Where are John and Kara?: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Rotterdam Central Station

We sat in perpetual silence lost in our own thoughts. The bus rattled and shook stopping to pick up passengers every quarter of an hour or so.

The bus driver whistled as he drove. It was cloudy outside, the kind where the sky is all white and it feels like it could rain at any time. We were on our way to Kinderdijk on the outskirts of Rotterdam.

We had arrived into Rotterdam yesterday morning after catching the train from Amsterdam. It had been an early start and pouring with rain as we made our way to Amsterdam's central station. The ride to Rotterdam went quickly and, before we had really gotten ourselves settled in, we had already arrived. Along the way we looked out on an expanse of wet, green sheep runs, flooded from the last twenty four hours of rain. We saw windmills standing at the edge of canals, their sails battling the wind.

It was cold when we immediately left the train. No different from the north, the south of Holland wasn't much warmer and it was even colder when we exited the station. Without much of a plan we began walking through the city centre and down to the port.

Buildings along Kruisplein

A lighthouse along the old port

The history of Rotterdam

Walking around the city

Kara outside Stadwinkel Centrum

We knew Amsterdam is much older than Rotterdam but we didn't realise that at the beginning of World War II the entire city centre of Rotterdam and its immediate surroundings had been decimated by bombing. Totally destroyed. But like a rose blossoming after a long cold winter, designers and architects flooded the city to begin rebuilding - starting with a new slate. There's a sense of entrepreneurial spirit encouraging some amazing, futuristic and state of the art buildings across the skyline. Best described as a veritable open air gallery of modern art, contemporary construction and unabated ingenuity and vision.

Just a small part of the city skyline

As we walked, watching carefully for cyclists, we looked up at the unusual and interesting buildings and skyscrapers. Over the last sixty years the city has seen huge changes. The history of Rotterdam actually dates back to around 1270 when a large dam was constructed in the Rotte river and people settled around it for safety. Before that however there is evidence that people had lived along the banks since 900AD.

Many of these people have since become lost in Dutch children's fairytales and according to them they where kings and queens. It's in these tales the name Rotterdam is spoken of and translates as muddy water.

Conductor John at the old port

Green living!

Underground shopping

As Rotterdam grew into a thriving city, a shipping canal was developed and led Rotterdam to become a port of importance. Today its port remains the busiest in Europe bringing with it life as an internationally and diverse city.

Cube houses

Closer look at the cubes

Some strange arty buildings

We wandered among the Saturday markets outside the amazing Markt building and checked out the 1970's cube houses. There were lots and lots of quirky statues, beautiful painted art walls and even a semi-submerged shopping mall.

Cheese! Cheese!

Fresh cakes, pastries and breads

Inside the Maarkt

Hurry! I want to try them!

Here come our poffertjes

Typical Dutch Poffertjes

One stroopwafel

One tasty bite later

We clocked the kilometres letting whatever took our fancy guide us. In the late afternoon we went in search of our Airbnb and after a long walk around the western neighbourhood, enjoyed some dinner and for the first time in years - watched some TV!

Arriving into Delftshaven

After a restful sleep, we set off mid-morning on Sunday. The forecasted rain was yet to hit and, so making the most of the dry weather, we hit the streets.

Everything was closed and there was hardly a soul anywhere. We ventured forth to Delfshaven, a small neighbourhood and historic harbour which survived the World War II bombing.

It is unique in comparison to its surroundings, similar to the more typical Dutch housing found in Amsterdam.

Dutch houses along the Aelbretchskade

The area which translates as harbour of Delft started as a colony in 1389 and at that time was very independent to Rotterdam.

What was special however is that Delftshaven played an important role in the history of the Netherlands.

In 1577 a man by the name of Piet Hein, a naval officer and folk hero who was born in the small fishing village, went on to capture a Spanish treasure fleet loaded with silver.

The De Distilleerketel

Along the main canal we also stumbled across a fairly bleak dark brick church: the Pilgrim Fathers church.

This is where the Pilgrim Fathers did their last service in 1620 before setting sail for the new world (later to be known as America). We tottered along the bank until we came to the end where stood a big windmill!

But this one was actually called De Distilleerketel, a distillery!

Delftshaven colony

The mill used to process malt which was used in making the traditional Netherlands liquor. Sadly, being a Sunday morning the remaining distillery was closed

We were feeling quite energetic this Sunday morning and decided to walk further; back into the city centre.

Looking down towards the windmill

Unusual cloud formation

The Pilgram Fathers Church

Small lanes of Delftshaven

Following a large canal we passed apartments and houses. Still the streets were quiet. It was as good a time as any to head off windmill hunting.

Kinderdijk windmill

This began our Rotterdam windmill adventure.

Navigating the public transport fairly well we rode the metro over the Rotti Bridge our faces squished against the dirty glass, to the south of the city.

From there, we grabbed a quick sausage roll snack to eat while we waited for a bus to take us onto Kinderdijk.

Kinderdijk is a small village in the municipality of Molenwaard, locally known as 'Groene Hart' (Green Heart).

It's believed that back in 1421, when there was serious flooding, a baby was found floating amongst the floods in a cradle, which is how the area received its name (child dike). The entire area is reclaimed land, however problems with the water continually occurred towards the 13th century.

There they are standing in a row!

Which to us didn't sound all that surprising as it's up to six metres below sea level. Large canals were dug to remove the excess water but to little avail. Several centuries later between 1738 and 1740 it was decided to build a series of windmills to pump water into a reservoir. There are currently nineteen windmills on the now dry ponder lands.

Rest position

Slated roofing

Taking a rest stop

John waving in the foreground

Mere minutes before we arrived, the skies opened and the waiting rain came down. So upon exiting the bus we were caught in the onslaught. It was pretty darn miserable but rather than waiting it out we hired two bicycles and set off in the rain. Pumping our legs, we were off on our adventure. Following the trail down an embankment there were windmills everywhere!

Taking the rain like a champ

On both sides of us they stood, some moved slowly in the wind but most just stood proud and erect. We raced along, stopping to take photos every fifty meters or so and to wipe the rain from our faces. We really enjoyed ourselves and with very few people out in the rain we nearly had the place to ourselves.