I had been traveling to London a lot for my day job and whenever I do so, my train takes me into London St Pancras Train Station. The platform I arrive on has a very low barrier separating my train’s arrival with the Eurostar’s departure. I watch, with great jealousy, at the travellers getting to go on their holidays while I am heading for a day in the office. After two years of watching with jealousy, I finally joined them! I decided to go to Rotterdam because I had never been before and because I wanted to visit Gouda to eat some gouda! Here is my blog post for things to do on a day trip.
The Trains
I had to arrive at St Pancras at 5:01am to make the 6:16am
train (3h16). I took the Eurostar 21 January London St Pancras 6:16am-10:32am
Rotterdam Central. I feel like the early time was not necessary but maybe I
felt that because, due to me arriving so early, I was able to escape any large
security queues.
The Eurostar itself was very comfortable. The WiFi/signal
was very bad and unreliable. While AI told me there would be USB chargers
available, there were not and it was UK plug and EU plug sockets. The charging
power was good enough for fast charging though.
On arrival at Rotterdam, I went just across the platform (no
barriers etc) to immediately take the train Rotterdam Central to Gouda
10:35am-11:08am (very impressive, considering the Eurostar arrived at
10:32am!). I had pre-paid for my anytime return ticket using the NS app. Just a
warning that my ticket was checked on the train and that there are barriers to
leave the station in Gouda so make sure you have bought a ticket!
Gouda
I really recommend a trip to Gouda. Especially midweek in January,
the only people I met were Dutch and everyone was speaking to me in Dutch,
which was nice, as a tourist. It was very quaint, with a lot of beautiful Dutch
architecture. Everything was in walking distance. Everywhere seemed to be a lot
cheaper than in Rotterdam. I much preferred Gouda to Rotterdam.
Markus Stroopwafels
On my walk from Gouda to the train station, I saw my first ever stroopwafel vending machine, which I thought was very cool! It was very cheap for gifts, with a standard pack of stroopwafel costing only £2.62.
Gouda Cheese Experience
My next stop was the Gouda Cheese Experience, where I
browsed the gift shop. Unfortunately, due to Foot and Mouth disease, there is
currently a £1000 fine for any cheese brought back to the UK so anything I
bought, I had to eat on my extreme day trip.
De Goudse Waag
Top on my Gouda agenda was eating cheese! I headed straight
to the Gouda Cheese Weigh House, De Goudse Waag. Unfortunately, due to it being
off season, they were not running any cheese tasting sessions that day. They
instead recommend I go to the Gouda Cheese Experience for a tasting but I had
other plans for my cheese-filled stop.
Stadhuis
I took a quick photo of the beautiful Stadhuis (the town
hall with red flags), still pretty despite the ongoing construction works.
Berg’s Bakery
Then it was time for the most important stop on my Gouda
trip, the gouda! I headed to Berg’s Bakery because I was hoping to join a make
your own stroopwaffel workshop (for less than €10!). However, due to it being
off season, they were not running them. The café was full of local people though,
which is always a good sign, so I went ahead and took a seat. I ended up
ordering a warm and gooey stroopwaffel as big as my head for around €3, as well
as “Gouds Momentje”, a giant cheese platter of 3 different types of cheeses,
cheese soup, cheese bread and a cheese croquette for around €13. The menu was
just in Dutch so I recommend having a translator app. Also the toilet situation
was a bit odd? I think customers were supposed to pay €1 to visit the toilet
but I didn’t have any change? I also can’t confirm this because the sign was in
Dutch.
Cheese Shops
I then had a wander around some cheese shops on my list.
Some shops I visited included: Kaaswinkeltje Gouda, Gouda Cheese House, Say
Cheese Gouda and Jeruzalemstraat. They were all located just a short walk away
from one another.
De Roode Leeuw
I ended my trip to Gouda by locating the windmill De Roode
Leeuw. I took some photos and then took the picturesque walk from the windmill
and along the river back to the train station, leaving for Rotterdam about 2pm.
Rotterdam
Instagrammable Spot #1
On arrival into Rotterdam, I headed straight for some pretty
views. It was around 30 minutes walk (but not a very beautiful walk- I
recommend taking public transport instead!) to the bridge Lage Erfbrug. There
were some views of some really nice buildings across the water “Historisch
bedrijfsvaartuig Spes. Rivierenklipper Gebouwd In 1906” on Google Maps.
Instagrammable Spot #2
From there, I recommend walking a short distance down the
water to the next bridge (at 51°54'30.3"N 4°26'54.6"E), where you can
see a windmill in the distance across the water. From there, you can cross over
and continue along the narrow island of the historic Delfshaven back to the
bridge Lage Erfbrug. This is by far the most beautiful spot in Rotterdam,
although I would say that Gouda is nicer.
Gnome Statue
I then walked 30 minutes to (again, I recommend taking the
public transport and not walking) the Santa Claus gnome statue for a quick
photo. From this point, the sights were a lot closer together.
Instagrammable Spot #3
Instagrammable Spot #3 was found in the form of Spanjaards
Bridge, where there is a pretty, big, white hotel.
Cube Houses
Just around the corner from Spanjaards Bridge was the Cube
Houses, which I had seen everywhere in photos of Rotterdam. I actually found
them less impressive in person though, because they are a lot higher in the sky
than I had expected.
Markthal
One place I definitely would recommend is Markthal, not only
is it a great and diverse food hall but the building is very impressive too. As
a peanut butter lover, I was really happy to see De Pindakaaswinkel there, a
place on my Amsterdam list which I could instead cross off while I was in
Rotterdam.
Bram Ladage
Talking of peanut butter, one thing I was really keen to try
while in Markthal was Bram Ladage. This fries-by-the-cone fast food stall has
the Dutch classic of mayo, peanut sauce and chips. I’m not a mayo fan though so
just opted for patat pinda (fries and peanut sauce). If you’re wanting to avoid
the peanut butter, pindasaus means peanut sauce. It reminded me of a satay
sauce, rather than peanut butter, it was thick, goopy and peanutty but there
was a very very mild spice to it.
The Trains – Round 2
I walked from Markthal back to Rotterdam Central Station for
my train back to London St Pancras, ending my extreme day trip. I arrived a bit
early actually- I probably could have gotten away with taking the train before
the one I took. I had to arrive at the station for 6:43pm for my 7:28pm to
9:57pm (3h29) Eurostar. One thing to note is the barriers did not open for me
at Rotterdam to let me through to the Eurostar. But there is an info box to the
right of the barriers. I pressed the button to use the intercom and the people
let me through. I do not know why it didn’t work? I did book my Eurostar ticket
through Uber so it could be that or it could be because I was a little early.
I also found it a bit confusing at Rotterdam Central
Eurostar Station. You arrive on the station platform where the train arrives
but you got into a small room for security and passport control. From there,
you go up some stairs to a holding area. You stay in the holding area until
they make an announcement on the speakers. Staff will then escort everyone in
the holding area back down the same stairs (that you have just only gone up) to
go back to the station platform (the one before security and passport control).
What I am trying to say is stay in the holding area until you are told
differently- there is no need to rush downstairs before the announcement.
And so ended my extreme day trip to both Rotterdam and Gouda
in a day!
Spend
- Eurostar £58 (Black Friday sale)
- Return train Rotterdam to Gouda £11.55
- Bergs Bakery (food) £19.19
- Bergs Bakery (gift) £4.47
- Markus and Markus Strrop (gift) £2.62
- Peanut butter £17.44
- Bram Ladage chips £4.37
- Total £117.64
- Euromast for nice views of the city. It was closed at the time of my visit (again, not the best place to go to off season!)
- Kinderdijk for many pretty windmills. You take Waterbus Number 21 (again, not operating due to the off season) from Rotterdam – Erasmus Waterbus Stop to Kinderdijk, Molenkade for ~25 minutes
- 25 minutes by boat from Rotterdam – Erasmus Waterbus stop. To get to Kinderdijk, Molenkade you’ll need to take waterbus number 21.
- If still hungry, even after Markthal, I would go to Fenix Food Factory or the Foodhallen Rotterdam .
