15 From Nieuwland to Rotterdam - Dikes, Windmills & City Feeling

After the storm in the night, I was lucky with the weather again, because the sun was shining in the morning and I enjoyed the route recommended by my host through the landscape covered with dikes and canals, mostly on straight cycle paths.

Actually, I wanted to continue along the Rhine, but it's wonderful to get route tips from locals and to have the freedom to decide spontaneously in the morning where and how to go on :)

Another highlight was waiting for me: The Kinderdijk World Heritage Site! These are 19 historic windmills or pumps in one place, which were used in the past to drain water and make agricultural areas usable. Today, however, the whole thing is taken over by modern electric pumps.

Apparently, the place is usually overrun by (Asian) tourists, but thanks to Corona, there was hardly anyone there and I could visit everything in peace ;)

After that, I continued to Rotterdam, where I stayed with Warmshowers people again.

The skyline of the city with quite a few modern skyscrapers made it immediately feel like a big metropolis to me, and in any other country, I would probably have been scared to move around there by bike - but not in the Netherlands :D There was a veritable highway with a passing lane into the city and even though I've been here for a while now, the impressive cycling infrastructure still surprises me over and over again! (By the way, I also learned from my last host that there are far more kilometers of cycle paths in the Netherlands than there are roads!!)

My two hosts were super nice, had already prepared a guest bed with towels and everything, and there was a delicious, lovingly prepared dinner on the sunny, small balcony. It turned out that both of them are studying or have studied Interaction Design and she works as a User Researcher for an exciting start-up. So, besides (bike) traveling, there was also a huge common topic and we could have had a great conversation for several days ;)

After dinner, during an extensive walk, I got to see and feel a lot of Rotterdam - because it was the first weekend when the local places were allowed to open their outdoor areas again. Since it was also a super warm summer evening, they were naturally bursting at the seams and there was a buzz of conversations and laughter everywhere :)

Back in the apartment, there was tea and cookies and more exciting stories about a one-month bike tour in Norway.

At the risk of repeating myself: Another wonderful day, on which I fell into a soft guest bed with a happy grin ;)