03/07/2018
We paid a flying visit to Rotterdam in the Netherlands on our first stop towards Belgrade in Serbia to visit an old friend of mine from college. Not only is it, unexpectedly to us, a very modern cosmopolitan city, largely undiscovered by tourists who preferably flock to the neighbouring city of Amsterdam, it also boasts a plethora of old vintage harbours and boats tracing the cities maritime routes. The city itself was blasted during WWII and so was rebuilt into the modern scape that is seen today. We spent just a few hours roaming around the streets and because the city itself is quite small you can cover a lot in that time.
Getting off at Blaak train station we firstly discovered the 'Cube' houses designed by architect Piet Bloom, encompassing 45 degree tilted cubes each representing a tree and together forming a 'forest'. Pretty cool place to roam for a while and you can enter one of these cubes houses for a cost of 3 euro.
Right beside these houses is the 'Markthal'. This was probably my favourite place we wandered around as anyone who knows me knows I love a bit of colour, and there is plenty of it in this building! It is a newly built residential and office building with a market hall underneath where you can find and sample various foods as far reaching as Iran. The artwork is designed by Arno Coenen and portrays an array of oversized fruit, vegetables, insects and flowers and if you are like me, you will spend your time looking up instead of looking at where you are walking!
From here then we strolled around 'Oude Haven' which is one of the oldest harbours in Rotterdam and is a nice place to catch a bite to eat on one of the many terrace restaurants while enjoying the watery views.
As we continued on our self guided city walking tour we came to the Erasmus Bridge which is a cable-stayed bridge connecting the north and the south, you can walk across the bridge while enjoying nice views over the river and walk along the waters edge towards Hotel New York.
After alot of walking we then made our way to 'Het Park', literally meaning 'The Park' to rest our tired feet. If you are staying with great hosts like we were they will bring you nibbles and wine and a picnic mat so you can chill out and enjoy the views and wildlife around. It was a splendid way to end our day out in Rotterdam!
Overall I would definitely recommend Rotterdam as one of the more under explored cities in the Netherlands by tourists to visit. Its certainly unexpected, vibrant, modern and ultimately cool.
Kommentare