Let’s Go Rotterdam!
As the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament was on in Rotterdam last weekend, and I was lucky enough to get tickets last minute, we decided to do a daytrip of Rotterdam as well… I was really surprized with this vibrant city, only an hour away from Amsterdam by train…
We made our way to Rotterdam early on Saturday morning,
making our first stop the tourist info to get some Maps on Rotterdam to enable
us to plan our day… Our first stop was
the last remainder of “Old Rotterdam” called Delftshaven… It reminded me a lot of Amsterdam – gabled
houses, lining the historic waterfront J Windmill – Korenmolen de Distilleerketel
(check out some pics below)… I took a
photo which is a replica of the Delftshaven description, as on the Internet J Really felt chuffed with myself!
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| Delftshaven |
From here we took the trem to the Euromast… This is the highest point in the Netherlands
– 185m in the air! From the top you get
an amazing panoramic view, seeing Old Rotterdam (Delftshaven), the harbour
(biggest harbour port in the World according from 1962 to 2004, where after it
was surpassed by Shanghai), as well as the rest of Rotterdam… Skyscrapers, the works J We also saw one of the most spectacular
landmarks in Rotterdam from the Euromast, called the Erasmus Bridge… I attach some photo’s…
We enjoyed a nice lunch in the Euromast, with a view of the
entire city… Felt really blessed being
able to experience this!!
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| Euromast |
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| Erasmus Bridge |
From here, we went in search of the cube houses… Another trademark of Rotterdam… Built in 1984, these cube houses were designed
by Piet Blom, and is used as hostel accommodation today… There is a total of 250 beds within all these
cube-shaped houses… We walked around the
“plein” and saw the beautiful church – St Laurens Church… We did not go into the church, but it is said
that of the three organs inside, 1 ranks as one of Europe’s largests… We passed the “White house” a building inspired
by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the French Chateau-style, is
evidence of Rotterdam's rapid growth and success. When completed, it was the
tallest office building in Europe, with a height of 45 m.
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| Cube houses |
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| White House... |
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| Mini Taxi |
We proceeded onwards by taking a rather “dodgy” water taxi –
it was EXTREMELY small, from the one side of the Maas river, to the New York
Hotel… Another landmark in
Rotterdam… The New York Hotel was
previously a known as a shipping office, was converted into a hotel… The restaurant is something to see! Beautiful décor, overlooking the Maas river… We had some high tea! It was an amazing experience!!!
Next stop, was Ahoy! Rotterdam for some tennis… Much to my disappointment, Federer fell out
in the quarter finals (the Friday evening), so my dream to see him play, still
stays alive J We saw the battle of the French (Benneteau
(ranked 39th and beat Federer (1)!) against Simon (5))… It was an AMAZING game, full of excitement,
and Benneteau ended up winning within two sets!
The underdog won! I checked on
the Sunday, and he then lost to Del Potro (2) in the Final J
Rotterdam – really a city I thoroughly enjoyed and that
wowed all my expectations!! J
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