Last Sunday, we went to
Valkenburg aan de Geul, in the Dutch province of
Limburg.
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.
The reindeers welcomed us :-)
We went for a tour in the passages which led us to past caverns, decorated niches, stalls with various quality of Christmas items...
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 ;-)
We have been eaten them, yes ;-)
Valkenburg's streets were very well decorated...
The restaurants and their terraces too...
We had our dinner here, in the
Munt...cosy, affordable and with delicious food...
Valkenburg is a very beautiful city with historical buildings...
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...;-)
