"Rotterdam - Ik ben een 010er!" a Rotterdam Travel Page by Airpunk

It is not the largest or the most beautilful city I visted. But it is the one which won my sympathies after just a few hours. Rotterdam is a city with slightly more than half a million inhabitants, but it has more international flair than larger cities (for example my current hometown Hamburg). It is (fortunately) not very well known as a tourist destination and may even have a negative image - indeed the song from "The Beautiful South" describes a quite negative scene of very superficial people. And modern architecture is surely not everyone's taste. Give it a chance! You'll have fun discovering nice old buildings between impressing modern architecture and enjoy a large bandwith of international food and drinks. The last comes from a mixture of people from over 100 nations. They may have different characters, but I can only talk in a positive way about the Rotterdamers I met: Open minded people and everything but superficial. And last but not least, you will get a contrast to Amsterdam.

Some facts about Rotterdam: It is the second largest city in the Netherlands with around 600 000 inhabitants. The name comes from a dam at the river Rotte. Since ever, the city has been well known for trading activities and its port which was the world's largest for a long time. Now, after the boom in Asia, it is "only" Europe's largest port... It is said that Rotterdam earns the money which is administrated by The Hague and spent by Amsterdam. Now, the city is a center of modern architecture with a very international population and an active cultural scene.

Rotterdam is full of surprises which are waiting to be discovered - Rotterdam is unique!

...at it's best. Rotterdam's skyline is not only dominated by simple skyscrapers. The city has some of the most interesting varieties of modern buildings and monuments, for example the Kubuswoningen and the Erasmusbrug. At the Kop van Zuid, a whole new district is being built where we can expect more architectural surprises. The building shown on the picture is one of the first you will see when entering the Kop van Zuid via the Erasmusbrug.