Day 5
As I was transfering from Belgium to the Netherlands I couldn’t get my eyes off of the window. The landscapes of Holland are magical. I felt like I was back in England once again.
As I got off the bus I bought an ov-chipkaart card for public transport and filled it with some euros to get to my hostel. And oh my.. The city is unremarkably beautiful. I followed my google maps route and was very surprised that my hostel was above and a very cute café. It was the King Kong hostel which is very well rated and I believe it was the best hostel in the Netherlands of 2018.
My room was awesome and the bed was huge! That gave me a feeling of a very private space, eventhough there were six of us.
As I got there around 4 p.m. I again decided to go out, this time to visit the Cube Houses and the Market Hall where I bought dinner which happened to be a simple fruit bowl.
Next to the Cube Houses is also the Oudehaven. It is such a nice and peaceful place with restaurants on one end, and a place to sit on a bench on the other.
When you head away from the Cube Houses and all the restaurants, you can find a route on the shore of the river Niuwe Maas. I sat on the grass next to it with my book and journal and just enjoyed my time.
After my days of traveling when there was 40 degrees or more, I finally got to enjoy a bit of a fresh air. And a few tens of minutes later it actually started to rain. Not a full on rain, but light rain drops were falling from the sky. So I headed home. I decided not to get on a tram or any other public transport and just walked. And as I said previously, I just fell in love with the city. The people, even the streets looked great.
I also realized that I lived on a street that I found on one blog, that I basically based my itinerary on, and wanted to definitely visit. It’s the Witte de Withstraat with many restaurants and cafés. The paintings that I saw on Pinterest I was able to look on from my window. Incredible. The street felt like from another era or country. Like New Orleans maybe?
Day 6
As Rotterdam is not the capital of Holland, I basically saw most of the things I wanted to by now. So I spontaneously decided to go on a trip out of the city to see the UNESCO Windmills of Kinderdijk.
I took the metro to a bus station on the outskirts of the city, and then hopped on a bus. The bus ride took about 30 minutes through crazily beautiful and stunning looking vilages and nature. As I said previously, I felt like I was back in England. The awesome brick houses, tiny gardens sometimes with canals flowing through them.
As I got to my destination the sky was grey. Which is not what I like while taking my pictures. There is a long road that’s surrounded by water, and then the windmills. There’s so many of them. The scenery is beautiful. You can even lend a bike to be a bit faster. But I decided to walk. Sometimes you can even find a tiny bridge that leads to the windmills.
You can either go and have a look outside of the windmills for free, or you can purchase some visiting packs. Like to visit a museum, to go on a boat and so on.
After I had conquered most of the road, tiny raindrops started falling and I still wanted to visit some places in Rotterdam. So I headed back.
As I got back into the city, I decided to get on a metro that would take me to the Centraal Station that has the most beautiful architecture. What I saw was incredible. Not only the building itself but in downtown Rotterdam has been happening the Sommer Carnival. So in front of the Centraal Station were people dancing and singing. And the main road closed for this event was, guess which one,.. the one that I lived on! What a crazy experience. I could even watch the Carnival outside of my window.
I still had some time left. So after many failed attempts to find a good looking café that would have some free seats, I decided to go and visit the Yellow Bridge. It’s a huge creation made out of wood painted in the yellow (surprise!) color.
And then I got some dinner from the grocery store and headed to my hostel to finally hit the hay.
Day 7
My last day of backpacking started, just like the day before, with a free cup of tea from the hostel. And then I packed my stuff, and waited untill 11 a.m. when I had to check out. I then found the nearest Starbucks. And I spent there another few hours before I headed for the Centraal Station where I’d later get on my bus back home.
And that is the end of my backpacking trip.