Remember Jonas whom I met in Tarifa? We met up again after Tarifa in Lisbon, Berlin, and now in Maastricht—that’s my old university town. Together, we walked from my friend’s place in Maastricht across the border into Belgium just to drink a beer at a place called Belvedere. It’s just a bit uphill and then across a bridge. Drinking a beer in a pub is actually cheaper there! And also a lot tastier than in the Netherlands
As we were in Germany together before, we talked a lot about the German Reinheitsgebot. Say what you will, but limiting the number of ingredients in your beermaking also limits what you can achieve with your beer. In Belgium, beer brewers have liberated themselves from such constraints. And it shows. Hmm. Flavor!
Say what you will about Belgium because it’s actually really easy to have a good time there. Even though we only stayed there for about 30 minutes.
Is it weird to be back in the Netherlands? Back in Maastricht, the city of my despised university? Definitely. Luckily I don’t have to worry much as I’m not going to be here for long. Now it’s just the nice bits of seeing the people I love and eating stuff that makes me feel nostalgic.
