Nijmegen

13 August 2016, Nijmegen

We arrived at Nijmegen train station, it took only 15 minutes from Arnhem central train station. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Like the other cities in Holland, the old town was close from the train station. We just followed the clear sign to centruum. The first place we see was the Grote Markt. In this square, we saw the Waaggebouw (weighing house), the beautiful old renaissance building from 1600 and now it serves as a restaurant, the bronze statue of Mariken Nieumeghen, a chief character from 15^th century and the entrance to the St. Stevenskerk, a Romanesque Gothic church. The church was already closed when we arrived, so we just can admire its beautiful façade.

Waaggebouw

Stevenskerk

Then, we walked to Lange Hezelstraat. This medieval street is the oldest shopping street in Netherlands. With its coble stone path and old buildings that most of them become shops, make Lange Hezelstraat a nice place to visit. In this street, there’re some path that connect to Waalkade.

Waalkade is a quay where we can relax sitting and enjoying the view of the river. There’s a unique spot in here:  the Labyrinth. It’s fun to follow the path in the labyrinth. We spent quiet some times in here, just watching the ships passing by.

Belvedere

Valkhof

From Waalkade, we walked back via Priemstraat. In Priemstraat we got a nice vista of St Stevenkerk.
As it was already dinner time, we decided to had our dinner at Indonesian Resto, Pasundan. The food was good and authentic. Just across the resto, there’s the Hunnerpark, a city park with the remains of the old city walls. Keep walking in this park, finally we reached Belvedere. Belvedere formerly watch tower and now is a restaurant. It’s a beautiful building and as it’s located on high ground, we can get a nice view of the Nijmegen Waal Road Bridge. Going down the hill, we arrived at Valkhof Museum, it has collection of archaeological artifacts. 

From there we continued walking toward train station via Marikenstraat, the new shopping street with its unique façades. At the end of this shopping street, we can find Mariënburg chapel. Marienburg chapel is a former Catholic convent. Opossite the chapel, there is Arsenal. Arsenal was an armory and part of Marienburg Barracks. Today, some parts of the building become a restaurant.

Then, we continued walking to the train station. Along the way, there were some restos, cafés and shops that still open.