There are so many little adorable towns in the Netherlands! I've realized that while there are so many countries I want to visit, I also want to explore the Netherlands since when am I going to get the opportunity to live here again. Today's day trip was to the town of Valkenburg which was about 30 minutes away by bus.
Valkenburg is a pretty touristy town and there was a bike race going on today so it was pretty crowded with bikers. I had made a friend in my program Kaitlyn so we went together. The biggest attraction in Valkenburg is the castle ruins so that is where we began our adventure. It was a gorgeous sunny day which I have discovered is rare in the Netherlands so this was a great way to take advantage of it.
The Valkenburg Castle was built in the 14th century and is the only castle in the Netherlands to be built on a hill since the Netherlands is completely flat. Although the castle was in ruins you could still tell the purpose of each room. My favorite room was the chapel and you could still see the arches remaining. Since it was built on a hill, you got some pretty sweet views of the city below.
Beneath the castle is a series of underground labyrinths known as velvet caves. You could only access the caves through a guided tour which they were offering in German and Dutch. We opted for the Dutch tour knowing we would not understand a word but the lady was nice enough to give us an English translation of each of the stations.
The Velvet caves were very cool and more expansive than I expected. It was a little chilly inside the caves as the temperature never changes there. Inside, there were a lot of paintings on the walls, some of which also were carved into the walls to create textural effects that were noticeable only when the light shone at a particular angle.
There was a relief of a giant marine animal called the Hainosaurus. The original jaw of the animal had been fossilized in St. Pietersberg Hill in Maastricht until 1770 when the French seized it. The actual jaw now remains at the Natural History Museum in France.
In the depths of the caves, there was a chapel that had been used by priests for 3 years. In 1794, when the town was under French authority, priests hid so they could continue to practice the Catholic faith without swearing opposition to the French Royal House.
At some point during the tour, the guide turned off all of the lights just to experience how dark it truly was. It was pitch black and I could not see a thing. In the late 90’s two boys had snuck in and found themselves lost without a flashlight. Both perished two weeks later of cardiac arrest.
After the caves we wandered the medieval streets of Valkenburg. There were tons and tons of restaurants with outdoor seating arrangements and canals that went through the city. It is hard for me to process just how old Europe is given that everything in America seems to have been built recently in comparison. It was nice to be able to wander the streets until we found a very cute sandwich shop where we picked up sandwiches to go.
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