A Day at the Christmas Market in Maastricht

Christmas Market, Maastricht 2017

 I love Christmas markets so I was curious about the Christmas markets in the Netherlands. After talking with friends who had been living in the Netherlands for a year before I arrived, I decided that I want to visit the Christmas market in Maastricht. So my friends and I booked our tickets with excitement for the  trip. Little did we know what was coming!
​  The day started with a bit of snow, and turned into a complete winter fairy tale. The perfect time to visit a Christmas market. But you can judge that for yourself once you see the photos.

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  Arriving before noon in Maastricht, we decided to head straight to the Christmas market. At this time, the snow has already turned the city into a winter wonderland. So naturally, we started snapping photos on our way to the market. 

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Winter Wonderland, Maastricht, 2017

Let it snow!

Mulled Wine in a souvenir mug

 When we reached the market we were a bit cold so we decided to stop for some Gluhwein first. You might know that you can pay for a mug with Gluhwein and keep the mug as a souvenir. I think it is a great way to remember a Christmas market as it has the year and place on the mug. In Maastricht they had a choice of two mugs. I choose the one that looked like a boot as I thought it looked more Christmassy. After enjoying a mug of Gluhwein, I decided to try a German specialty called Kartoffelpuffer which is a German fried potato pancake. You can try it with an apple sauce or on its own. I got it without the sauce, so it had a bit of a strong taste, perhaps it would have tasted better with the apple sauce on top. I suggest that if you ever have the opportunity to try it to opt for the apple sauce. 
    The cold was starting to get the best of us, so our next stop was a tea house recommended by a friend – Tea Zone. It is a really fantastic place for tea lovers with an abundance of tea choices and not very far from the Christmas market. The teas offered there are from 3 Parisian tea brands and you can lose hours trying to make a choice. The place has a great atmosphere as it has managed to combine furniture, decoration and products from all over the world. Items from South America, Africa, Europe and Asia are beautifully decorating Tea Zone creating an other-worldly atmosphere. The place was so good that on my second trip to Maastricht I went there again.    

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Tea at Tea Zone

Second visit to Tea Zone

After we rested and enjoyed a hot cup of tea, we decided to head back to the market to see it one more time with the Christmas lights on.

Christmas Lights On

   With that our day in Maastricht was coming to an end. We decided to head back to the train station, as we heard that some of the trains were cancelled because of the snow. We were worried that we might get stuck in Maastricht. So we ran to catch the next train. The trains were working until Den Bosch where we had to change to go back to Tilburg. There we had to wait for an hour as the train we were suppose to catch was cancelled. Waiting just an hour was not a problem for me, as I had waited many more hours at train stations in past. I was just hoping that the next train would arrive and not be cancelled. Everything turned out well in the end and we were back in Tilburg in no time. 

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