Archive for the ‘Rotterdam’ Category

Oude Haven

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

The city of Rotterdam has several nightlife areas including Witte de Withstraat, Wilhelminakade, Oude Haven and Stadhuisplein. The Oude Haven meaning “Old Harbor” area is also part of the Rottedam nightlife located nearby the Blaak metro station, Maas boulevard and Willemsbrug. The Oude Haven has a long lasting history, the first cafe was established over 25 years ago. It grew in popularity when restaurants, cafe’s and lounge bars were added to the scene. The busiest night being Friday and Saturday night.

Although the Oude Haven is officially a nightlife area you must take in account it’s different than your typical Rotterdam nightlife area. It’s an alternative scenery without buzzing dance clubs or discotheques. The area offers many different style of nightlife establishment from old fashioned cafe’s to modern and luxury lounge bars where you can relax, drink and enjoy the laid back ambiance. There’s no loud music, packed dance floors or long lines at the toilets. The average price for a glass of beer comes down to €2,40 as of January 2010.

It’s one of the few nightlife areas which is also active during daytime when lunch and dinners are served on the outside terraces which offer spectacular views on the old harbor and the Willemsbrug. Local and international cuisine are present at almost any of the bars. During the summer months, festivals are being held such as the Harbor Jazz Seasons when travelers as well local citizens enjoy a drink hearing live jazz music played by international artists.

In the Oude Haven area are the following nightlife establishments; Popocatepetl, Cafe ‘t Bolwerk, Villa Kakelbont, Stockholm, MOOII, Kade 4, Pardoen, RIVA and Weimar. Each establishment has their own opening times, most of them are opened 7 days a week. Latest reported opening times during regular week days is 3:30 AM while during weekends its 4:30 AM.

Oude Haven
Spaanse Kade
3011 ML Rotterdam

http://www.oudehaven.nl/

Cafe Rotterdam

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Cafe Rotterdam is a trendy nightlife spot in Rotterdam city, Netherlands in the Cruise Terminal situated at the banks of the Nieuwe Maas river, Wilhelminakade with unique views on the Erasmusbrug. Since January 2010 it’s available for exclusive parties and weekly festivals.

When arriving at Cafe Rotterdam you shall be impressed by it’s size, with a total of three stories and the fact that the building has several entrances, a main one located in the middle and and multiple on the sides. The area where most parties are being held is located on the right side, with a marvelous view on the Erasmusbrug and a restaurant on the terrace area with local and international cuisine. Once you enter the building there’s a place to store your jackets free of charge. Here’s a total of two floors is to your availability.

The inside view is trendy, the lights are pointed to the top which is easy on the eyes, the music pretty loud yet when there’s a lot of people it still gives a good atmosphere. The DJ is visible for everyone located directly on the stairs between the ground and first floor, the design bar is spread out in the back, which is big enough to process the many people ordering. As well the fact that Cafe Rotterdam has enough crew members walking around to serve and clean up empty glasses. On the first floor there’s another spacious restaurant, as well toilets which were quite large and clean. A little side note, which was noticed while there was that the club can get quite hot.

Cruise Terminal Rotterdam
Wilhelminakade 699
3072 AP ROTTERDAM
Telefoon (010) 290 84 40
Fax (010) 297 42 51

http://www.cruiseterminalrotterdam.nl

Erasmusbrug

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

The Erasmusbrug, or in English “Erasmus Bridge” is a cable stayed bridge across the Nieuwe Maas river, or in English “New Meuse” river linking the northern and southern halves of Rotterdam city, Netherlands. It was designed by Ben van Berkel, completed and officially opened by Queen Beatrix on September 6, 1996 with a total length of 0.5 miles and height of 456 feet the Erasmusbrug has earned the nickname De Zwaan or in English “The Swan”.

At night the Erasmusbrug shines in its glory, with each individual light pointed at the top it’s magically visible from both sides of the far stretched banks of the Nieuwe Maas river, with as special places the Golden Tulip Cafe & Hotel and Cafe Rotterdam. Around the area of the Erasmusbrug, which is situated at the Kop van Zuid there’s several popular sightseeing destination including the Speedo, Rotterdam Port Experience, Nieuwe Luxor Theater, Euromast, Strand aan de maas and the Tropicana. Further more several mainstream buildings are located near the bridge like the Rotterdam court house and the KPN office.

Twenty four hours a day buzzing traffic goes over the bridge, including cars, trams, bicycles and anything that moves yet no ones stops for a moment to enjoy its views. The bridge has been integrated in the Rotterdam city life that locals barely recognize it’s beauty anymore. Yet, in my experience simply walking the bridge at night, viewing the lights as far the eye can reach on the river banks, in combination with the thrills of trams and car traffic passing by, the wind in your hair and the smell of the Nieuwe Maas water in combination with marvelous views make it a unique and relaxing experience.

That the bridge is internationally recognized can be simply proofed by it’s presence of international films such as the Jackie Chan film Who Am I? and the repeated shows of Red Bull Air Race and Bavaria City Racing.

Cafe de Witte Aap

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Cafe de Witte Aap is situated in Rotterdam city, the Netherlands in the Witte de Withstraat 78 on a corner location nearby several coffee shops, restaurants and other nightlife lounges and cafes. Though it’s a bit small de Witte Aap does a good job keeping balance between bar and drinking area. Dancing isn’t one of the possibilities, especially on Friday or Saturday nights. To enlarge the drinking/standing area, the crew starts removing chairs around 8:30 PM.

Upon entrance you find yourself in a nice yet loud ambiance, keeping it’s balance with a relaxed background music. The lounge couches in the back, and a broken mirror make the place seem more spacious than it actually is. The lights are a plus also, there’s no disco lighting yet a very clear, bright constant light which doesn’t shine or hurt the eyes. The bar curves nicely around the drinking area and has a good display of its liqueur selection although as of January 2010 no prices or menus could be located. The price for one glass of beer is €2,40. They seem to have plenty of crew walking around, customers get their drinks in efficiency and the bar seems very clean.

Cafe de Witte Aap comes with several free facilities which can be used by customers, first of all it has Free WIFI to connect your blackberry or iPhone, there’s a ATM machine downstairs opposite of the toilets, of which are two total. On the left side of the bar you can hang your coat or jacket yet there’s no security overseeing them. Cafe de Witte Aap can be visited at the following address and is open from 13.00 till 05.00, 7 days a week.

De Witte Aap
Witte de Withstraat 78
3012 BE Rotterdam
010 – 4149565

http://www.dewitteaap.nl/

Cafe de Witte Aap, Rotterdam logo buitenCafe de Witte Aap, Rotterdam barCafe de Witte Aap, Rottedam ATM machine

These pictures date Friday 23th of January 2010 Cafe de Witte Aap, Rotterdam.

Zuiderpark

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

In Rotterdam south, in the municipality Charlois lies a spacious park named Zuiderpark. The park is located directly in between the two municipalities of Carnissewijk and Zuidwijk/Pendrecht. It was built in the year of 1952 and meant as a place for enjoyment and relaxation for city locals. Since the year 2006 the park has gone through restructuring, which has improved the park a lot.

The Zuiderpark is easy reachable from almost anywhere within Rotterdam south, it’s located nearby the biggest mall in the region Zuidplein, as well as the main bus stations and two metro stations Zuidplein and Slinge. Mainly the park is used for Sunday walks, biking and walking and during summers a barbecue with the family. It also households a few Rotterdam football and volleyball associations including: S.C Zuiderpark and Sportclub Zuiderpark.

The park also households several allotments garden complexes including VTV de Zandweg and VTV de Zuiderhof, which truly give you the feeling you’re in the middle of a nature park, and not just three minutes of the busy city center of South Holland. Most of the complexes in Zuiderpark are over 50 years old, it wasn’t until a few years ago that the municipality Charlois removed a part of a garden complex in order to enlarge the park it’s waterways for summer swimming and canoeing throughout the lake.

Throughout the park there’s several benches placed near the waterside, overall the park is kept pretty clean. The side of walking paths are covered with threes and green. When evening falls the park light system automatically turns on, all though it’s not covered all to well. It isn’t recommended to stay in the park after sun set if you have no business there.

On the north side of Zuidpark lies Ahoy Rotterdam’s biggest international entertainment center, used for pop concerts and  for instance pop concerts and sport events. There’s also an old church on the side of the park with a little deer camp. It’s allowed to feed the deers, most of the locals go there to feed them old bread with their children

Travelers to the Netherlands need a valid passport and visa. American citizens are allowed a stay up to 90 days without the use of a visa. Rotterdam is a city of size but it’s easy to get round, for a visit to Zuiderpark you can make use of a taxi from city center (about $30.00 US) or use the public transport subway (about $5.00 US). The most convenient time to enter the park is during daytime summer, from June till August.

These pictures date Saturday 31th of October 2009 Zuiderpark, Rotterdam

Euromast

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

The Euromast is a 610 feet tall “Space Tower” in the city of Rotterdam, designed by Hugh Maaskant between 1958 and 1960. The Euromast is a concrete building with an internal diameter of 30 ft, for stability reasons it has been built on a concrete block of gravity worth 4,2 million LB established underground. In the 70’s the Euromast lost its position as the tallest tower of Rotterdam which is why they decided to add an additional 279 feet. The Euromast is member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

Euromast is the height pride of Rotterdam, it’s visible from almost any point of the city. Besides the many tourists it attracts, locals are also delighted to visit as well. Who doesn’t want to eat at a height of 328 feet with a spectacular view on one of Europe’s largest harbors, the city of Rotterdam and the maas river bridges including Willemsbrug and Erasmusbrug.

Besides dining and breath taking views, there’s more things to do. For those who seek thrills, how about abseiling, Euroscoop or rope sliding right from the top of the space tower. Sometimes parties are being held in the Euromast, also you can go and rent the Euromast location for your own private party. But the main attraction today, is the hotel on top of the Euromast. Feel like you’re playing the leading roll in your own Hollywood movie, both the Heaven & Star room come with a bottle of champagne and a breakfast serviced at bed, and the biggest and highest balcony in Rotterdam is all yours, and yours only.

Because Euromast is one of the main tourist attraction in Rotterdam city you must purchase a ticket upon arrival, the ticket will cost €8.70 (about $13 US) per person. This will give access to go to up and enjoy the Euromast facilities.

Zuidplein

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Zuidplein and or Winkelcentrum Zuidplein is a large and fully covered shopping mall in the heart of Rotterdam South. The largest part of the shopping mall was designed by architect Hermanus Dirk Bakker and improved in the period 1962 till 1972, most recently added in between the period of 1993 and 1995 is the east wing which includes an additional 11 thousand square meter of shopping pleasure. Zuidplein is one of the biggest malls in South Holland.

The shopping mall Zuidplein includes a little over 160 stores in all sorts of formats, a couple facilities such as a nearby bowling ally and a gym inside the mall. In the main center of mall is an information point for any questions regarding Zuidplein, they can speak Dutch and English. Visitors can either park their car at one of the 1400 parking lots in the connected garage or simply access the mall by foot, bus or metro station Zuidplein.

Of course with more than 160 stores available you can fill up your day and wishes alone, but there’s more to it. In between the shops there’s several smaller restaurants in the middle of the main centers where you can order Dutch foods like “Pannenkoeken” or sandwiches with fries. One of the larger restaurants is Van Dijk with a view over Ahoy an on walking distance large international entertainment center for concerts and parties.

The shopping mall Zuidplein is connected to Rotterdam’s city most important public transportation owned by RET. The metro station Zuidplein is connected to the center of Rotterdam and Spijkenisse. It’s also an important connection point for buses to transport anywhere in the region of Rotterdam till Den Haag.

Zuidplein is opened everyday from 9:30 AM till 5:30 PM besides on Mondays the malls opens on 1:00 PM. Fridays are shopping nights till 9:00 PM. Sunday the stores are opened from 12:00 PM till 5:00 PM. On most Dutch national holidays Zuidplein is closed. Specialized and/or large stores may have different closing times, for example Saturn a department store for electronic devices is opened every working day till 9:00 PM.


These pictures date Sunday 25th of October 2009 Zuidplein, Rotterdam.

Rotterdam

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands with approximately 600 thousand people. The city forms the southern region of the Randstad, the 6th-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of around 6.7 million people. The city is located on the New Meuse river and stores one of the largest ports in Europe.

It’s name Rotterdam is derived from a dam in the river Rotte, in the 1260s. The city was bombed flat by the Germans in World War II. After that the city became a modern center of high rising apartment and company complexes. Symbol is the Euromast Space Tower, which is 328 feet tall after several extensions. The tower has restaurant on the top so visitors mainly locals as well tourists can get a fantastic city view. Another symbol of the city is the Erasmusbrug or sometimes referred to as ‘the Swan’, opened in 1966.

Rotterdam offers a lot of architecture and different museums. Examples are the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, the Kunsthal with different art exhibitions, The Netherlands Photo Museum and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen with Dutch and European art. If you like animals, you can visit Blijdorp Zoo. There are also a lot of places to go shopping in Rotterdam like Zuidplein the city largest mall. In February the International Film Festival, one of the largest in Europe, is held in this city.

The city of Rotterdam offers a vibrant nightlife with several areas such as the Witte de Withstraat, Wilhelminakade, Oude Haven and Stadhuisplein. Every where in the city there’s small cafe’s, bars, lounges and discotheques. A couple of better known nightlife spots are the Cafe de Witte Aap, Cafe Rotterdam, Club Vie, Holland Casino Rotterdam and Off Corso.

For more accurate information on Rotterdam visit www.GO4Rotterdam.com!

Travelers to Rotterdam need a valid passport and visa. American citizens can visit without a visa for up to 90 days. You can easily travel around by foot, bicycle or public transport. The best time of the year to visit the city is in spring or summer time.