is split in two by the river Maas. Maastricht is in the centre of some major European cities such as Brussels, Dusserdolf, Cologne, Amsterdam, Paris and London. It is easily reachable by all means of transport. Maastricht is a modern city with a historical touch. It houses a number of large institutions such as Maastricht University, Vodafone, Hewlett-Packard, Euro Control, Daimler Chrysler Customer Assistance Center and the Administration of the Dutch province of Limburg, to name some.
For all those who love culture and history with a taste of shopping and going out, Maastricht is the place to be. In fact, no other Dutch city has so many bars, shops and restaurants per square kilometer! A perfect evening out would be to dine in one of the many restaurants in the city centre, and then go to one of the 365 bars throughout the city. If you’re a real party animal, at 3am, you can go to the Metamorphis which is a club right off of the Markt or the Allebonneur commonly known as the De Alla.
During the day, one can visit the hill of St. Pietersburg which has an old fort and a network of caves within. The caves were formed by digging out the marl that was used to build houses. During the second World War the caves were used as a hiding place. Another fascination of these caves are the hundreds of fossils one can see, which were found during the process of carving out the marl. A famous fossil belongs to a mosasaur which dates back to 6 million years ago.
The city centre is full of lovely narrow streets, many of them leading to beautiful squares such as the Vrijthof and Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. There are several churches not to miss such as the St. Servatius Basilica, the Basilica of Our Beloved Lady and St. John’s church.