Suffering freezing winds and sudden downpours, my darling daughter
and myself treated ourselves to an urban hike through Nijmegen.
Nijmegen is practically the oldest town in my country;
only Batavorum(now non-existent) has been documented as older.
The Romans thought the high hill next to the river Waal a very
good vantage point and place to build their army camp.
Thus Noviomagum was founded.
On the whole the Romans and the Bataven tribes who inhabited the
river delta and the hills got along. There were skirmishes, though.
Nowadays Nijmegen is a student town, and an eclectic mix of old
buildings dating from the 17th century and hideous new buildings
from just after WWII. If you want to know about this period, have
a look at the epic "A Bridge Too Far". The German army proved rather persistent in wanting to keep Nijmegen occupied, and hence
the entire town centre was destroyed, only sparing one of the many
gothic churches.
Darling daughter and me started our urban hike on the bank of the
river Waal, where we dropped off our luggage on the wonderful
river barge b&b Opoe Sientje, which lies moored practically
underneath the Waal Bridge.
From there we immediately rambled up the steepest Nijmegen
hill,leading us along the Valkhof Park (the largest green blob on the map above)towards the town centre.
It being Monday, the market stalls rather spoiled the view, but at
the same time the hustle and bustle was fun to watch.
The Grote Markt proved to be easy to find, as the enormous St. Stevenschurch can be seen from every point in the town.
I like old churches, not from any religious point of view,
but simply because it awes me that people have built these giants
without any kind of mechanical device, and they managed to construct
them without bits dropping off. So we walked around it, spotting a wonderful tearoom in the narrow alley behind it, Philips.
After taking a quick peek inside, we followed the street with the
most people in it, which went sharply downhill and reminded me of
Wells (UK), with well water running swiftly down the middle. This
street had wonderful little shops and restaurants on both sides,
so we took forever walking down.
We ended up in Kronenburger Park, the other green lung of the
town, and famous to Dutchmen of a certain age for having been
both the place to meet the ladies of the night and the song by
Nijmegen troubadour Frank Boeijenthat memorises said ladies. To
translate:
"Leave that world, leave that world,... and don't ask me for
the right road, because everyone is lost". These last two
sentences:
"en vraag me niet naar de weg, want iedereen is de weg kwijt"
have become iconic in Dutch culture. I'll provide you with a link;
even if you cannot understand his Dutch (with a thick Nijmegen
accent), you can enjoy the very good music and Frank's wonderful
voice.
Kronenburg Park - Frank Boeijen
From Kronenburger Park we walked uphill again, back to the Grote
Markt, where we had dinner in the Waagh. This word stems from the
verb "wegen", which means to weigh, and here the goods were weighed
before they were sold in the markets of Nijmegen. The historical
Waagh has been city hall and then the local police headquarters for
a while, but now it is a restaurant, and a very nice one!
After a very good dinner we slogged back to Opoe Sientje, where we
had a few biological home brews and enjoyed the open wood fire and
our book before retiring.
The next morning it was still very chilly (5 degrees C, in late
April!), but we braved the rain showers and took a look at the
Valkhof ruin, the Valkhof chapel and the Belvedere, before heading
down the other side of the hill to the Valkhof Museum.
This tells of the history of Nijmegen, and has many Roman artifacts,
all found in the cesspits and fields around the town.
It made me reflect that the jewelry of Roman times and of my own
time hasn't changed one bit. So have we changed ourselves?
Probably not.
So much for civilization!
We wanted to visit that tearoom we saw the day before, so
schlepped our way uphill once more (sorry about all this talk
about hills, but you have to understand that we are from the
wetlands, river delta near the sea, flat as flat can be, and
we are not used to hills!). Afterwards we walked around the
town centre once again (even though we had walked the same
route the day before), because we liked it so much.
The nitty gritty:
Nijmegen demands parking fees everywhere! The best thing to do,
if you are by car, is to park in the Eiermarkt parking garage,
as they offer a €11,00 day tariff (unfortunately I only found
this out the second day; the first day I paid over €30,00 to
park on the Waalkade).
Opoe Sientje B&B is situated on the Lindenberghaven 1C, 6511XT
Nijmegen, €75,00 a night for 2 persons.
Philips is behind the St. Stevenskerk, in the alley called
Achter De Hoofdwaght.
and myself treated ourselves to an urban hike through Nijmegen.
 |
| Town Centre |
Nijmegen is practically the oldest town in my country;
only Batavorum(now non-existent) has been documented as older.
The Romans thought the high hill next to the river Waal a very
good vantage point and place to build their army camp.
Thus Noviomagum was founded.
On the whole the Romans and the Bataven tribes who inhabited the
river delta and the hills got along. There were skirmishes, though.
Nowadays Nijmegen is a student town, and an eclectic mix of old
buildings dating from the 17th century and hideous new buildings
from just after WWII. If you want to know about this period, have
a look at the epic "A Bridge Too Far". The German army proved rather persistent in wanting to keep Nijmegen occupied, and hence
the entire town centre was destroyed, only sparing one of the many
gothic churches.
 |
| During WWII |
Darling daughter and me started our urban hike on the bank of the
river Waal, where we dropped off our luggage on the wonderful
river barge b&b Opoe Sientje, which lies moored practically
underneath the Waal Bridge.
 |
| Opoe Sientje B&B |
From there we immediately rambled up the steepest Nijmegen
hill,leading us along the Valkhof Park (the largest green blob on the map above)towards the town centre.
It being Monday, the market stalls rather spoiled the view, but at
the same time the hustle and bustle was fun to watch.
The Grote Markt proved to be easy to find, as the enormous St. Stevenschurch can be seen from every point in the town.
 |
| Grote Markt with St. Stevens and the Waagh |
but simply because it awes me that people have built these giants
without any kind of mechanical device, and they managed to construct
them without bits dropping off. So we walked around it, spotting a wonderful tearoom in the narrow alley behind it, Philips.
 |
| Once of the entrances to St. Stevens |
After taking a quick peek inside, we followed the street with the
most people in it, which went sharply downhill and reminded me of
Wells (UK), with well water running swiftly down the middle. This
street had wonderful little shops and restaurants on both sides,
so we took forever walking down.
 |
| One of the very nice shops |
We ended up in Kronenburger Park, the other green lung of the
town, and famous to Dutchmen of a certain age for having been
both the place to meet the ladies of the night and the song by
Nijmegen troubadour Frank Boeijenthat memorises said ladies. To
translate:
"Leave that world, leave that world,... and don't ask me for
the right road, because everyone is lost". These last two
sentences:
"en vraag me niet naar de weg, want iedereen is de weg kwijt"
have become iconic in Dutch culture. I'll provide you with a link;
even if you cannot understand his Dutch (with a thick Nijmegen
accent), you can enjoy the very good music and Frank's wonderful
voice.
Kronenburg Park - Frank Boeijen
 |
| Kronenburger Tower |
From Kronenburger Park we walked uphill again, back to the Grote
Markt, where we had dinner in the Waagh. This word stems from the
verb "wegen", which means to weigh, and here the goods were weighed
before they were sold in the markets of Nijmegen. The historical
Waagh has been city hall and then the local police headquarters for
a while, but now it is a restaurant, and a very nice one!
 |
| Wonderful beer! |
After a very good dinner we slogged back to Opoe Sientje, where we
had a few biological home brews and enjoyed the open wood fire and
our book before retiring.
The next morning it was still very chilly (5 degrees C, in late
April!), but we braved the rain showers and took a look at the
Valkhof ruin, the Valkhof chapel and the Belvedere, before heading
down the other side of the hill to the Valkhof Museum.
 |
| Valkhof kapel (chapel) |
 |
| Me in front of what's left of the original Valkhof. Note the winter coat! |
This tells of the history of Nijmegen, and has many Roman artifacts,
all found in the cesspits and fields around the town.
It made me reflect that the jewelry of Roman times and of my own
time hasn't changed one bit. So have we changed ourselves?
Probably not.
So much for civilization!
We wanted to visit that tearoom we saw the day before, so
schlepped our way uphill once more (sorry about all this talk
about hills, but you have to understand that we are from the
wetlands, river delta near the sea, flat as flat can be, and
we are not used to hills!). Afterwards we walked around the
town centre once again (even though we had walked the same
route the day before), because we liked it so much.
 |
| The Belvedere |
 |
| view over river Waal from the Belvedere |
The nitty gritty:
Nijmegen demands parking fees everywhere! The best thing to do,
if you are by car, is to park in the Eiermarkt parking garage,
as they offer a €11,00 day tariff (unfortunately I only found
this out the second day; the first day I paid over €30,00 to
park on the Waalkade).
Opoe Sientje B&B is situated on the Lindenberghaven 1C, 6511XT
Nijmegen, €75,00 a night for 2 persons.
Philips is behind the St. Stevenskerk, in the alley called
Achter De Hoofdwaght.
 |
| Inside Philips tearoom |
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