"The city of high rise buildings on... " a Rotterdam Travel Page by annase

First thing you notice about Rotterdam is that the buildings in the city are rather modern and there are a wealth of high rise buildings - unlike in the centre of Amsterdam. The reason for this is quite simple: during the WWII, the German air force bombed Rotterdam, destroying the city almost completely. One of the few buildings to survive the bombing was The City Hall. The city was rebuilt in the years from the 1950s through the 1970s. It remained quite windy (well to be honest it actually still is extremely windy at times!!) and open until the city councils from the 1980s on began developing an active architectural policy. Daring and new styles of apartments, office buildings and recreation facilities resulted in a more 'livable' city center with a new skyline.

The city houses several of the tallest structures in the country. One of the most well know is probably the Erasmus Bridge, built in 1996 and named after one of the city's famous former inhabitants, Desiderius Erasmus. It is a 2,600-foot cable stayed bridge linking the north and south of the city. It is held up by a 138m tall pylon with a characteristic bend, earning the bridge its nickname 'De Zwaan' ('the Swan).

Rotterdam also has the tallest residential building in the country: the Montevideo Tower. The tallest office building, Delftse Poort, houses Nationale Nederlanden insurance company, part of ING Group. It is located right next to the Rotterdam Central Station is probably the first thing you see once you step out of station doors.

Not that these three buildings would not have been tall enough, there is also the 186m tall Euromast. It was built in 1960, initially reaching a height of 101m. In 1970, the Euromast was extended by 85m to its current height.

Rotterdam has a reputation in being a platform for architectural development and education through the Berlage Institute, a postgraduate laboratory of architecture, and the NAi (Netherlands Architecture Institute), which is open to the public and has a variety of good exhibitions on architecture and urban planning issues.

The city is built mostly on reclaimed land, behind dikes and therefore most parts of the city are actually located below sea level. Many areas around the city are about 6m below sea level, or rather below Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP) or 'Amsterdam Ordnance Datum'. The lowest point in the Netherlands (6.76m below NAP) is situated just to the east of Rotterdam.

Rotterdam has a wide selection of shops and unlike in Amsterdam's Leidsestraat, you don't have to worry about being hit by a tram(!), since many of the shopping streets are pedestrianised. The Lijnbaan shopping center was the first set of pedestrian streets of the country, and it opened in 1953. Other shopping streets include the Hoogstraat (lit. 'High Street'), the Coolsingel (near the city hall), and the Weena, which runs from the Central Station to the Hofplein Square. A modern shopping venue is the Beurstraverse ('Stock Exchange Traverse'), better known by the informal name 'Koopgoot' (lit. 'Shopping Gutter'), after its low-lying position, crossing Rotterdam's main street Coolsingel below street level.

Rotterdam has the largest port in Europe, with the rivers Meuse (Maas) and Rhine providing an access to the hinterland upstream reaching to Basel, Switzerland and into France. It is no longer the world's busiest port though, since 2004 the Asian ports such as Singapore and Shanghai have taken over. It was the sevent largest port in the world in terms of containers (TEU) handled in 2004.

The port's main activities are petrochemical industries and general cargo handling and transshipment. The harbour functions as an important transit point for bulk materials and between the European continent and overseas. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road.

In 1872, the Nieuwe Waterweg ('New Waterway') opened, a ship canal constructed to keep the city and port accessible to seafaring vessels as the natural Meuse-Rhine channels silted up. The canal proper measures approximately 6.5km from the western tips of its protruding dams to the Maeslant Barrier.

The port of Rotterdam now stretches over a distance of 40km. It consists of the city center's historic harbor area, including Delfshaven; the Maashaven/Rijnhaven/Feijenoord complex; the harbors around Nieuw-Mathenesse; Waalhaven; Vondelingenplaat; Eemhaven; Botlek; Europoort, situated along the Calandkanaal, Nieuwe Waterweg and Scheur (the latter two being continuations of the Nieuwe Maas); and the reclaimed Maasvlakte area, which projects into the North Sea.

The construction of a second Maasvlakte received initial political approval in 2004, but was stopped by the Dutch Council of State, which advises the government and parliament on legislation and governance in 2005, because the plans did not take enough account of environmental issues. On October 10, 2006, however, approval was acquired to start construction in 2008, aiming for the first ship to anchor in 2013.

Rotterdam is home to many multinational cooperations such as the Dutch half of Unilever, Mittal Steel Company N.V. (the world's largest steel company), Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, AIG, KPMG, CMG,Sodexho, Coca Cola Company, Cap Gemini, Ernst and Young, etc.

The Erasmus University has a strong focus on research and education in management and economics. The University is located on the east side of the city.