. We spent a night in the city on Wednesday 10 September. Five days later, after visiting
, we stayed two more nights there before our return to the UK.
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| View towards Rotterdam Centraal station from Hotel Teleport |
There are some pleasant streets with older houses in the
Provenierswijk neighbourhood immediately north of the station. A stretch of
Provenierssingel canal runs from near the station to Schiekade, where we stayed at
Hotel Teleport. This is surrounded by greenery and makes a pleasant walking route.
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| Flat white coffee and cinnamon bun at Booon |
We found a good neighbourhood place for coffee and pastries at
Booon, Proveniersstraat 31, which we visited on all three mornings while in Rotterdam.
Arriving from London after 9pm, nearly two hours late due to a technical fault with the original train, it had been too late for a meal at
The Harvest, Proveniersstraat 36a, on our first night in Rotterdam. However, we did enjoy 'bowl' meals there with beers from Kaapse on our return to the city.
The drinks list includes
Budels Pilsener (€4.50) and four 33cl cans from Rotterdam-based
Kaapse Brouwers (€6.75) including
Jerom, an 8.2% ABV Gluten Free 'classic Belgian Tripel ... brewed with our own Gerse Barley'.
Cafe Walenburg
We visited
Cafe Walenburg on the Tuesday and the Wednesday after returning to Rotterdam. Tuesday's approach on foot was from Centraal Station and the banks of Spoorsingel, passing the
Hoevebrug footbridge and a willow tree before reaching the beer cafe's corner location on Walenburgerweg, beside
Brouwerij Hoevebrugsch.
There's an A-board outside with draught beer details chalked up. Inside there are two blackboards above the bar with draught beers on the left and bottled beers on the right. There are stools at the bar and some high tables near the entrance with more comfortable seating and lower tables further inside. On this visit most customers arriving sat outside but it was busier inside on our Wednesday visit, later in the day.
Between the Ladies and Gents toilet doors is a framed poster for Cafe Walenburg and the brewery sign for Hoevebrugsch, which describes itself as 'the smallest fully operational brewery in the Netherlands'. A blackboard on a shelf lists beers from Rotterdam and snack options. The three local breweries stocked are Hoevebrugsch (of course),
Noordt and Cockroach Brew.
Cafe Walenburg is only 500 metres and a pleasant walk from Rotterdam Centraal (North side) so head there if you have time to visit at least one bar!
Station Bergweg
Station Bergweg is a closed railway station on the
Hofplein Line. It is located on the Hofplein viaduct above the intersection with Bergweg in the Noord district.
The rebuilt station, opened in 1960, has since been repurposed as a
food hall with a bar. Inside, there are station clocks and indicators, underneath the former eastern platform, as reminders of it's former purpose.
We enjoyed local beers, including Spelt Saison (6.8% ABV, 20cl, €5.10), from the
EuroBrouwers bar (NB moving to a new location) and Japanese meals in a bowl from
Ramen Nikkou here.
Brewpub Reijngoud
On each occasion we were lucky to be welcomed by Dylan who was happy to give us tasters of the beers brewed there and arrange a late meal for us on our first visit. A Corkman, he complimented other local brewers including
Cockroach Brew which he explained was named after an insult that Ajax (Amsterdam) football fans use for Feyenoord (Rotterdam) fans.
Tim's first beer in the Netherlands was
Je Bennie Weiss! a 'not so traditional' wheat beer dry hopped with Mandarina Bavaria. If you like a wheat beer on the sweet side then this 6% ABV draught beer for €4.80 can be recommended.
Tim's second beer on our first visit was a Reijngoud Zuurbier - Bosfruit Berliner Weisse (above left). Dylan had let us sample two draught sour beers and this was the cherry version with a red tinge which wasn't too sour. The other one is the passion fruit version and this was ordered on a subsequent visit.
From our table to the left of the bar we could see through a gap made in the concrete upright past the main bar and the smaller Reijngoud bar through to the brewery beyond.
Looking towards our table from the bar area you can see the kitchen area on the right, a blackboard with beers listed on the concrete upright and further back is another table near the toilet entrances with plenty of green plants to contrast with the mainly industrial style.
Zoho, Regentuin, Luchtpark & Luchtsingel
When passing Brewpub Reijngoud on Tuesday afternoon it was interesting to discover nearby interesting spaces and structures. Opposite is a distinctively decorated building with a
ZOHO sign above that takes its name from this Zomerhofkwartier (Summer Court) neighbourhood which is destined to become Rotterdam's Maker Quarter.
The Brewpub is situated under some wide arches of the viaduct of a disused railway line (known as the
Hofpleinlijn) that ran north from nearby
Station Hofplein to Station Bergweg and beyond. This viaduct was known as the
Hofbogen. A little south from the Brewpub is a green area with new planting beside the viaduct and a large sign that gives information about
Regentuin (Rain garden), a Life Urban Adapt project to reduce the amount of rainwater flowing into sewers and reduce the effects of climate change.
Further south, the viaduct ends at the former Station Hofplein. A Hofbogen project was to transform the former station and viaduct into a 2 kilometre
Luchtpark, an elevated green park, however access has been closed since November 2021 due to 'widespread vandalism and violence'.
However, the steps at the southern end of the viaduct do still give access to
Luchtsingel, an award winning wooden bridge which crosses the railway line into Rotterdam Centraal after it emerges from the
Willemsspoortunnel (1993) under the Nieuwe Maas.
Central Rotterdam
The central part of the city has been extensively redeveloped since WWII when it suffered bombing damage on 14 May 1940 during the
Rotterdam blitz. The
Grote Kerk / Sint-Laurenskerk and the
Stadhuis Rotterdam - City Hall are two buildings that survived.
On Tuesday 16 September we must have looked like tourists, on our first venture south of Rotterdam Centraal, as a man approached us and earnestly suggested that we visit to the courtyard garden of the Stadhuis / City Hall. The photos above prove we took his advice and visited a day later.
Open to the public in daytime it is a quiet green space with several artworks including a series of dark panels '
Jewish Monument' (1967) by Loeki Metz, a graphic record that more than 12,000 Rotterdam Jews were deported after
15 July 1942.
Around Oude Binnenweg
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| Mauritsweg from Westersingel + 'Santa Claus' by Paul McCarthy + Oude Binnenweg looking east |
An area just north (Mauritsweg) and east (Oude Binnenweg) from the
Santa Claus sculpture in Eendrachtsplein has several beer bars and more character than the main central shopping area.
We didn't have time to visit
Kaapse Maria or
Trots Bier in Mauritsweg or Cafe Timmer in Oude Binnenweg on this trip.
However, we did visit
Melief Bender, Oude Binnenweg 134, near Mauritsstraat crossing, 'the most beautiful and oldest cafe in Rotterdam'. The pub dates from
1876 and there are sepia photographic portraits of H J Melief and his wife Helena Bender behind the bar.
The beer tap list included Affligem, Heineken and Paulaner. Smaller Dutch breweries featured were Noordt and Brand.
There is table service and we found a table on a raised level at the back of the dimly lit pub which was not busy at 2.45pm. Tim chose draught
Noordt Pomelo IPA, brewed in Rotterdam with a grapefruit flavour.
Bar restaurant
Sijf is just across the street, at the corner with Jacobusstraat. The A-board outside listed 'Sijf's Wisseltaps', the guest tap beers. These included: Noordt NXP No. 30 - Beetroot & Passion Sour;
Guilty Monkey Jungle Juice Milkshake IPA;
Oedipus Thai Thai Tripel and
Kompaan Mango Daze. Unfortunately, it seemed rather busy and stuffy inside so we didn't stay for a beer.
Around Witte de Withstraat
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| 'Guard' (2005), Hans van Bentem |
Westblaak, a wide road with many traffic lanes marks the southern end of Eendrachtsplein and the next parallel road south is
Witte de Withstraat, one way and lined with bars, restaurants and art galleries. The
Guard sculpture stands in the pedestrian gap between traffic lanes on Westblaak at the junctions with Mauritsstraat to the north and Eendrachtsstraat to the south.
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| Inside De Witte Aap |
De Witte Aap at 78 Witte de Withstraat is on a corner with Eendrachtsstraat where there's a row of bicycle parking stands and murals on both sides of the street.
Inside it's dimly lit with chandeliers and candles on the few tables as the room is mainly open except for the curved bar against the outside wall and set back from the entrance. The inside walls have large mirrors. Most customers were outside under an awning over the front window and we were able to choose an inside table in the front corner, looking towards the entrance which has a large white ape figure above it.
Proeflokaal Reijngoud is about 300 metres further east along Witte de Withstraat, on a corner at Schiedamse Vest 148. 'A no-nonsense beer cafe' that has been open since 2012 and serves 20 beers on tap and over 200 in bottles.
Arriving at 10.45pm on Tuesday, we found a table inside on the ground floor, quite near the entrance where there's a beer fridge. The bar is at the back of the room and there's further seating on two levels at the far end. There was funky music playing again and screens showing football. Tim enjoyed Reijngoud Helemal Leipa (€5.30) a 6.5% ABV Juicy NEIPA here.
Leaving at 11.30pm, it only took a short walk down Schilderstraat to get a photo looking towards historic
Leuvehaven with lights and cranes by the quayside.
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| 'Cascade' (2010), Atelier Van Lieshout + Stadhuis Rotterdam |
Walking north we passed the
Cascade sculpture, featuring 18 oil barrels, crossing Westblaak before continuing on Coolsingel and passing the illuminated Stadhuis. Further north we crossed under the main railway line and reached Hotel Teleport before midnight.
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| Oude Kleine Loopbrug + Meentbrug + RiF010 |
On a grey Wednesday, after coffee and croissant at Booon, we ventured south and visited the courtyard at Radhuis as suggested. From there we spotted
Brewdog Outpost and then walked south beside Delftsevaart covered in green algae passing
Oude Kleine Loopbrug and
Meentbrug before turning west when we reached Steigersgracht which is now enabled for surfing at
RiF010 'the world's first surf pool in the middle of a city'.
The plan for our only full day in Rotterdam was to see the iconic
cube houses (kubuswoningen) designed by Piet Blom. There is a
Kijk-Kubus museum house but there was a queue to enter so we passed by. Located near
Rotterdam Blaak Metro and railway station, the southern edge of the development overlooks
Oude Haven.
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| Views from Jan Kuitensbrug: east to KoningsPoort + west to Wijnhaven |
To reach Willemsbrug from here we crossed the
Jan Kuitensbrug, a bascule bridge, and then passed the gates to historic
Koningspoort wharf at the south end of Oude Haven.
South of the river
The river
Nieuwe Maas is a distributary of the river Rhine and a former distributary of the river Maas (Meuse). Looking west from the middle of the Willemsbrug, you can see the Erasmusbrug, the
Euromast on the north bank you may also see a the top decks of a cruise ship moored on the south bank.
From our table inside we had a view past concrete pillars to the bar. Tim's glass holds Kaapse Karel a 4.5% ABV session IPA (€4.60) and this was followed by Kaapse Koncept Lies 4.7% ABV Belgian Blonde style (€5.40). We enjoyed friendly and helpful service here from 2.15pm on a Wednesday.
Boards hung on a steel mesh give details of over 20 draught beers and bottled and canned beers can also be chosen from shelves and a fridge.
Looking towards our table from the bar area you can see the kitchen area on the right, a blackboard with beers listed on the concrete upright and further back is another table near the toilet entrances with plenty of green plants to contrast with the mainly industrial style.
