Rotterdam

placed in the category: Cities

Rotterdam is the second largest city in The Netherlands next to Amsterdam. It used to have the largest harbor in the world until 2004 when Shanghai took over. It is highly industrialized and commercialized, with more than half a million living in the city and more than a million living in the rural areas. It is surprisingly an elegant and modern city.

Rotterdam offers an array of tourist attractions, like its historical places, modern and pre-war architecture, beaches, its cultural heritage, its natural surroundings, shopping and a city center. It is the favorite place of creative people like designers, musicians, art school students and architects. It is best to visit Rotterdam during summer or spring as rather than during winte. Though it has an efficient transport system, you can get around the city by biking, and travel from one island to another through its water taxis. Rotterdam has a small airport servicing direct flights from Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. The airport is about 50 minutes away from Rotterdam Central by train.

Even if it has no known heart or core because the city was literally bombed away during World War II, Rotterdam has rebuilt itself. Proof is its architecture for which Rotterdam is known the world over-the City of Architecture. If Paris were to fashion, and Los Angeles to entertainment, Rotterdam is to architecture. It offers a mix of modern and pre-war structures. In one part of the city you will see impressive buildings built in the 20th century and in another part pre-war architecture the likes of the Huis Sonneveld and Van Nelle Factory and post-war buildings like the Cube houses, Groothandelsgebouw, the Luxor, the Kunsthal, and the Erasmus Bridge.

Some of the tallest buildings in the Netherlands are found in Rotterdam, like the Erasmus Bridge, a 790-meter cable stayed bridge that links the south and north of Rottrdam and is held up by 138-meter tall pylon; the Montevideo Tower, a residential building 160-meter high; the Delftse Poort, a 160 meter high office building; and the Euromast, a 186-meter building long been a major tourist attraction.

Together with London, Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw and Moscow, Rotterdam shares its standing in the best European Skyline. Rotterdam will host the Tour De France's Grand Depart of the 2010.