Windmills, canals, tulips – must see sights in The Netherlands! Pre year 2000 I actually had the opportunity for a couple short visits to Rotterdam, a province of South Holland in West Netherlands region. The scenery was everything & more than I could have dreamed of!

I had originally planned on flying to Hawaii to meet my daughter, Carrie, while her ship was in port. The Navy does what they do so at last minute they changed plans & so at last minute I changed ticket & flew to Holland to visit friends. Thankfully I was able to change tickets without a huge hassle or fee charge! That wouldn’t happen today but this was prior to 9/11 which we know changed everything especially flying. Anyway…

Highlights from my trip to Rotterdam!

Flight into Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Initially opened in 1916, the airport was used purely for military use but by WWI became civilian airport. This was not my first international trip flying by myself so I didn’t expect any surprises & all in all it was smooth. Two things that to this day are very strong photos in my mind still from the initial trip.

First, the day I landed in Amsterdam it was raining. If you know anything about Holland is that it has a lot of canals & water. As the plane was nearing touch down, I watched out the window saying a silent prayer to myself that the plane would stay on the tarmac & out of the water all around. The really awesome view of the fields of tulips in bloom was more than enough to put a huge smile on my face despite landing in rain. Just absolutely beautiful fields of various shades of pink, yellow, red tulips with tiny canals separating the fields with little boats docked here & there for the fields to be checked.

The other thing that made me a little nervous [only for a minute really] was the multiple police carrying what looked like machine guns with dogs all thru the airport. The dogs walked freely around the folks in the sitting areas waiting to board as well as around your feet in the baggage pick up area. I get why they did this & probably still do – it was a little unnerving being my first time around it.

Windmills, Canals & Tulips

Oh my, windmills were awesome! Although initially windmills were used for utilizing wind & water for energy, grinding mills, etc. most have been replaced with wind turbines. The 18th century windmills are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sights. The most common windmills seen today in Holland are the Kinderdijk.

Until I returned home & did some research I did not realize just how important the tulip has been to Holland. Seven million bulbs bloom in Lisse in the spring! My trip was in May so I now know why tulips were everywhere! Tulips originally grew in Central Asia & first cultivated by the Turks [Ottoman Empire]. The name comes from the Turkish work for turban. They were later introduced to Western Europe & The Netherlands in the late 16th century. For more interesting history, check this out.

For some fun facts about tulips here is a great site! Here’s a sample fact – did you know that the tulip & onion related?

Canals everywhere!

Over a quarter of The Netherlands sits below sea level so canals are a very important part of town planning. Although the canals play a huge part in controlling the irrigation & water removal from cities they also provide the ultimate transportation. There are various boats on the water in use as tour buses, restaurants, houseboats, etc. The most popular way to check out the canals is still in a boat tour but the larger canals have very nice walking areas as well.

There are three main canals designed for residential with a fourth outermost canal that was used for defense. Each of the three main canals have smaller canals that spider out forming a fan. Though there is hardly a neighborhood that doesn’t have a canal, Rotterdam on the other hand has the small harbors that I found fascinating with all the boats & colors.

To see what Rotterdam looked like prior to WWII you would need to visit the Delfshaven neighborhood on one of the inner canals that did not get devastated by bombing.

Erasmus Bridge

The Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam spans the River Nieuwe Maas had opened just the year prior to my visit. It was a beautiful bridge built from light blue steel with only one armed pylon that seemed to just throw out rows of cables across the water. The one pylon earned it the nickname of ‘the swan’ by locals. Truly a work of art in itself. I was able to walk across the fairly long bridge on the pedestrian crosswalk. Pretty awesome view looking out over the water! A must walk on your next trip to Rotterdam!

A Couple Other Must See Attractions in Rotterdam

• Cube House – The houses are yellow but the one I was most curious about sat alone at the end of the square & it was multi colored reminding me of a rubiks cube tipped on its corner? Unlike most of the Netherlands, Rotterdam was completely destroyed during WWII. With the rebuilding innovative architecture was used to create amazingly modern buildings. These houses are built on a concrete pillar & then tipped to a 45 degree angle. Very interesting story behind the creative thought process behind building of these houses.

• Summer Carnival Rotterdam – On the last trip to Rotterdam I hit the summer carnival in July ’99. What a trip! I stayed near downtown so was right in the middle of all the fun. The drums started beating Friday afternoon & the party didn’t stop until well after midnight on Sunday! Parades of costumes, bands playing next to each other on the square, food, drinks & last but not least folks rolling their doobies [ok it could have been cigarettes but I don’t think so] on benches as the Dutch police just walked around as if they saw nothing. Ha. I would imagine a lot has changed for the summer shenanigans now but I’m betting it is still a fun weekend!

Interesting Facts about The Netherlands in General

The Netherlands is the 67th most populated country with a population of 17.4m in 2020 & the 5th most populated European country! Having said that, Rotterdam is the second largest city in The Netherlands with 620,000 in 2015. One of the many things I did enjoy about Rotterdam was the diversity of people with 53% of inhabitants with Dutch origin that leaves 47% made up of many immigrant backgrounds. It was nice to see so many mixed couples out & about. As with any country nowadays, it is a continued effort to blend these multicultural numbers but Holland is working on it.

Since the land is limited & with the population as it is, Netherlands has been creative in obtaining more land for housing & agricultural needs. In 1927 they started poldering which is basically reclaiming land from the sea. The province of Flevoland was created by doing just that & is now home to 423,000 as of Jan 2020!

Travel Tip: Don’t be afraid to go out & adventure on your own! Europe has a great transportation system. I loved the underground train system!! I went to Bruges, Belgium for a one day trip with a Belgium friend, Yoke. We spent the day in Bruges walking along the sea wall & harbors, checking out more windmills & the architecture of the buildings. I even saw diamond sellers on the streets. Oh, another first for me was ordering a diet coke with ice while sitting out on a open cafe table at the base of this beautiful windmill with very warm temperatures…when the coke came I swear it had ONE ice cube in it. Yoke explained to me that most places do not have freezers so it is very rare that ice would be available. So I had a warm coke, lesson learned!

Bottom line, I hopped back on train at end of day [Yoke stayed in Belgium has she had to work next day] & I had no problem getting off at my correct stop & getting back to hotel. I had my stops written down so it was easy to follow the names on signs. If I had not had the gumption to go out on my own, I would have missed out on my one day in Bruges!

Happy traveling. I hope this got your juices flowing for a trip to Holland! Here is something to get you started!