In early December we travelled to The Netherlands and Belgium to tick Christmas Markets off our bucket list, and we also managed to tick an André Rieu concert off our bucket list while in Maastricht.
The coach picked us up in the early morning and took us to a central hub near Dover, where we joined another coach that took us across the channel to our hotel in Brussels. We arrived in Brussels in the early evening, just in time to have dinner in the hotel before the dining room closed. Unfortunately, the meal was overcooked and dry possibly due to the late hour. We dined again in the hotel a couple of nights later and the meal was superb, so we put the first night down to lateness and bad luck.
The next morning, we boarded the coach to Maastricht for the Christmas Market. When we arrived in Maastricht, we began exploring the city and visited several chocolate shops to stock up on chocolate. We found an outdoor fruit and vegetable market, which we mistook for the Christmas Market, and thought “this is a bit ordinary” as we looked at the stalls. Then after visiting a café for a cup of hot chocolate, we found the real Christmas Market which was much more interesting.
Two things that annoyed us about Maastricht is a lack of free ATMs and a lack of public toilets. We needed to get some euros to cover small purchases, so we went to an ATM attached to a bank. The ATM charged us €4.50 for a €100 withdrawal. Honestly, if we hadn’t needed the cash we wouldn’t have used it. The other irritation was a lack of public toilets and at our age we need them. They’re there but you have to pay between €0.50 and €0.80 to use them. Even McDonalds charges €0.50 to use their toilets.
In the evening, we went to an André Rieu concert in Maastricht’s Exhibition and Conference Centre. The conference centre is huge. You have to go through an area selling food and drinks, a couple of choirs and actors dressed in period costume for you to take photos of, before you can get into the main arena. To buy anything, you first have to buy tokens from kiosks at selected locations. Buying tokens is strictly cash only and tokens are essential for buying anything inside the centre.
It’s a good thing we got some cash earlier in the day because there isn’t an ATM at the conference centre, and you cannot use a debit or credit card to buy tokens. Tokens cost about €5 each and a glass of wine will cost at least two tokens plus another token deposit on the wineglass, so a glass of wine effectively costs €15 including the wineglass deposit. For safety, wineglasses are made of plastic. When you return the glass to the venue, they will give you back your one token deposit, which you can either use to buy something else or get a refund from the main token booth in the foyer. When you return tokens, they refund €3.50 per token. So, tokens cost €5 each to buy but you only get back €3.50 if you return them. Charging a deposit on the glasses is a good way recover used glasses, and they almost guarantee that you will have tokens left over.
André Rieu is certainly a consummate showman. The concert itself went for four hours, split into two two-hour blocks with an intermission in between. The concert hall is huge with screens behind the stage so that everyone gets a good view and an ice-skating rink behind the orchestra. The hall was packed with barely an empty seat in the house. We sat in the “cheap” seats in the back corner, near the roof, and they still cost €70 each. The show followed André Rieu’s standard format with the orchestra marching in from the back of the hall, followed by introductions and then some music. After interval there was waltzing in the aisles, and he asked the audience who came from where. If you have watched him on the television, then you should be familiar with the format. Overall, we enjoyed the show but, having scratched that itch, in future we will be satisfied with watching him on the television.
The next morning, we were off to the Brussels Christmas Market. The Brussels market was similar to the Maastricht market in that there were lots of stalls selling things that we really didn’t need. Of note, however, is one of the coolest merry-go-rounds I have ever seen. It is truly a gem.
Overall, we enjoyed the concert and our visit to the two Christmas Markets but on balance a Christmas Market is a Christmas Market is a Christmas Market. While there are stalls with some very nice artisan products for sale, the markets mostly consist of stalls selling things that we don’t need or novelties for children we don’t have. Having scratched that itch, we will probably be satisfied with local Christmas Markets in the future.
The trip back to the UK was essentially the reverse of the trip over in that the coach took us to the central depot, then we changed coaches to go back to our hometown. The only real difference is that we visited the duty-free shop on the ferry. Be careful of P&O ferry duty free shops, depending on what you buy, it might be cheaper in Tesco.
2 replies on “2024 Christmas Market”
Everything you said was absolutely true especially about the Xmas markets. I was disappointed there were not more hand made items. There was a lot of imported plastic rubbish you could get anywhere. However, on the whole it was a good visit, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert.
Hi, I am Paul’s wife Rosa. Other than the lovely time in the Christmas Market. We did come across our lunch experience in a family like restaurant. For the past experience I had in Brussels. I should refresh my memory in the past of eating mussels in Brussels. It was completely different than the lovely experience of supporting local family business in Japan. We ordered mussels and chips from their special menu. After waiting for 45 minutes. Chips was reheat, it was eatable. But the mussels was dried and tiny, no sauce. It was awful. We left hungry with the price of 44 euros. Our conclusion: pub meal was much better. Win some, loose some.