Luxury and Lifestyle: The most fun cities with your girlfriends
It's that time of the year again: the second week of April, and that means time for our annual girlfriends' trip! This time we are settling down in beautiful Limburg. The girls from our old study club, friends for years, are already looking forward to it.
In the past, when the children were still small, it was always a puzzle to plan a weekend away. School holidays, arranging babysitters, you name it. But now that the brats are practically out of the house, it's a lot easier. We can spontaneously decide to go during the week, and don't have to take school holidays into account. Ideal!
This year, we chose Limburg. The hilly landscapes, picturesque villages and cosy towns offer something for everyone. We have a few fun activities planned, but we also want to leave time to relax and catch up.
Dag 1: Valkenburg
As girlfriends, we all live in the Randstad and what a relief it is to leave after the morning rush hour and settle down on one of the many terraces in the old centre of Valkenburg well before 11 o'clock.
Of course, we eat a delicious piece of flan and stroll past boutiques in the old centre. We are pleasantly surprised by the many shops with fashion, home accessories and goodies.
Just before going for drinks, we naturally pay a visit to the Marl caves, because whoever says Valkenburg, says Marl!
The aperitif and cosy dinner was the perfect ending to this wonderful day. We slept like roses in our B&B
Dag 2: Maastricht
How much a person can enjoy, when you get up rested. That must have been the Limburg outdoors. Did you know that from Valkenburg you can be in the centre of Maastricht in just 15 minutes? We all thought it was a lot further.
At the Maastricht Store in the historic centre (Kleine Staat 1), our local guide was already waiting for us. Really super fun to see such a beautiful old city with different eyes in 1.5 hours.
What lovely shops Maastricht has in the most beautiful buildings. Luckily we had also booked an overnight stay here. Because after all that shopping, we needed to relax on a terrace. Onze Lieve Vrouweplein was cosy and not too busy.
Just across the old bridge is the town of Wyck, which completely surprised us! Wow, this really was the icing on the cake. There were so many restaurants that we almost couldn't choose. In the end, we chose a restaurant located behind a butcher's shop. We even had to enter through the refrigerator doors. Tip! Reservations are recommended.
Dag 3: Roermond
Once again, we all woke up wonderfully rested. We decided to have breakfast in Roermond, so at 10 o'clock we were already having a delicious breakfast in the market square. It was such a share concept so cosy with all those little bowls of yummy things.
It was 'Markt' lovely those stalls and yummy smells. On Munsterplein there was a beautiful, we heard that the famous architect of the Rijksmuseum had made it. There is live music here every weekend in summer too. Sounds really cosy!
Via Kerkstraat, we walked in 5 minutes to the Designer Outlet Roermond where we shopped wonderfully. And even for the adolescents we had left at home we succeeded super. Tip! During the week it is quieter than on weekends.
We ended our evening with dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant, it was delicious! Luckily, we had booked a hotel in the city centre and could walk from the restaurant to the hotel.
Dag 4: Venlo
Op onze laatste dag reden we richting Venlo. We namen de toeristische route. Onderweg passeerden we veel verkoopstalletjes aan de kant van de weg, die verse asperges te koop hadden. Verser, dan vers dat bestaat niet! Dus ook voor het thuisfront een flinke hoeveelheid ingeslagen.
In Venlo bezochten wij het Limburgs Museum en hier werden wij meteen een stuk wijzer in veel gebruiken die de Limburgers kennen en wij soms niet goed begrijpen. Naast het Limburgs Museum ligt het Museum van Bommel van Dam. We hoorden dat in september er een expositie komt met werk van Evert Thielen. Toen wisten we het zeker, ook dit najaar gaan wij nog een keer naar Limburg, want die expo willen we zeker niet missen.
En aangezien we afgelopen jaar allemaal weer gezwicht zijn voor een platenspeler mocht een bezoek aan de zeer bekende Sounds recordstore niet ontbreken.
Voor een dinerplekje hoefden we niet ver te zoeken, want in de platenzaak zit zelfs een restaurantje. Hoe, leuk is dat!
Ook nu weer een fantastische overnachtingsplek gevonden, en zelfs aan het water.
It is sadly over again
And so four wonderful days in Limburg flew by. We enjoyed beautiful cities, picturesque villages, hills and Limburg hospitality. We spent hours chatting, laughing and toasting our friendship. And of course we shopped too, until our bags almost bulged.
Next year we will go again! We already have a few ideas for the next destination, but Limburg is definitely high on our list.
See you soon, Paulien Verstegen