Maastricht

A Dominican church of eight hundred years holds a three storey steel bookcase and works as a shop. Where the altar stood, a cross shaped table now serves coffee.

Quarrying limestone left a maze of some twenty thousand underground passages. Going in without a guide means getting lost, so entry is always in company.

Two churches stand side by side on a broad square ringed with open air cafes. On summer evenings a stage goes up and the square fills with an audience.

Raised in 1229 as the oldest city gate in the country, and people still walk through it. The chamber above works as a small display on how the wall was built.

A rocket shaped dome sits on this riverside museum, which hangs medieval sculpture beside contemporary work. Inside the dome there is no gallery, only an empty space reached by a timber stair.

Few churches in the country are older, and its treasury holds a collection of goldwork. The saint's grave lies in the crypt, and the church above it has been rebuilt more than once.

The old merchant quarter east of the river runs as a single line of small shops. One bridge separates it from the main route, and the difference in crowds is obvious.

Forty minutes by bicycle reaches the marker where three national borders meet. Walking a circle around the stone means standing in three countries.

Vegetable, cheese and clothing stalls take the square before the town hall and clear in the afternoon. Traders come across from Belgium, and stories linger from when prices were called in two currencies.

This is the only part of the country with real gradient, which is why the cycling races come here. A few short climbs reach twenty percent.

A Romanesque church of the 11th and 12th centuries, its front a tall, narrow tower block. In the side chapel candles always flicker before the Star of the Sea statue of Mary. Locals drop in to pray as they pass.

Built between 1280 and 1298, the oldest bridge in the country. Its stone arches link the medieval centre with Wyck over the Maas. One arch at the end was replaced with a steel lifting span to let ships pass.

A fort built around 1701 on top of Mount Saint Peter, with tunnels running through it. The tunnels are entered on guided tours only. From its roof terrace you see the Maas valley and Maastricht's rooftops.

Defensive tunnels dug under the 18th-century ramparts, winding far beneath Waldeck Park. A guide with a torch leads each group, and the air down there is chilly even in July. Along the way the guide recounts the many sieges Maastricht withstood.

Built between 1659 and 1664, Maastricht's town hall sits squarely mid-Markt. Under the dome above the entrance hall, the staircase divides and climbs on both sides. A carillon in the small tower on its roof rings out over the square.

A hill town reached by local train east of Maastricht, with the country's only hilltop castle ruin. Old marl quarry caves can be toured. In December a Christmas market sets up inside the caves and draws crowds.

A Gothic church with a tower painted red, right beside Saint Servatius. From the top of its stairs the Vrijthof lies at your feet. Unlike its Catholic neighbour, it has been a Protestant church since the 1600s.

A quiet district where the little Jeker river runs beneath the old walls, home to university and art academy buildings. A mill with a working waterwheel still stands by the water. Follow the stream and you reach the Helpoort gate.