Rotterdam

Last Whitsun. Russ  and I spent a week staying in the Hague. On the Monday, we caught the train to Rotterdam, about a half an hour journey. It was a bright sunny day, which gave the city a bright and cheerful look. The railway station was being refurbished, and it took a little while to find the information centre - it is just around the corner from the station, tucked into the side of the Engels Grandcafe Restaurant (whose toilets we made use of!). A very helpful chap gave us a map and booklet about Rotterdam, and a quick overview of the important parts of the city. It sounded good.
We  followed the Roming Rottedam signs, again found ourselves in the business end of town to sart with, and headed across for the shopping area.
One of the most interesting buildings was the cubic house, built over a road and tramline, and quite mystifying when you first see it. You are able to wander around parts of it, as it has a youth hostelin it, as well as private housing. It was good to be able to figure out how the building actually configured from the inside.

The docks at Rotterdam are glorious - the city comes right up to the edge, with office workers sitting at cafes along the waters edge having lunch, and the old harbour 'Oude Haven' maintained as a museum of old sailing ships - such contrasts so close together. The  'Witte Huis' or White House was the first skskyscraper in Europe, and ,at ten sttories high, is now dwarfed by the  new skyscrapers along the waterfront.
We sat and ate our lunch just beside a bridge linking the Waterstad island to the rest of Rotterdam.
Recovered, we headed for the Erasmus bridge, over the Nieuwe Maas, a huge river that has been the source of Rotterdam's trading wealth.
The river is 800m long, and was only built in 1996. It is huge! We admired it, but decided not to cross to explore the other side, as this '2 hour' walk had already taken 4 hours and we were only halfway round.

We entered the 'scheepvaartkwartier', the old district of Rotterdam, containing the maritime musem, including a wide variety of boats on the canals for you to wnader among. Towards the Euromast, we entered the museumpark, with several museums set in parkland. It looked as if a new underground carpark had recently been built, and they were busily replanting the gardens above. As it was Monday, all the museums were closed, much to Russ' s relief!
The old part of town that we walked back through was busy, full of cafes and bars - and the area back near the station was very multicultural.
It is said to have more than 150 nationalities - a good place to go for authentic restaurants.
Finally, about 6 hours after starting, we rrived back at the station, hot and bothered, but having enjoyed an excellent day in Rotterdam.
There are trains every 10 minutes, so in no time we were back in the youth hostel in The Hague, relaxing before another mammoth holiday adventure began the next day!

Strata Florida

Yesterday I went on a bus trip to Strata Florida - a ruined monastery in mid Wales - near Pontrhydyfendigaid. It was overcast with showers - not an auspicious day for a trip, but the weather was kind to us with only a very light shower while we explored the ruins and even some sunshine by the end of the day.
Having picked up more passengers in Kilgetty - including our most important one, a monk from Caldey Island monastery (the same order as Strata Florida was) who was to be our guide for the day- we drove into mid Wales. This took a couple of hours along narrow country lanes, but the bus driver was excellent, and we had a relatively smooth ride through countryside. The place names and signs became progressively more Welsh.

West Doorway of Abbey church

Although it was overcast, the archway of the entrance to the abbey still cast its spell. It is beautiful, and gives you an idea of how the building must have looked when complete. It must have been amazing to see it growing out of the rural landscape at a time when most buildings were wooden and single story.
Brother Gildas gave us a day in the life of a monk, moving from choir to chapter to cloisters. Unfortunately the dormitories have been built over by a seventeenth century farmhouse, but you get a good idea of the layout of the site.

An interesting feature is a stone-lined basin with steps either end, of unknown origins. Possibilities include a place for the ritual washing of the feet of the monks by the abbot of Thursday of Holy Week, or a pre-christian holy site included in the construction - it is not aligned with the rest of the church.

In the south transept, there are 3 chapels, as on the north but these are better preserved and have their original tiled floors - again beautiful detailed work.

Outside the Cadw-enclosed area is a lovely small parish church with an interesting stone positioned behind it - it looks like a gravestone but it has five small holes in it. Again, it is not clear what the origin is. It could be part of a prayer series on the five wounds of Christ, (2 hands, 2 feet and the side) but it does not follow the usual pattern...
After a lunchbreak spent companiably sharing a bottle of Maipo and investigating the layout of the monastery laid out in slate in the entrance courtyard, we piled back on the bus and headed for Tregaron. We called at the excellent Kite museum in an old schoolhouse and had some delicious tea and welshcakes. The museum displays a lovely tapestry made by local volunteers of Tregaron's history - indeed some of those volunteers were manning the museum for us.
After a pleasant hour exploring Tregaron, we headed back along the winding country roads for home.
An excellent day - thank you Tenby Civic Society!

A day in The Hague

Arriving in The Netherlands on a grey Sunday morning in May, we were ,as always, pleasantly surprised by the frequency of the Dutch railways, and caught a train to the outskirts of Rotterdam, and on to Den Hague HS sation with a minimum of waiting.

Following the excellent directions of the man in the ticket desk, we found the youth hostel, seeing the Stayokay flags flying over a canal first.

We were able to leave our packs in the luggage room and set out for a day exploring Den Hague.

What a varied place it was - even in overcast conditions it was a pleasure to wander around the different areas of the city centre.

Following the traffic - bikes, canal boats, trams, and even a few cars - we hit the modern quarter, with skyscrapers and wacky sculptures scattered around the squares. Next we found the refined, consular section, based around a grand open area, part park, part marketplace, edged with the luxurious Hotel des Indes, and the Escher museum - appropriately decorated.

Close by was the Binnenhof, the traditional heart of the Dutch government, and still containing the Prime Minister's offices today. It sits along the bank of a large canal. with fountain, looking like the royal palace it once was. You can wander in through the courtyards - we came across a local policeman parked up and chatting to an ice cream seller - strangely modern in such stately surroundings.

Having wandered for several hours now, we decided to start heading back to the youth hostel. This wasn't quite as easy as we thought- we found ourselves on the rough guide map but couldn't quite orient ourselves as the youth hostel was off the end of the map! We headed through the main shopping area - old department stores with tramlines running within inches - very disconcerting. Crossing the road involved looking out for bicycles and trams from all directions!

We gratefully drank free samples of Lipton's Iced Tea, and headed through Chinatown.

We were back into the residential area, canals lined with houseboats, and teenagers completing a series of activites in a park, raising money for something as far as we could tell.

Finally finding the hostel again. we claimed our room and collapsed for the evening!

Den Hague

My latest expedition was a while ago now - we spent a week at The Hague exploring South Holland.

I would recommend the Dutch Flyer as a way of getting across the channel - the trip was superb. It was easy to get the train from London to Harwich and you literally walk from the train station to the ferry terminal. The ferry was modern, comfortable and such a smooth ride that you had to go out on deck to check if we were moving or not.

Greetings

Maybe, just maybe I might get around to actually writing this blog after I get back from my holidays or even on my holidays. Just don't hold your breath!