Experience walk | Stadspark and Jeker Quarter

Walk to the small wooden bridge towards the large pond near the Rondeel 'the Vief Köp'. The name of the 'Vief Köp' (the Five Heads) comes from the so-called 'Betrayal of Maastricht' in 1638. We'd like to tell you more about this. The Spaniards tried to regain control of Maastricht. A soldier from Maastricht was willing to cooperate to let them into the city. His house was on the city wall and he would remove some marl blocks from the wall so that the Spaniards could enter the city. Unfortunately, this little plan fell apart. The Maastricht soldier had received a lot of money for his betrayal and was spending it all over the city. Naturally, this got noticed! He was arrested along with twenty civilians and clergy. Father Vinck was one of the suspects, he eventually confessed because he was severely tortured. The severed heads of five suspects, including Father Vinck, were displayed on iron pins towards the South to deter the enemy. A gruesome story, don't you think? Hence the name 'Vief Köp'

Walk on, cross the road, and you come to another pond and the roundhouse 'Haet ende Nijd'. Did you know that you sometimes see turtles in this pond? Take a good look! If you walk a little further, you will see a zoo and a large birdcage on the other side. Do you see them? Then you are on the right track!

Leave the birdcage behind and continue left through the city park past the animal park. On your right, you'll see a bever carved into a tree trunk. Beavers also live in the city park, but you only see them at night. A little further on the right, you see a tall pole. This is a hibernation site for bats. Did you know that in Maastricht's marl caves about 1,000 bats hibernate every winter?

Time to get moving again! Walk across the semi-circular bench and hang on to the stretchers you see on the opposite left. Then run across the bridge towards the great eagle owl watching the city park. Did you know that a real eagle owl lives in the ENCI quarry near Maastricht?

Continue along the city wall for a while and then immediately turn right. Here you can see d'Artagnan standing, a famous musketeer from the French army who died in Maastricht in 1673. He was hit by a musket ball. You may know d'Artagnan from Alexandre Dumas' books. He drew inspiration for his books from the existing stories of the musketeers, which are thus largely true. The statue stands here in memory of d'Artagnan. Incidentally, no one knows where he is buried.

Come, let's go back towards the old berenkuil. There is still plenty to do here!

No, there are no real bears here anymore, but there used to be bears called Max and Pol. Around 1920, they were the first bears to come to Maastricht from a circus in Hamburg. The last bear in this enclosure was Jo the bear. Jo was later transferred to the Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen, where he became the first bear in the forest of Rhenen. There has been no bear in the city park since 1993.

And now! Climb on! Doesn't that old yew tree invite you to explore properly? Climb it quickly. Many Maastricht people have already climbed this tree.

Near the climbing tree is a beautiful work of art made from a piece of tree, a Japanese scene. It is a thick and heavy branch of the ginkgo. This branch broke off during a heavy storm. Behind the tree stump, you can climb up between the old thick trees. Then follow the path to the left. And look! Who is sitting there? A bear! Bear Jo will comfort you. Go and sit by him for a while. Look at his claw/hand. It has already become very slippery. The comfort bear! A photo? Do it!

And then go down and via the little bridge back to the first little bridge, where the wooden bever is. Go left across the little bridge and under the gate. And here's another story! Boars were here a long time ago. People were very afraid of these boars, which came into town at this spot to look for food. Unfortunately, hunters had to shoot six boars before they caused much damage to the park and the city.

Once you have passed under the gate, turn right and immediately up the stairs; this will take you to the city wall. A tough climb, isn't it? If you turn left on the city wall, you'll see a cannon. This one stands on a rolling horse. This is where it fired on the enemy coming from the south. On the other side, in good weather, you can see Fort Sint Pieter. Fort Sint Pieter was built around 1701-1702 by order of Baron Daniël Wolff von Dopff. It was built in a pentagon to defend the southern ramparts of Maastricht.

Walk on. At the end of the city wall, you can turn right back down towards the Witches' Corner. Do witches live here? No, no way! A HEXE family lived nearby, near a water mill. The mill is no longer there. When street names had to be thought up, this became Heksenhoek. Soon you will see a real mill.

Walk further down. At the end, you emerge onto Bosquetplein / Grote Looiersstraat. Rest for a moment at the statue of Fons Olterdissen. Fons Olterdissen was a Dutch writer, poet and director. He was born in Maastricht in 1865. He wrote the comic opera Trijn de Begijn, whose final piece became the official Maastricht national anthem.

If you look in the direction you came from, you can see an old convent of the Clarisse Sisters at the far back on the right. These sisters nursed sick people. Go and have a look. There is a beautiful pounding door, and behind this door you will find the Natural History Museum. Here you can see the skeleton of mosasaurus Bèr. Did you know it was found in Maastricht?

Come on, we're going again! Walk down Looierstraat all the way to the end, between the trees. You pass the university library on your right. Take the next right, the small Looierstraat. You now end up on Pieterstraat, diagonally across the street you will find house number 37. In the wall you will see a small metal door with a keyhole. A city gate used to stand here. Behind that little door, the key to the city gate was stored! Every morning someone would come and open the gate and lock it again in the evening, so that everyone in the city was safe again at night.

At house number 29, go under the gate and pass de Leeuwenmolen or Clemensmolen. This mill still turns occasionally. You might get lucky and see it turning.

Walk on and you will see steps down by the thick stones. There you can walk between the 'two arms' of the Jeker. Cross the small lock. Unfortunately, we can't go up the city wall now, so keep walking past it on the left towards the next, smallest, part of the city park. Cross the street to the Faliezusterspark. If all goes well, you'll see the little Father Vinck tower. That's where we'll go.

Legend has it that Father Vinck was imprisoned in this turret. Right by the turret, you can see the Jeker disappearing under the houses. But be careful! Watch out for wet feet!

Across the little bridge you can walk towards the Helpoort, the oldest gate in the Netherlands. Why the HelpoHelpoortstricht had a garrison and was a city of soldiers. Walls were built to defend the city against the enemy. There were not only soldiers, but also many horses. The horses' hooves had to be sharpened with FIRE at the blacksmith's, and fire, that was HELL. Hence the name Hell Gate, the entrance to HELL. Is there a heaven here too? Go and find it and rest here for a while. Then you can return to the starting point of this walk via the large lawn with the cannons, to the right of the Helpoort gHelpoort