After an action packed weekend at the Qontinent, it was time to drag my weary, aching body to the train station and onwards to my next destination. The plan was now to head north across the border to The Netherlands to visit the very contemporary and artistic city of Rotterdam. This was going to be a short but sweet stop here of only one night however I was going to make the most of it and get a taster of what the city as to offer.
New to the story and want to know where else I’ve been exploring? Been along for the full ride so far and want to remind yourself what’s been going on? Then here’s quick recap of my journey to date. Things started over in Germany in the capital city of Berlin, a place full of history and certainly embracing the nightlife there. Next was an intriguing and intellectual experience in the town of Heidelberg, situated in the south west of the country. After that, I headed north to the city of Cologne to see what it’s all about and rest up a little before I took the dive into my first festival for the harder styles of dance music at The Qontinent in Belgium.
Now it’s on to Rotterdam so here we go , let me tell you about what I found in Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
Day 10 – Monday
As I packed up from the festival, weary and achy but completely satisfied with the weekend that I’ve had, I said “Cheerio” to the guys that I’d met at the campsite and swapped social media details. Then it was a case of checking out, retrieving my important valuables and reversing the route that I look to the train station. With only a few slots of my interval ticket left, I filled in the details and hopped on a train to head north to the city of Rotterdam. I used the journey to research a little about what are the best things to do in the city, with it pointing out that one of the things to see was train station. So as I stepped out and looked back up at Rotterdam Centraal station, I could certainly see why with its impressive roof, setting the tone for the city, as I took in the immediate skyline.
As usual with all of my trips, the first thing was to drop these bags off at the hostel. Staying in Hostel Ani & Haakien Rotterdam, it was only a mere 10 minutes away from the station. This was fine apart for the on issue, something the country is world renowned for: bikes! They are certainly popular and have their own traffic system that you need to get used, with them flying around like missiles. You have to keep your wits about you or else you’ll be taken out! Like I nearly was…
Slightly on the pricier side at €24.50, the hostel was pleasant. The decor and layout of the common room and open plan nature of the kitchen/dining room gave the place a very homely feeling and perfect area to talk to your fellow hostellers. This atmosphere stretched out the back of the hostel, with a relatively larger open area to chill in the fresh air. This provided a perfect location in the morning for breakfast, as their a limited breakfast service offered within the price. The dorms available were comfortable and provided everything they needed to for a [pleasant] evening along with nice and clean bathrooms, which are definitely underrated compared to some places I’ve been in. As for activities provided by the hostel, I never had chance to check those out so it would be unfair to comment.
Bags dropped off, freshened up and guess what I was going to do…
You got it! I asked at reception as to what they’d recommend me doing and this ended up with my having a trusty little map of Rotterdam with a few of the locations and recommendations circled and off I went to explore the city in the afternoon sun. I was off to do what all good tourists do: look at the city, check out the big landmarks and take photos of anything and everything I find cool.
As you may have gathered but I was seriously impressed by the moderations of the place and some of the artwork integrated into them. Even in the McDonald’s, the was impressive! Don’t worry though, I was only using the toilet facilities, honest! Annoyingly I don’t have a photo of it so here’s a link to the Google Images of the place.
Whilst I walked round, there were a few of great highlights that really caught my eye that I’ll share with you and don’t panic, they are certainly more upmarket that how good a McDonald’s looks!
With Europe’s largest seaport being hosted in Rotterdam, there are a lot areas that are by the water and one of the areas that I enjoyed most walking along was the stretch on the north side of the Nieuwe Maas. Near the central park of the city, this is where you can get some great views of the southern part of the city and the simple but elegant Erambusbrug (brug translating to bridge). Another cool building to look at as de Rotterdam building, which unfortunately is only a complex for living, work and leisure and is deemed “The Vertical City”.
Another thing that is iconic about Rotterdam is the cube houses so of course, I made sure that was in my walk. They certainly something else! I didn’t realise though that you could go in and have a look or even spend a night in one of these intriguing building. They are just what they say, houses but they are on a 45 degree angle. Don’t worry though, the interior is still the right way up from what I’m told!
One of my favourite locations was the Markthal. From the outside and afar, it looks like quite an interesting location, based on its shape and finish, almost like an aircraft hangar, with a glass front and back.
However, once you’re up close, you can see that on the exterior, it plays host to some apartments and office space then on the inside of those large glass fronts is what really caught my eye. On ground level is a large indoor market providing a wide array of fresh food and drinks, and places for you grab something to eat.
But if you look up, you’ll see that all this is hosted underneath an enormous and spectacular piece of colourful artwork! This alone is a reason to come here!
That evening, though I’d been partying away all weekend, it was another gym session for me to unwind and stretch off a little too, as my body was battered. Conveniently, as I was walking around, I came across a gym right by the river. With it being open, I decided to hop in and have a chat with them to see if they did one day passes, which thankfully they did! All this took was to explain my situation to them, they were very understanding and were able to come up with something to help me out. So once I’d finished my self designed (with the hostel’s help), self taught walking tour, it was time to hit the gym!
The only issue that I face was that there didn’t seem to be anywhere to eat open on the way back! I was yet at the stage of getting creative with my cooking so heading back to the hostel, I get myself squared away and tried to come up with a plan for food. I’m not sure if I was missing something but it seemed that nowhere was open! Thankfully, I managed to overhear a group in the process of ordering a pizza so politely hopped on the back of it and got one too.
Bonding over a need for food initially, this was the spark to get us talking and next thing you know, we’d spent hours talking to each other, discussing where we’d been, where we were going, what we’d recommend and how we were going to make the most of Rotterdam. With the influence of Google, we’d come up with a group plan on what to do before I headed off in the afternoon.
Day 11 – Tuesday
For once, this was a change to the usual routine that I’ve had in the last few cities. Knowing I had a short amount of time in Rotterdam due to prioritising my other stop, I ensured my train was in the afternoon to give me time in the morning to get out and about a bit more here. As we planned the night before, the plan was to check out the old town, in particular an area called Delfshaven, which we’d been informed was a cool place to check out to see how Rotterdam used to be with the older architecture and it definitely didn’t disappoint!
In comparison to the newer parts of the city, the contract was clear but when sighting the older buildings and layout, it was exactly what you envisaged if someone were to talk about The Netherlands. Tall, thin buildings leaning out over the streets, lifting points or winches attached at the highest point and big, open windows. These building flanked what was an old harbour, laden with wood vessels which left the place looking picturesque and an photographer’s paradise. There was even a windmill top complete the picture!
Taking a slow wander through, we checked out the old town, made sure to take plenty of photos and then stopped off to a grab a cuppa before we went out separate ways, as my time was close to being up. Looking back on this chat, there was something funny that came out of the differences in cultures. This sprang up from the Germans that I was with being puzzled as to why I was raising my had asked why I kept raising my hand to traffic when allowed to cross the road. I explained that in the UK, it was customary to thank the driver for allowing you to cross with this gesture, which puzzled them even further as they thought I was raising it to tell the traffic to stop, as in Germany, they told me that the vehicles just stop and you cross thus not expecting a “thank you”.
On the way back to the hostel, I made sure to visit one final spot, which was the large scenic park in the centre of the city, called Het Park. In the late morning sun, this place looked brilliant. With the open plan greenery, sun glistening off the lakes as the trees dipped the tip of their branches into the surface of the water, and people basking in the sun light, enjoying themselves. A perfect location for a slow wander through or to sit back, relax and enjoy your lunch on the grass.
Before I knew it, it was go time and my next and final stop beckoned me. My things were packed, I’d checked out and I was on my way to the cool train station. This final stop, as I alluded to, was going to be the capital of The Netherlands, the famous (or infamous depending on your outlook) Amsterdam! So that’s where I will pick up the next blog from, as I emerge out of the station and enjoy [number of] days in what turned out to be a wonderful and life changing city. “In what way?” I may hear you ask, well you’ll have to come back and read about it when that post is out. To be sure to not miss it, follow my social media below or at the top of the page.
