Castles in Nederland

Last weekend, as a side line to our trip to Valkenburg and Margraten, we visited some old castles that were in that corner of the country. We first visited the Mheer castle near Margraten, which was built in 1487 and rebuilt in 1668. We were not able to go inside, but were happy to be able to walk around and view it outside. An hour later we were 10 miles south at another more ornate castle called Eijsden (Eyesden), which was built in 1636 & added to in 1767. It had some beautiful gardens behind it with neatly trimmed hedges. They were both wonderful medieval type buildings. We put a picture of the Muiderslot castle on this blog on our April 22nd entry. It is also a beatuiful castle that is restored inside. It was first built in 1280. It is near Amsterdam. Part of the joy of living here is being able to visit the wonderful castles on Preparation Day or a Saturday. Our mission president has told us that he wants us to experience the culture here. This is an amazing area of the world.