Badger's smokes & beers tour part 2 - Maastricht

[SkunkBadger]

Well folks not much more to add, following on from Part 1 Amsterdam, on the coffeeshop front, i’m afraid - seen as beforehand & chatting to people we were informed tourists were still bared from them - we didn’t actually test this out, couldn’t really be arsed if that’s how they feel about things, & seen as we’d stocked up in the ‘Dam beforehand anyhow - some G13 Haze, Amnesia Haze, & Afghan Black.

Anyway, it’s a lovely place, so if anyone’s interested in planning a trip, then here’s a few places we went that were worth a visit ...

We stayed with friends so can’t really recommend any hotels or hostels, although i suspect the hotels might be quite pricy as it did seem generally fairly affluent.

The train from Amsterdam - Maastricht (Mon) direct was a Dutch double decker, 25e each way, bout 2&half hrs, no problems. On the way back (Sat) was a bit trickier, as weekends is apparently when they do their maintenance so as presumably not to disrupt commuters in the week. Anyway, train from Maas to Hertogenbosch, then legged it out & round the back of the station for a shuttle bus to Utrecht, then from there another train to Schiphol - still made the plane in plenty good time.

Touristy stuff we did included the Vrijthof gallery in the main square, & the Natural History Museum, both of which were interesting if you’re in to those kind of things. The caves / mines under St. Pieterberg Hill - which was the only hill we saw / walked up in the entire trip - is really interesting / good fun. Apparently the Mosasaurus was first discovered there, which appears in the new Jurassic Park film / trailer, which they seem immensely proud of!

Good bars we went to included Take One, where the proprietor interrogates you about your tastes, presumably until he gets bored of taking the piss out of you or thinks of something to test out on you, then mooches off & comes back with some strange beer you’ve never heard of before. Bizarre, & decorated entirely in bottle tops, beer mats & posters.

The Café De Knijnspiep was nice - had a massive glass / bowl of St Bernadus Abt no.12 for about 4.5e - which is about the price of an average pint here - a thick dark chocolaty beer at about 10.5%. Lovely. Anyway there’s loads of nice bars & stuff. We didn’t really eat out so can’t really comment on that, aside from a Kebab from the shack outside the station, which came in a wrap instead of a pitta or naan, but was good. & some top Dutch Apple & Cherry Pie from a place that still had a genuine Water Mill thing to grind flour, outside. Top pie! Food & top Belgium & Dutch beers from the supermarket were cheap as.

Aside from all that it’s a top place to just mooch around for a couple of days, river through the city, some nice bridges, pretty at night, & a lot quieter but still vibrant any night. I’m not sure there’s too many decent clubs if that’s your thing, but v cosmopolitan, old city with lots of history. Plenty places to chill out down by the river & have a smoke.

Anyway, i have been smoking one & slurping on a glass of red whilst writing this so forgive me if i’ve rambled, hope it’s of some use or interest to someone.

Chill well.

[SkunkBadger]

Some beer & smoke matching:

The St Bernadus Abt no.12 & Afghan Black - both thick dark strong & heavy, yet mellow.

A strong pale refreshing IPA sat outside a cafe on a sunny afternoon & the G13 Haze - refreshing, uplifting yet relaxing.

A shot of Absinthe in a dark Irish bar & the Amnesia Haze - similar effect!

Cheers!