Say Cheese

This evening we've parked in a car park in Gouda together with a dozen or so other MH's.

 

When in Gouda... it would be rude not to sample the cheese.

The blue "lavender" cheese tasted weird.

Nieuwport

After lunch we've come to visit the city of Nieuwport which is one of tiniest cities we've ever seem. We walked around the perimeter in about 10 mins.

 

The town hall dates from 1687 and was built over the canal.

The entire city is surrounded by the original fortifications which were designed to keep the French out.... needless to say we didn't tell them we'd arrived!

The northernmost gate in the city walls can be closed if needs be to prevent flooding.

Kinderdijk

We woke this morning after a very stormy night and were surprised to discover we were still parked in Maassluis. The wind and the rain last night were rocking Kiki like she was on the sea, not parked next to it! 

 

First stop today is Kinderdijk to visit the UNESCO Windmills.

Built around 1640 it looks like most of the windmills are actually occupied by families!

There are nineteen windmills in total. Apparently they had to keep adding them to keep up with the changing water levels as the reclaimed land shifted over time.

Emma tries on some slightly oversize footwear...

The modern day alternative to the windmills - massive Archimedes screws powered by some equally large diesel engines. Of course, the engineer was fascinated....

The Sun is Shining at last

Heading back to Kiki we had to wait whilst some boats came into Maassluis. In this picture you can see the road bridge has lifted and the railway bridge has swung out of the way. 

 

Our view tonight from Kiki - there's still a cold wind blowing (more about that later) but its nice to see the sun at last. We spent a pleasant few hours watching some massive boats entering and leaving the port of Rotterdam before settling down to watch a film.

Random Sculpture

Coffee anyone?

What is the gnome holding? 

Naughty doggy

 

Rotterdam

After a bumpy night - remember that bit about Kiki and the North Sea! - we headed into Rotterdam on the local train.

 

We think this is a car park!

Apparently this is "Constructivist" art - it'll be nice when it its finished.

The library with the aptly named "pencil" building to the side. 

The very cool marketplace - it looks hollow from the distance.

Someone was fascinated by the flowers in the rotating doors

Some of the beautiful stalls inside the market - we ate lunch from the free samples!

Yummy!!

Cube shaped apartments designed by P. Blom

  

 The "white house" - one of the few buildings to survive the bombing of Rotterdam in WWII

Old Dutch barges

Erasmusbrug

The 185m high Euromast

Delfshaven has many original buildings. The Dutch Pilgrim Fathers left from here for America in 1620.

Sign of the Day

Amidst great fanfare we present the return of "Sign of the Day"

Maassluis

After leaving Brielle we made our way around Rotterdam to a free MH parking place at Maassluis. 

 

En-route we had to stop because the road (and the railway track alongside) had disappeared into the sky. This was one of the many lifting bridges we have seen in NL.

Kiki parked up for the night  at Maassluis - behind her is the main waterway into Rotterdam and beyond that is not very much before the North Sea..... 

Brielle

We had heavy rain again this morning so we had a late start whilst I updated the blog - at last I hear you say!

 

After lunch we headed north out of Zeeland and into South Holland. Our destination was the old fortified town of Brielle. Upon arrival we discovered that the car park had height restrictions which mean we couldn't get in. Fortunately, we had spotted a car-sharing car park a short distance from the town. As it's Sunday, it was empty so we parked there and walked the 1.5km or so into Brielle.

 

The original fortifications surrounding the town are still intact as can be seen in this aerial view.

 

 

After our walk in torrential rain we arrived to find one of the locals looking hopefully at the sky - we keep getting told "it was nice last week"..!!

 

The old harbour

The rain stopped and Emma's jeans are starting to dry out!

 

Some of the original fortifications.

Zierkzee

Sadly, the sunny weather we had yesterday didn't last so we abandoned our plan to use our cycles to visit Zierkzee. Instead we've left the campsite and driven to an aire which is conveniently located within walking distance of the centre on Zierkzee.

Zierkzee contains 558 listed buildings - some of which are listing!

 

The old harbour.

A lifting bridge in front of a city gateway.

 

Selfie pic

 

One of the three remaining city gateways

There are lots of unique houses - this one was particularly pretty.

The old town hall. 

A few of the shops featured live models!

Recreatiepark Klaverweide

We're spending this evening on a campsite called Recreatiepark Klaverweide which is at Ellemeet on the island of Schouwen Duiveland.

Enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.