Day 22 - From Amsterdam to Rotterdam to Ghent

Today, we said goodbye to Amsterdam and headed towards Belgium. But before we crossed the border, we decided to make a short stop in Rotterdam. I suggested this stop because it is mentioned in a song by the group 'The Beautiful South', so I didn't have high expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Rotterdam is an incredibly awesome city. Most of the city was completely destroyed during World War II, so many buildings have a very modern look. But what sets Rotterdam apart is its interesting and quirky architecture. Many of the buildings in the city center have a unique and modern design. While it doesn't have a charming old town like Amsterdam, one major advantage of Rotterdam is that it is not as crowded with tourists as the capital city, which is just an hour away. I highly recommend our first sightseeing spot in Rotterdam: the Markthal. It's a modern, large building right in the center. The painted ceiling and the architecture of the hall alone are incredible, but the best part is the countless restaurants inside the hall. There are local, Mexican, Spanish, French, Japanese, and many other international food stands. You can buy sweets, tapas, fruits, breads, fish, and meat. If you get thirsty, you can simply visit one of the bars and enjoy a drink on their rooftop. All in all, it's a place where you can spend hours. That's exactly what we did, and then we took a stroll along the pedestrian street before returning to the Markthal to have some sushi. I must admit that we didn't get to see the port (the largest in Europe). But since Rotterdam is definitely worth a second visit, we will make sure to visit the port next time.

For Jessica and me, it was time to continue to Belgium by car. It didn't take long for us to cross the border and drive on Belgian highways. But we wanted to get off and explore the countryside, so we took the side roads. We drove from village to village for a while, but they all started to look the same. After following a tiny gray bus for a long time, I overtook it and jokingly said, 'Eat my dust'. We laughed at my silly macho words. Due to road closures and detours, we ended up driving all over the country and eventually found ourselves back behind the same gray bus that I had ridiculed earlier. It turned out that we had been going in circles unnecessarily. Tomorrow, we planned to take the highway to the North Sea. But at that moment, tiredness overcame us and we started looking for a place to sleep - which was not easy. This area was different from the vast emptiness of the Scandinavian countries that we had grown accustomed to. Eventually, we drove onto a field road and parked in a curve next to a meadow where cows grazed. We knew that if we woke up early the next day, there would be no issues with our stay there.