A to Z of Balconies – Delft in The Netherlands

In December 2012 I took the Hull to Rotterdam ferry with my son and visited the charming town of Delft.

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On This Day – Holland or the Netherlands

I slept well for most of the crossing but woke early with a digestive system groaning under the weight of the unexpected quantity of food that I had forced into it at the eat all you can buffet and then at six o’clock there was a collective early morning alarm call over the ship’s public address system that announced that the ferry would dock in two hours time.

The ship was approaching Europoort which is an area of the Port of Rotterdam, the second largest city in the country, conveniently situated at the mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse and a network of delta channels.

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On This Day – A Mini Cruise to Rotterdam

In December 2012 my son, Jonathan, was due to come and stay with me for a few days and with the weather too bad for golf and with no imminent prospect of improvement I needed alternative plans, other than dynamite, that would get him out of bed by mid-afternoon.

Normally I take a low cost airline flight to a chosen destination but with a bargain price of £23 each for a return ferry crossing from Hull to Rotterdam this was too good an opportunity to miss so 4th December we boarded the Pride of Rotterdam ferry at the Hull docks.

Once on board we wandered around the maze of narrow corridors on deck ten searching among five hundred and forty-six identical looking cabins until we finally found our inner berth shoebox and after we had negotiated sleeping arrangements in a fair and democratic way I bagged the bottom bunk and let Jonathan practice using the flimsy aluminium ladder to get on top.

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Postcard From Delft, the Netherlands

After the cramped alleys and the narrow streets the Market Place was in complete contrast – a vast cobbled open space with elegant gabled houses, shops and bars.  The Renaissance town hall with its red shutters at one end and at the other the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) with its almost one hundred and ten metre tall spire (the second largest in the Netherlands after Utrecht) rising majestically into the sky like a needle.

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P&O Mini-Cruise – Hull to Rotterdam

Normally I take a low cost airline flight to a chosen destination but with a bargain price of £23 each for a return ferry crossing from Hull to Rotterdam this was too good an opportunity to miss. My son, Jonathan, was due to come and stay for a few days and with the weather too bad for golf then I needed alternative plans that would get him out of bed by mid-afternoon.

P&O Mini-Cruise, a Previous Visit to the Netherlands

It was slow progress out of Rotterdam on account of the rush hour traffic and Jonathan soon became drowsy and dropped off to sleep and while he dozed my thoughts went back to our previous visit in a very cold February 2004.

That had been our very first Ryanair flight and on that occasion we stayed in the capital at the Hotel Amsterdam on Damrak, right in the city centre and I inappropriately introduced him to the Red light District and because of the weather and the need to be indoors we visited some of the city museums.

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P&O Mini-Cruise, Delft – Vermeer, Explosions and Travel Plans

Art in the seventeenth century in Holland is known as the Dutch Golden Age and in Delft there was a school of painters, the most famous of whom was Johannes Vermeer and acting on the recommendation of fellow blogger Richard Tulloch (http://richardtulloch.wordpress.com/) one thing that I definitely wanted to do today was to visit the Vermeer House museum.

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P&O Mini-Cruise, Delft – Canals, Pottery and Cheese

A weak winter sun was shining through a veil of high cloud when the transfer coach dropped us off at Rotterdam central station and although I suppose it was rather rude we didn’t spend any time in Holland’s second largest city but made straight for the ticket office because we had plans to visit nearby Delft.

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P&O Mini-Cruise, Holland or the Netherlands?

I slept well for most of the crossing but woke early with a digestive system groaning under the weight of the unexpected quantity of food that I had forced into it at the eat all you can buffet and then at six o’clock there was a collective early morning alarm call over the ship’s public address system that announced that the ferry would dock in two hours time.

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Tulips to Amsterdam, Is It Holland or the Netherlands?

I slept well for most of the crossing but woke early with a digestive system groaning under the weight of the unexpected quantity of food that I had forced into it at the eat all you can buffet and then I remembered that at the time of purchase that we had got carried away and had also paid up for an all you can eat breakfast as well and that was something I didn’t really need right now less than eight hours after the previous feast.  

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