Netherlands - Page 3

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is only a half hour drive from Den Haag. The car was quickly parked and since hotel check-in was only possible from 3 p.m., we went directly to the first exploration of the modern city center. It was still hazy and foggy at the Erasmus Bridge, but the later, the better it became. So we surrendered to this unique architectural scene here: the horseshoe-shaped market hall, the cube houses, the skyscrapers interwoven with historic sites: the Old Port and the Gothic Laurenskerk. According to the website, 38 of the 51 cube houses are inhabited, the rest are stores.

The city was almost completely destroyed in the 2nd World War, after which a radical new beginning was planned here. It is not a historically city, only a few old buildings remained. Architects could realize all their ideas here, hence the modern skyline and infrastructure here. Here is also the lowest inhabited point of the Netherlands with 6.7 m below sea level, the city must therefore be permanently drained with with pumps, just like Amsterdam. For the afternoon, we had planned a harbor tour of Europe's largest port. Meeting point was at the 185 meter high Euromast Tower.

To do so, we had to pass an impressive mirror glass bowl: the depot of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, an art storage, in which the skyline of Rotterdam is reflected. Continuing through Museum Park and Het Park, we reached the Parkhaven on the Nieuwe Maas, which, contrary to the name of the river, is a branch of the Rhine. With the "River Cruise" and 2 funny guys, the captain and the guide, we experienced the impressive harbor. The port area stretches almost 40 kilometers from downtown Rotterdam to the Hook of Holland on the coast.

We only see a small part of it, the biggest ships are further out in Europoort and Maasvlakte. At first, the trip goes away from the city center to shipyards with their docks, huge cranes and ships. Here also the famous cruise ship SS Rotterdam anchored. On the way back we see the beautiful skyline of Rotterdam coming towards us: the Erasmus Bridge and the Rijnhaven with the Hotel New York, which used to house the Holland America Line. Full of experiences, we passed the mirror glass bowl again on the way back, where in the meantime the evening skyline is reflected.

On hotel recommendation we had breakfast the next morning at Baker&Moore and although I rarely recommend any food temples, there I was impressed: I can hardly remember a better breakfast. Just try the brown bread 🙂. Paul really wanted to go to the Feyenoord stadium, so we marched across the Erasmus Bridge towards Feyenoord. However, not without strolling before again between the skyscrapers and the Hotel New York. Spoiled by the city, Feyenoord itself is not very impressive. Just a suburb, also the stadium was nothing special.

But the next morning hosted there Union Berlin and the first fans were already on site. The iron fans 🙂. The same rather boring way we did not want to run back and so we crossed the Nieuwe Maas via the Van Brienenoordbrug to come back towards the city. On some cycle tracks and later on the river promenade we reached, past the Erasmus University, the city. Here it wetted us again properly, but only briefly, in the evening we enjoyed again the colorful city in the light.