During my basic education years, I learned a few things about what will later become my adopted country, The Netherlands: tulips come from here (let’s face it, we all know in the meanwhile that the tulip comes from Turkey), Rotterdam is the biggest port in Europe (from 1964 until 2004 it was the busiest port in the world even), the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam named after the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, considered to have been one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance, Rembrandt and Van Gogh (the second had become over the years my favorite painter), and PSV Eindhoven, Ruud Gulith with his crazy hair and Marco van Basten (my brother was a big fan). Well, in the meantime I am living just twenty minutes far from Rotterdam. I have never ever thought that there will be my home one day. My opinion is that Rotterdam might be one of the coolest cities in Europe. It has a history, fancy architecture, hip places to hang out, a lot of water around plus water-taxi, an international university, and people from 170 nationalities. You can easily spend a couple of days in Rotterdam and you will not get bored.  Why should you visit Rotterdam? I have some pretty good reasons.

A mind-blowing market hall

In 2014, a covered market hall and apartment complex was opened, the Markthal. The arch of apartments is in fact the market ceiling. Spanning over 13,000 square yards, the “Horn of Plenty” by Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam is a colorful art piece depicting fruit tumbling from a summer sky, grazing cows and flowers. The ceiling of the Markthal bears the world’s largest artwork. You can find everything in the 96 stalls, from Dutch cheeses to fresh fish, and many other local food and drinks. Believe me, it’s a must when in Rotterdam!

Another cool place with plenty of food is The Fenix Food Factory, a former warehouse in the city’s Katendrecht district, where you can find artisanal locally sourced food and drinks. You can eat and drink with a view overlooking the waterfront where is located hotel New York, the former head office of the Holland Amerika Line. From here, thousands of emigrants left in the past for North America, hoping for a better life. In this hotel, Anouk wrote her album Hotel New York, released in 2004.

A spotlight for art & culture

Rotterdam is a first-class city for contemporary art. Kunsthal is famous for its eclectic and eccentric range of exhibitions from iconic photography to the clothing and design of Jean Paul Gaultier (seen it, awesome). Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands, with contemporary collections that bring the more traditional exhibits to life. You can see here paintings of Van Gogh, Fabritius, Rubens, Dali, Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Picasso.

In 2021 will be the opening of the first depot in the world that provides access to a complete collection without the intervention of a curator. The 40-meter high, the mirrored building is a design from the Rotterdam architect Winy Maas from MVRDV (also responsible for the Markthal design) and offers a beautiful, panoramic view of the city and the port from the freely accessible roof garden with a restaurant.  The Depot has a different dynamic to that of the museum: there are no exhibitions, but the public can browse amongst 151,000 artworks, alone or with a guide, and get behind-the-scenes glimpses of conservation, restoration, and provenance research.

The Nederlandse Photo Musem and the Maritime Museum worth a visit as well. Did I mention already that Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam? Yeap, the guy whose painting Intechange (1955) was sold in September 2015 for 300 million dollars (until 2017 it was the most expensive painting in the world).

You should not miss the cultural annual events: International Film Festival Rotterdam (started in 1972, this year the festival will be in the week 1 – 7 February 2021), North Sea Jazz Festival between 7 and 9 July 2021 (already announced Lionel Richie, Alicia Keys and John Legend) and ART Rotterdam Week, last year it included more than 50 events at more than 40 locations and attracted an estimated 100,000 visits. The upcoming edition (3-7 Feb 2021) will have a different character due to the pandemic. Most locations can be visited in time slots to ensure a safe stay. Let’s not forget that in 2021 Rotterdam is the host of the Eurovision Songfestival as well.

Rotterdam is like Disneyland for the architecture geeks

I don’t even know where to start and where to end regarding this subject. Rotterdam has so many beautiful architectural buildings, from the historic buildings and characteristic post-war reconstruction architecture up to the hypermodern skyscrapers built in more recent decades. Rotterdam was heavily destroyed by the Germans in the Second World War when in 1940 almost the entire historic city center was bombed, nearly 900 people were killed and 85,000 more were left homeless. It is hardly surprising that the city hosts the International Architecture Biennale and the Netherlands Architecture Institute. My list of must-see architecture is long, but here are a few:

Cube houses – 38 small yellow dwellings, shaped like cubes, each perched on concrete pillars, giving the impression of architectural ‘trees’ clustering together to make a forest. The houses were built in 1982-1984 according to designs by award-winning Dutch architect Piet Blom, and there is one Show-Cube which can be visited. The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square meters, but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings

Witte Huis – this beautiful art nouveau building was constructed from 1897 to 1898 in an attempt to live up to the USA’s architectural innovations. At 45 meters high, it was considered the Netherlands’ first ‘skyscraper’ and for many years was the tallest office building in Europe. Designers Gerrit van der Schuijt, Herman van der Schuijt, and Willem Molenbroek were inspired by the art nouveau style encountered on a visit to New York. Witte Huis remains a hub of Rotterdam life today, with the popular Grand Café Het Witte Huis occupying the ground floor and several offices above.

Van Nelle Fabriek – Van Nelle Factory is a former tea, coffee, and tobacco factory whose significance as an example of early 20th-century industrial architecture which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built between 1925 and 1931 and designed by J.A. Brinkman and L.C. van der Vlugt, its huge windows, light metal framework, and streamlined shape give it a spacious, airy feel. Although the factory closed down in the 1990s, the building is still in use as an office space and events venue.

Erasmusbrug – Rotterdam has many bridges but the Erasmusbrug, or Erasmus Bridge, is undoubtedly the best known. It stretches 808 meters from north to south across the Maas River and culminates in a spectacular 139-meter-high white pylon that saw it nicknamed ‘The Swan’. The bridge was built in 1994-1996 and designed by Ben van Berkel, and it is the tallest bridge in the Netherlands. It is frequently used as a symbol of Rotterdam in photos and advertisements. In 1998 it was even chosen as a set for Jackie Chan’s film, Who Am I?

Euromast – constructed in 1960 to celebrate the Floriade International Horticultural Exhibition,  it still functions as an observation tower to admire the city’s skyline. The country’s tallest man-made structure at 185 meters high, it features a large viewing gallery and restaurant. A rotating lift can transport visitors from here to a smaller platform at the very top, the ideal place to take memorable photos, and more adventurous visitors can come back down again using the abseiling and zip-wire experiences available.

Centrale bibliotek – The Central Library is located in the Laurenskwartier district in the center of Rotterdam. It is a striking building with steel tubes that run down from the roof along the glass facade. The library was designed by architects Van den Broek en Bakema. The way the building is designed is regularly compared to the Center Pompidou in Paris.

Laurenskerk – church of St. Lawrence, originally arose on the banks of the River Rotte and its location can truly be called the very birthplace of Rotterdam. It is an imposing church built between 1449 and 1525, and it is Rotterdam’s only surviving late Gothic building. After the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War, the image of the heavily damaged church and the reconstruction works that followed became a symbol of all that the city and its people had endured.

It actually has a Cool District (Coolsingel)

The city of sports events

ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam Marathon,  Six-days Cycling, World Port Tournament Baseball, and CHIOhorse Riding Event are just some pretty good examples of sports events held in this city. Rotterdam has as well the ROPARUN, a relay race of over 500 km from Paris to Rotterdam. ROPARUN contestants participate as a team of 8 runners, accompanied by cyclists and supporting vehicles. Each runner covers a distance of over 1 ½ marathon! The purpose of the Roparun is not only a quick track time, but also to raise money for various charities, but especially for research and treatment of cancer. The route from Paris to Rotterdam takes the Roparunners about 30 hours. Where do you think is the finish line? Yeap, on Coolsingel, the cool district of this cool city 🙂 Besides the annual major sports events, there are big sports events organized in Rotterdam almost every week. Rotterdam is the only city in the Netherlands with three professional football teams: Sparta, Excelsior, and Feyenoord.

It has a small floating forrest

In 2016,  twenty floating trees were installed in Rotterdam´s historic harbor basin, Rijnhaven. The idea for this floating tree installation was inspired by sculptor Jorge Bakker. In the 1970s, Bakker created an art piece that featured trees floating in a small aquarium. This ¨bobbing forest¨, also known as Dobberend, has trees placed inside of buoys that have been adapted to fit the trees’ needs. The buoys are filled with a combination of earth, and ultralight lava rocks which help them stay afloat despite their weight. Both the earth and lava rocks help regulate moisture and temperature. This unique floating forest is the first of its kind. The buoys themselves are being recycled, as they were previously used for other things. Creators of this project hope this green space will offer a place of reflection and tranquility, while also aiding in reducing CO2 emissions from the city.

Concerts and more concerts

With a venue like Ahoy, it was impossible not to have many concerts. This year is announced already Manowar in April and John Legend in July,. Hopefully, the pandemic will not change this. Rotterdam has many other venues with plenty of events. You can check it here.

Have a High Tea on SS Rotterdam

The elegant steamship SS Rotterdam was one of the great Holland America Cruise ships in the late fifties and became quickly famous as the ship that could bring you across the Atlantic to the ‘new world’, America (destination New York!). The steamship retired in 1977 and now lies permanently at the quay in Katendrecht district, is still open to the public: it serves as an excellent hotel, restaurant, wedding, event and party location, museum and its Lido terrace (with bar and swimming pool). There are (audio)guided tours that will bring you directly into the past, so romantic and really nostalgic.

The city which never sleeps

The city is known for its active and vibrant nightlife and there’s no shortage of big clubs and night entertainment. Witte de Withstraat is a popular place for a fun night out, peppered with trendy bars and restaurants. Don’t miss the Bazar, both a hotel and a restaurant, with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, very reasonably priced where you will feel cozy because of its oriental interior with wooden elements and colorful lamps.

Rotterdam in numbers:

• 11^th ranking in the list of the world’s busiest container ports, the highest in Europe
• 50.3% of residents with non-Dutch origins, the highest of any Netherlands city
• €161 average office rent per square meter in 2018 (compared with €216 in Amsterdam)
• 90% amount of the city below sea level, by as much as six meters in places
• 68 football clubs in Rotterdam – Sparta and Feyenoord play in Eredivisie
• 1340 the year when Rotterdam obtained its city rights
• 10.000 people (maximum) are allowed on the Erasmusbrug at the deck at the same time
• 73 bridges – Rotterdam’s biggest bridge is the Van Brienenoord bridge and the Erasmus bridge is the most attractive spot and must-see of Rotterdam. The oldest one is Spanjaard Brug constructed in 1886 and located at the center of Rotterdam, near the Oude Haven and Haringvliet.