You have reached your destination!

Thursday 3rd October 2024. Buy British Day.

Dordrecht to Rotterdam – 21km.

I wanted to celebrate Buy British Day….but what can I buy and what should I buy? I have had a bit of a cough this last 24 hours so what could be better….Fishermans Friends.

I have seen them for sale all over Europe at supermarket checkouts. A good Fleetwood lozenge will sort my throat out better than those European lozenges!

I was riding by 9am even though I had no rush. It was a short route and I passed….

Feyenoord Football Stadium. I thought they were at Rotterdam but I wasn’t complete sure.

I had been told by Dutch people that Rotterdam, unlike Rotherham, is a modern and interesting city. They were right about the city….but I have been very naughty and I zipped around most of the big tourist locations in one day!

The Erasmus Bridge. Erasmus was a Dutch priest, philosopher and humanist of the 15th and 16th Century. The only thing he wasn’t known for was bridge building.
Here he is.
Lots of modern art sculptures around the city. This is a foot. I’ve taken the photo from an unusual angle. The church in the background is St Lawrence’s.

The Centraal Markt is amazing….

The outside with apartments around the structure.
The ceiling on the inside! Quite a wow factor!

There are a group of cube houses built at an angle….

I can’t imagine living inside them.

Rotterdam is famous as Europes biggest port. The commercial areas must be a little out of the centre but there are plenty of waterfront and harbours.

The Stadthaus or City Hall. I was allowed on the ground floor and into the courtyard. Winston Churchill is an honorary member of the Council.

For a change it was the Germans (not the British) who bombed the city I am visiting. Much of the centre and old buildings were levelled. As a result, the modern and architecturally distinctive Rotterdam has been rebuilt.

Is this my last ice cream? It’s Malaga flavour! Any ideas what that means?

I continued hitting the city hotspots.

This is the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. Apart from being a striking piece of modern art in its own right it is a store of art. Tours can be taken to learn about the storage, analysis and restoration of art works. There is a cafe at the top.
I only wanted to comb my hair in the mirror!
This area in Delfshaven Harbour.

Delfshaven claims to be a starting location for the Pilgrim Fathers! Not quite true. The Pilgrim Fathers were English, they came briefly to The Netherlands to avoid persecution at home and some of them boarded the ‘Speedwell’ ship here. They sailed to Plymouth but when they and the ‘Mayflower’ tried twice to set sail for America the ‘Speedwell’ had a leak problem and sailed back to England. Only the ‘Mayflower’ completed the initial voyage to America but it did take 11 of the ‘Speedwell’s’ passengers. Very interesting stuff.

I put my bike to bed in an even bigger underground bike store. I hope I can find it again. This photo only shows one row of 20!

I went back to the Markt looking for food. I opted for an Indian meal tonight. It is extremely multicultural here. I can’t remember seeing anywhere that was vaguely Dutch unless they were selling cheese.

The inside of the Markt is even more impressive at night.

I know I have another full day to go but in essence Rotterdam was always my end destination of the trip. I have made it. As the sat nav says “You have reached your destination”.

I intend to have a little cycle out of the city tomorrow and then on Saturday I will be riding to the Hoek Van Holland to get the ferry. So, I haven’t quite finished yet.

P.S. Malaga ice cream is a bit like rum and raisin but I think it uses sherry instead of rum.

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