Day 6: Thursday 14th December 2024: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Our morning view
from our balcony
at 8:40 am
Our overnight stay next to the Erasmus bridge had been so quiet that we were woken finally by the noise of traffic on the bridge.
The late buffet was again empty.
We had received details of how to get to the Christmas market in the Hague.
Walk outside the terminal, turn left walk a hundred yards or so and cross the street to the Wilhelminaplein Metro. Buy the all day ticket.
Get on the E line metro train towards Rotterdam Central / Den Haag, and stay on until the last stop at Den Haag Central.
Once here go out the main front doors and hop on the 15 or 17 tram one stop to Korte Voorhout (no ticket needed tap your card at the door on entry and exit)
Then head a hundred yards up the road and the Royal Market is on the right.
When returning catch the E metro towards Slinge all the way back to the Wilhelminaplein station
Thanks to a member of the cruise Facebook group.
There were long queues for tickets for the Metro and we had as much trouble as everyone else choosing which ticket to buy!
We had a 40 minute metro ride to The Hague. As instructed from the station we caught a tram to the Christmas Market. We had to use credit cards as our chosen tickets were not valid on the tram.
The Royal Christmas Market
The market wasn’t open when we arrived at the park. At the entrance were several stalls and we passed our time browsing through them.
The park was surrounded by trees. Through the trees, we could see office buildings that surrounded the park. The ground in the park was a combination of crushed shells and mud.
The part was “L” shaped and the stalls lined the outside of the park on both sides. Between the stalls the park was empty except for occasional benches and tables positioned by the food or drink stands.
The stalls were in a strange mixture of food, drink with clothing stores into spurs. Not a lot of Christmas content! After a walk around we stopped and had a glue vine sheltering from the light rain.
In the next break in the rain we walked around again stopping for a sausage and a beer.
Our return to Rotterdam
Back outside we caught a tram back to the station and there caught a train back without having any wait at all.
Outside the Wilhelminaplein station we walked through the shops before crossing towards the cruise terminal.
Closer to the terminal, we passed a photographic exhibition and I paid the fee to go inside to have a look.
This was definitely not as interesting as the exhibitions that I had seen in Stockholm. It consisted of a large open space with the photograph on some pillars .I did spend time looking at the images on display without enjoying them. Definitely not a place I’d visit again.
We watched a streamed video of the latest John Wick film before meeting our friends for drinks and then dinner in a restaurant.
Last views of
Rotterdam
at
6:40 pm
Next day we would be in Zeebrugge for Blankenberge.
