On my 6th day in Netherland, I planned to visit Kinderdijk and explored Rotterdam. The night before, I visited Den Haag for one day. I was so sad my journey in Netherland was about to end. However, I still had 14 days in Europe. After Netherland, the plan was to visit Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and last but not least Austria. In this post, I will detail my experience in Kinderdijk Windmill Farm and Rotterdam.
Table of Contents
Kinderdijk
There are lots of Windmills Farm in Netherland, and when I searched to find which one is the best, Kinderdijk and Zaanse Schans came up. I knew Zaanse Schans was quite popular and most likely getting overcrowded by Tourists. Therefore, I chose Kinderdijk.
How to Get There
For the past two days, I stayed in Rotterdam. My journey in Netherland basically cover the North Netherland and South Netherland. I based myself in Amsterdam for four days to make it easy in exploring the Northern Part, and I stayed in Rotterdam for two days to be efficient in reaching the Southern Part of Netherland. The journey from Rotterdam to Kinderdijk takes about half an hour by private car and 1 to 1,5 hour by public transportation.
I got up early in the morning around 6 and arrive at 8 am by bus. You can take bus 489 (QBuzz, 2 times per hour) from Rotterdam Kralingse Zoom station for 50 minutes ride. The service starts on 7:13 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You can also use bus 316 from Dordrecht Railway Station. From Amsterdam, you can take train service to Dordrecht Station and continue using Bus #316 from there (source: wikivoyage and moovitapp)
Kinderdijk History
The area of Kinderdijk is under the sea level. Hunters and fishermans visit the area only in summer when the water level is the lowest. When the first settlers arrived, they had to find a way to pump the water and rainwater out. Around 13th century, systems of ditches and watercourses was used to lead the water from the polder to the low point at the western tip of the area. That point is Kinderdijk. A set of four sluices – two for each Water Board – let the water flow out into the river at low tide. Every year, more power was needed to keep draining the water from the polders out into the river. Over the following centuries, trial and error leads to continued improvement of a system using windmills and pumping stations.
From 1868, two steam-powered pumping stations were built to help the windmills carry out their difficult job, as the old giants of Kinderdijk bravely kept to the task at hand. In 1924, the steam pumps were replaced by a diesel-powered pumping station, with even greater power and capacity.
The Experience
By far, Kinderdijk is my best windmills farm experience so far after Zuiderzee Museum. It has 19 windmills in the area of over 800 acres. When visiting in the morning, the area is still empty from visitors and has the fresh crisp air, suitable for biking or walking.
With the vast area, it is best to enjoy Kinderdijk by biking. I walked around the area and it was one of the best walk in Netherland. However, please do pay attention to mosquitoes and other bugs. Use repellent and sunblocks when visiting the area. Some of the windmills are open to visitor, make sure visit each windmills to read the history and see some of the historical antiquities, heritage items from 13th century.
The entrance ticket cost 15,5 EUR (includes access to museummills, sail along the windmills, as well as audiotour via the app)
Rotterdam Day Tour
It was hard decision to explore Rotterdam in just one day since the city has too many to offer. These are few beautiful places that I managed to checked out that day.
Euromast
This is one of the famous landmark in Rotterdam, a viewpoint where you get to see Rotterdam’s beautiful landmark from the heights. Euromast was built in 1960 and has 100 meters in height. Nowadays, its antenna spire is 184,6 meters height, and the roof 104 meters height. Euromast panoramic lift enable visitors to get 360 degree view of Rotterdam on a different level. The panoramic lift is called Euroscope, a rotating lift that carry passenger up to the height of 185 meters.
The entrance ticket to euromast is EUR 10,5, and at the time of writing, the opening time is 11 am to 9 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, and to 10 pm to Friday. And then from Saturday and Sunday, it opens from 10 am to 10 pm. You may want to check the official website for more updated information.
Museum boijmans Van Beuningen
It’s not #travelwithasana if no museum were visited ;). Boijmanns Van Beuningen has 1700 private collectors who have gifted no fewer than 50,000 objects in almost 170 years since the day of its establishment in 1849. The Museum’s name comes from two important collectors: Frans Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen.
I selected this museum because I wanted to see Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Room. However, I love almost all of the contemporary art exhibition in this museum. Don’t forget to check Museum’s garden as it has surprising exhibition as well. For visiting information (opening hours and admission fee, please visit its official website)
Delfshaven
Delfshaven is an area within Rotterdam with historical background. It gives a glimpse of what Rotterdam looked like before the bombing during World War II. This part of this city includes some beautiful historical building along the canal. Some of the famous buildings are Pilgrim Fathers’ Chuerch (Pelgrimvaderskerk), city brewery De Pelgrim, and De Delft, a replica of an 18th-century warship. This area is only 15 minutes walk from Euromast and half an hour walk from Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Markthal Rotterdam (Market hall)
This place was suggested to me by a friend who lived in Den Haag, and I think this is one of the best suggested place I received about Netherland. Market Hall has a unique building, many food vendors with so many options to choose from.
The market stall opens from Monday to Thursday at 10 am to 8 pm, to 9 pm on Friday, and to 8 pm on Saturday, and from 12 pm to 6 pm on Sunday.
Overblaak Development
One thing that I love about travel to Netherland, is that I was able to see mind-bending architectural building almost at every corner. One of them is Kijk-Kubus Museumwoning, the very attractive buildings that inspired instagrammer at that time to take picture of it. The building was designed by Amsterdam-based architect Piet Blom and built between 1978 and 1984.
Overblaak Development was the last place I visited in Rotterdam before I hopped on a train to Antwerpen, Belgium. See you in Belgium!
