Tuesday 21 December 2010

Valkenburg (Limburg)

Last Sunday, we went to Valkenburg aan de Geul, in the Dutch province of Limburg.

From Valkenburg


Valkenburg's Christmas Market, located in the Velvet Cave, opens for the 25th time this year. This Christmas Market is considered as the largest and oldest underground Christmas Market in Europe.
These secret underground passages were hewn into the rock beneath the castle. The medieval knights used these passages as escape routes and for breakouts during sieges.

From Valkenburg


The reindeers welcomed us :-)

From Valkenburg


We went for a tour in the passages which led us to past caverns, decorated niches, stalls with various quality of Christmas items...

From Valkenburg


From Valkenburg


We bought there some homemade chocolates from Friesland. Delicious!!! :-) Three boxes, six euros! They were having a discount because of the snow ;-) Less visitors, you see ;-)

From Coisas Minhas


We have been eaten them, yes ;-)

Valkenburg's streets were very well decorated...

From Valkenburg


The restaurants and their terraces too...

From Valkenburg


We had our dinner here, in the Munt...cosy, affordable and with delicious food...

From Valkenburg


Valkenburg is a very beautiful city with historical buildings...

From Valkenburg


We want to come back there. The city is very different from the cities of the center of the country. The houses don't look all the same. It's quite the opposite, I must say. There are many different houses in the same street.

The city has so many hotels and restaurants and the prices seem so more affordable, some of them quite similar with the prices in Portugal.

There are so much to see in Valkenburg, like the Castle's ruins, the only elevated castle in the Netherlands, or the Saint Gerlach church, the only religious building with frescos (paintings on marl) in the country...

Maybe in the Spring... :-)

Specially for Anita! ;-) Look what I found in Valkenburg...;-)

From Valkenburg

8 comments:

Margarida Elias said...

Olá!
Recebi o postal, que gostei imenso!:) Também te enviei um.
Gostei muito do post. Este sítio parece ser muito bonito e os chocolates devem ser deliciosos!
Bj!
Margarida.

Unknown said...

Beautiful!! Valkenburg is a very pretty city and as you say, very different from what we get to see north of the big rivers. Not just Valkenburg, but all of Limburg is different - probably closer to our style of life, habits, taste, etc.
I want to go back! And the spring/summer is a lovely time to enjoy it!

Presépio no Canal said...

Gostaste? Ai que bom! ;-) Fico contente! :-)
Obrigada pelo postal que enviaste :-) Assim que chegar, digo-te.
Nao conhecia os chocolates, embora ja tenha visitado a Frisia duas vezes.
Achei curioso tomar conhecimento destes chocolates tipicos da Frisia, uma provincia do norte, na provincia mais a sul do pais, o Limburgo :-)
Tambem ja me aconteceu, da unica vez que fui a Alkmaar, na provincia do Norte da Holanda, provar os chocolates tipicos do Limburgo...:-))
Acho que os chocolates andam a brincar comigo ;-))
Valkenburg foi um deleite para olhar. Nao e monotono. As casas sao todas diferentes. Gostei muito!!
Bjs!

Presépio no Canal said...

Aledys, exactly what I felt. More like our life style.
I guess it's the "burgundisch" influence ;-)
I like the medieval buildings, "de sfeer"...
I felt a more warm and cosy sfeer... ;-)
We must come back for sure. The prices are more affordable too.
Besos! :-)

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

O.K Sandra, this is the cherry on top of the cake...I MUST GO HERE...this is ENCHANTING to the highest level...what magic....please, please, tell us more about this place!!! LOVE IT! Anita

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

SANDRA!!! YOU, you wonderful person, YOU! Isn't that funny? IT WAS MEANT TO BE..I WAS MEANT TO BE IN THE NETHERLANDS and by a castle, no less!!!

MERCI

OBRIGADA

You are fabulous my friend! Anita

PATagonia said...

Sandra,
what a lovely place!!! I love all the things that I can see by your photographs... Do you have more photos?? PLEASE!!
And Christmas with snow is special, different (here we are with 36ºC, it´s so hot!!!)

Merry Christmas!!!!

Presépio no Canal said...

Patricia :-)) yes, I 've a couple more... Just click on the link below each photo in the post/entry.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO!!! Besos!!! :-)