Christmas Adventures: Valkenburg Part 2

After lunch in Valkenburg we headed on to the Velvet Cave to spy on their market. This was a smaller mine and definitely not as popular (we were able to enter a bit earlier than our tickets which was nice)

I did not have high hopes for this one after the disappointment of the Municipal Caves, but we loved it! If we came back here I would definitely skip the popular one and just come here! I absolutely loved their light displays

And all of the decor

Plus there were so many interesting old wall murals on the walls

And weird sculptures

And so many fun displays! The things they were selling were much nicer as well

These caves are below the castle ruins and apparently were secret passages. The knights could use them to attack the enemy from behind and they could also secretly get supplies into the castle through them.

During the second world war during German occupation it was also a hideout for the people here and American soldiers

It was all so much more interesting!

The chapel where persecuted priests in 1794 would say mass in secret

Then towards the end of the tour you get to see some fossils! Most people skipped right past these and I have no idea why! It was so cool!

There were not a lot, but still a fun surprise

This cave was so much fun to explore! I really don't understand why it was not as popular as the larger, less interesting cave, but that worked for us. This is the only one I would go back to as it was so much fun! It was also much cooler - their website says it stays at 12C all year round so all of our layers were not too warm. Oh, I loved it

Then for a wander through town - first by the castle ruins

The outdoor Christmas Market was pretty small

But the town was really pretty to wander through

After a disappointing morning, the afternoon was a lot of fun. Valkenburg is pretty small so it didn't take long to wander the town and see everything. When planning the trip I was wondering if we should stay here or in Maastritch and online people recommended Maastritch and I am glad they did. It would have been fine staying here, but it is so small and Maastricht was more fun to wander.

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