Four day trip to the Netherlands (Day 1 morning) - Maastricht - Saint Servatius Basilica (cont.), the Markt place and Saint Mathias church - The 14th of May 2015

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By walking around the Basilica, whose name is associated to the Armenian missionary we reached its North entrance located on the Kaizer Karelplein, where a brass band parade was also heading to. We soon followed them up to the main church door where another ceremony was being held which we didn't have access to and consequently the Basilica's interior as well. 

 

 

Sculpture of the Virgin Mary at Saint Servatius ' cloister

The Basilica's entrance was adorned with multiple sculpted figures. The one representing Jesus was placed at the centre with those of Peter and Saint Servatius on the side. The arches held the 12 apostles who were leaning on the four great prophets from the old Testament - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. We were not allowed to see much more, which I felt was a pity really.

The Chapter's insignia (left)

Saint Servatius sculpture on the Kaizer Karelplein square

Just across the fountain with the sculpture of Saint Servatius stood an old Post building, where we turned into the Grote Graat Street leading to the main Markt Square we had been told was holding a street fair.

 

 

 

A statue representing Jan Pieter Minckeleers, a famous Dutch scientist who invented gas lighting (right).




We spent about an hour looking around and stopping at various stalls before we made our way slightly to the left into the Bosh street so as to visit Saint Mathias  church, which was open to the public once the late morning mess had just finished.

 

Sculpture of Saint Anthony of Padua (left).

We were not given much time to look at the interior of that particular Roman Catholic church, which is said to have been built during the course of the 14th to 16th centuries in Gothic style and using local stone. Among the various noteworthy objects  an 18th century Baptismal font a Mary Magdalena Statue by Jan van Steffesweil, a 15th century Pieta and stained glass windows designed and created by Charles Eyck.

We left just in time to have something to eat before having decided where to go next. The fact that we hadn't located the Tourist office yet and had no map to guide us through the city centre streets made life difficult for us particularly because we had decided to further explore the city and see as much as we felt could be possible.

 

Four day trip to the Netherlands - (Day 1 morning) - Maastricht - the Roman bridge, the Meuse river and the Saint Servatius Basilica - The 14th of May 2015

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As we walked out of the station we took the main street  going towards the city centre. I must admit I was impressed with it at first sight and once I got closer to the heart of the city the more I felt it was special 

 

"De Wiekener" (a local citizen) by Frans Scarlier

 

 

 

 

We turned right into a street leading to St. Martinus church, whose rather interesting entrance I photographed once the church itself was closed. It is said to have been built in 1858 as a replacement of an earlier church severely damaged by the French in 1794.

 

 

As we walked further down we reached the Meuse river bank and a very intriguing sculpted stone, whose plaque written in Dutch provided little information as to what it really was associated to (for non-Dutch native speakers), though the name of King Willem I was mentioned and so were two dates - 1229 and 1284.

 

 

To its left stood the proud looking medieval bridge, which is known to have been built in the 1st century AD during the reign of Augustus Caeser. It is often referred to as Saint Servatius's bridge and it bears a statue depicting him, which is said to have been added by Charles Vos in 1934.

 

 

Everywhere in the city streets and lanes we came across old façades and details that I somehow felt made the difference architecturally speaking. The old and the new seemed to cohabit in a rather harmonious way, though at times (fortunately not too often) excessive modernity had (in my rather humble opinion) a somewhat less positive impact like the Zaat Herremenieke group of statues by Han Van Wetering in front of Saint Servatius Basilica. 

De Komedianten by Appie Drielsma - 1991

 

Having reached the Saint Servatius Basilica square we found out it looked like an entertainment fair type of scenario, bearing in mind it was a public holiday and  not exactly knowing what to expect we decided to walk around and see if we could get access to its interior, once there seemed to be no entrance in sight.

 

Zaat Herremenieke group of statues by Han Van Wetering - 1993

As we were making our way towards its entrance we came across what looked like it could either be an old city wall or an access to the side cloisters, fairly close to which stood the statues of Saint Monulphus and  Saint Gondulphus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

Four day trip to the Netherlands (Day 1 - early morning) - On the way to Maastricht - The 14th of May 2015

We landed at Eindhoven Airport late in the evening with very few indications so as to make our way the Hotel, which was supposed to be located fairly close to the Bus and Train Station. Upon reaching it we did encounter a few difficulties once there was no city map to be found anywhere and above all no one walking about whom we could ask the adequate direction to.

Thanks to a kind passer-by we finally managed to walk into the Hotel lounge by midnight, where I briefly greeted Mia on her forthcoming birthday, which was in fact the sole reason we had decided to go on this trip.

Maastricht, where the weather seemed to be better than in any of the surrounding cities that particular day was where we headed to fairly early in the morning. It was only during the five minute walk towards Eindhoven Central Station we would be taking a train from that we realised the previous night's mistake - we had simply taken the wrong exit and helplessly walked around.  

The trip would take about an hour, which allowed us to look at the Brabant landscape we found not to be much different from the one expected in such a country - green pastures all the way and quite a few grazing cattle.

Maastricht train station had a rather positive impact on me, as it was really worth looking at. We were definitely looking forward to making the most of that special day and by the time we walked out into the open air the sun was shining, which was equally a promising prospect.

(To be continued)