The Hague, Scheveningen, Rotterdam

Friday, 20^th July 2012 – Travelling – permalink

A friend of mine came to visit me to the Netherlands for four days and as she was never in this country I planned a lot of trips for this weekend. As this would be my last chance to travel before I leave Maastricht for some time, I also wanted to visit some cities I have never been to.

Me at the sea, source: my picture

Kate flew with Wizzair from Prague, so I was supposed to wait at her at the train station in Eindhoven at 8 a.m. Well, I set up only one alarm clock and switch it off subconsciously, so I woke up at half past 7 and realized that I had fallen asleep. I managed to catch a train from Maastricht at 8, so I got to Eindhoven just one hour later than planned. Kate was waiting for me already. We bought some breakfast at a nearby supermarket and then got on the train and spent slept for a while. Were we arrived at 11 a.m. to The Hague and our trip was about to begin.

The Hague

When we got off the train, it was slightly raining but stopped after a few minutes and slowly the sun was coming out of the clouds. According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be partly clouded that day. Better than any day in the last 2 weeks in Maastricht. I had only a vague idea what is worth seeing in the city, so we just walked there and there. The city was busy only in the shopping areas, but otherwise it was quiet which was a bit unexpected. The atmosphere there was nice and newly built up houses were not disturbing the old ones, like the city kept its look. Even newly built up skyscrapers near the train station are nicely composed into the overall view. We wanted to see the sea which meant walking about 3kms to Scheveningen. I should have printed this map for tourists, it would be very helpful, but my map in GPS was enough.

Scheveningen – Panorama, source: my picture

Scheveningen – Panorama 2, source: my picture

Scheveningen – Panorama 3, source: my picture

Scheveningen

People in Scheveningen, source: my picture

Scheveningen is a very popular holiday resort with a lot of hotels and shops. Long sand beach with cold water is great place to spend a warm summer day. I was eager to see it and Kate was also not at the sea side for some time. When we got to there, it was about 2 p.m. First we walked to a pier was a lighthouse and then along the sea to the pier that looks like a space station from sci-fi. You know, a tower and a few round buildings connected with tunnels .

It has been several years since I walked barefoot in the sand at the seaside for the last time. The sea was quite cold, but the waves attracted a lot of surfers in neoprene swimsuits. For my first time I saw somebody surfing on the waves in the real time. We also saw a few people playing it the water, but it was impossible to swim or stay longer without freezing to death. When I was in Oestende 2 months ago, the sea was so cold, that I could not even wet my feet. But today we walked even with knees in the water. It was nicely refreshing and fun.

Dutch specialty at McDonald’s saved us from dying of hunger. We sat in the sand at the beach and were observed by hungry birds who were coming closer and closer . We survived and went up to the pier that looks like space port. For adrenaline seekers there is a possibility of a bungee jump for 70€. I only walked up to the top to have a nice view and to take a few pictures. To get back to The Hague and train to Rotterdam, we took a tram. Ticket was 2,5€ for 30 minutes.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam, source: my picture

I suggested that we can seize the time and make a short visit in Rotterdam. As I didn’t want to take the last train in case something happens, we had 2 hours of time. First we walked to the town hall and then decided to go to the water again We took a tram and then walked along the river over some bridges back to the city center.

Rotterdam was destroyed during the second world war so you cannot expect many historical buildings like in The Hague. Nowadays it has about 600 thousand inhabitants which makes it second largest city in the Netherlands. The city has definitely modern look, sky scrapers and huge bridges create very specific view that you will remember. It’s definitely a place where architects have quite a free hand but as in The Hague you do not feel that the new and modern buildings do not belong there as you may have in other cities.

I also realized that I was here 4 years ago. I remembered the view, but I was unable to connect it to the name of the city. Back then I only had a few hours for the visit and I was raining half of the time. Today I could make pictures at the sunset.

The way we choose was longer than expected, so I took a train at 22:18 and arrived to Maastricht around midnight. It was very exhausting day, but I felt great about it. I haven’t travel for about a month as the weather was crap and I had to work a bit.