Valkenburg Christmas Market

Thursday December 4, 2014

Joe had some vacation days to use up before the end of the year so we had a nice free Thursday and Friday together as a family.

Brooklyn loves her daddy 

We drove an hour south to Christmas Town Valkenburg.  

We had a late lunch at Eethuys Restaurant Amadeus so Jackie could nurse Brooklyn.

She liked watching the video of the fire on the wall while daddy held her 

We walked around the town for a little bit.

We went to kerstmarkt gemeentegrot, the municipal cave of Valkenburg aan de Geul, which is considered as the largest and oldest underground Christmas Market in Europe. There was an entrance fee of 5 euros per an adult. Fortunately they said we could take the stroller in the caves so Brooklyn did not need to be held in the moby wrap or baby bjorn the whole time.
The Nativity scene at the entrance to kerstmarkt gemeentegrot

Decorations and stalls inside the kerstmarkt gemeentegrot

The stalls were not exactly what we were looking for. It was too much generic stuff and not enough Christmas items or keepsakes that might remind us of this trip. We did end up buying a few Christmas ornaments of Delft pottery Dutch shoes.
When we exited it was dark out and more of the Christmas lights were on at the entrance to kerstmarkt gemeentegrot

We walked through Santa’s Village in the city center of Valkenburg some more.

We didn’t go to the Christmas Market Velvet Cave (kerstmarkt fluweelngrot) because we figured it would be just as much of a letdown and for another entrance fee cost.
We stopped at one last shopping place up the hill near where we parked. From here there were good views of the castle ruins that are lit up at night.

We made a note of a campground that might be good for our first outing this summer. This southern part of the Netherlands has some hills with terrain that isn’t completely flat like the rest of the country.

Brooklyn did good all bundled up in the stroller again, getting in a little sleep