Nijmegen
Discover the oldest city of the Netherlands: the fortified city of Nijmegen. In the Roman period, Nijmegen carried the name ‘Noviomagus’ (meaning ‘new market’). It was a busy trading center with temples, a bathhouse, and an amphitheater. Nowadays, you can still find 2,000-year-old remains of Roman walls and foundations in the city. As well as countless historic buildings dating back to the medieval period, centuries-old plazas and Holland’s oldest shopping street the ‘Lange Hezelstraat’.
The quay at the Waalkade offers beautiful views of the city and is a great spot to sit down at one of the terraces, have a drink and imagine yourself living here in the Middle Ages. When medieval emperor Charles the Great and his entourage passed by the quay to visit the ‘palts’ (palace) he had built here in Nijmegen (in the year 777). Or when emperor Frederick Barbarossa came to Nijmegen to build an even bigger palace at the Valkhof, around 1155.
