Rotterdam

Friday 5/6/15 Off to Rotterdam to meet up with Kristie (for those who don’t know Kristie is a friend I work with).  The day started warm but it was a heatwave for Holland with a temp of at least 32 degrees – felt just like what we had left in Aus – sweating hot weather (don’t miss it one little bit).  We had heard that Staadcamping in Rotterdam wasn’t a very nice campsite, but it was fine.  A bit rustic – a big paddock with electricity in some places and the shower cubicles are small and there isn’t any loo paper – you have to ask for it at reception – but I think some people are a little precious about camping grounds.  This camp site is 3-4kms from the centre of Rotterdam and it is the only one so it’s great just to be able to park up safely and bike into the centre.  We travelled from delft to the campsite in about 30 minutes.  Got on our bikes and biked to the grand central hotel to meet up with Kristie.  We had read that after Rotterdam got bombed so badly during the war when they rebuilt they decided to build modern and not like most other places that re-built things the way they were.  We were very impressed with how it has been rebuilt.  The architecture is really quite amazing and they could teach Aust and NZ a few lessons on better architecture.

We saw the new market place – where there are apartments on the outside of the big arch that forms over a food market – with the most delicious looking food – it’s amazing inside, peoples windows in their apartments look over the market below.  A place where I wished I had the most amazing metabolism so I could try all the cuisine.  We wandered around the city which is so unlike anything we have seen in Europe yet.  Not that it is remarkable – just so modern compared with everywhere else.  We heard music playing so headed in that direction to find a cultural concert which we sat down and enjoyed along with the free wine and beer they were handing out.  We found V&D department store where they have a great eatery and had dinner.  Whilst eating we had a thunder storm with hail – how ironic that we get a day like Brisbane and then get a typical Aussie storm at the end of it.  We then went to an Irish bar for a nightcap before saying goodbye.  As I said on facebook – In a place where everyone is a stranger it is so nice to see a friendly face that you know well – was so sad to say goodbye but at least we had that little bit of time.

We decided to stay on in Rotterdam for Saturday and biked once again into the city.  What we did though was just bike around street after street – looking at different parts of the city since it is really quite a big city.  We were heading for the docks as there were a few places there that are historic, but would have been too far to walk to on Friday.  When we found a really cool place with a lot of quite old boats on the canal we parked the bikes and wandered around the cafes.  There were so many people sitting in the sun in these cafes and so many others wandering around – a very busy day.  You can tell everyone is coming out for the summer sun.  Scot found a pub that had about 20 boutique brewed beers and the owner started talking to us as we stood outside looking at all the bottles.  A very nice man – who obviously enjoyed having someone who was interested in hearing about how all the beers were brewed so he sat with us for a while having a chat.  I was interested to hear where he thought were the best places to visit, so when we left we went on his recommendation and continued towards the harbour/docks of the area of the former Holland/Amerika lines.  In its hay day it was the liner that all the immigrants went to America on to start a new life.  The area was also the old red light district, but is now a food market and eatery along with apartments that looked like they could now be used for new ethnic immigrants.  We ended up going to the end of the island where the SS Rotterdam rests.  This is the largest Ship that the Netherlands ever built and did its last world voyage back in 1997.  It now sits as a tourist attraction with guided tours, hotel rooms, restaurants and bars.  However the first two floors and promenade deck are free to the public which as poor tourists J we took advantage of.  We talked to the lady guide who was very friendly and again seemed amazed that we were on a 12 month European holiday.  People over here seem to think we are incredibly adventurous, but I don’t think many people from NZ and Aussie travel too far out of their comfort zone – or the tourist zones.

I am impressed with the bikeways around the city – it certainly makes bike riding much more enjoyable when you know the cars aren’t going to run you over or come so close you fall off your bike.  Also you get to see lots of things you most likely wouldn’t see from a car at a higher speed.  The bikeways are on each side of the road and have a centre line to allow both way bike traffic.  The only thing that stuffs it all up is the scooters travelling at 60+km that fly past you and scare the pants off you.  It is illegal for them to do that, but it seems most don’t get caught.  We really were wowed by the architecture and you will have to excuse all the photos we took as it is so different from the boring square typical staid uninventive architecture we are used to.

Below there is a photo of one building that didn’t get bombed during the war and it‘s really quite a cool building.  It was built about the 1890’s so is very old although it doesn’t look it.  Another picture is like an Escher building where the walls are all cubes and it looks like the rooms are sloping downwards – really an amazing building.  There are peoples books and things in the windows.

I hadn’t been fussed on visiting Rotterdam, but I am glad we did because it is an amazing city with so much to see, but you do need a bike to see it all.