After an overnight sailing from Southampton we entered a long narrow (about 500 meters wide) shipping channel leading to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This is the world's busiest sea port. We cruised for 3-4 hours through petrochemical plants, industrial parks, granaries, and wharves/ jetties amidst hundreds of ships and barges of all sorts. Finally we arrived at the city of Rotterdam. Once more the cruise terminal was located in the centre of the city. Most of Rotterdam was destroyed during World War 2 and consequently there are little to no old buildings or architecture remaining. The city engineers have however done a fine job of standing Rotterdam apart from many of its contemporaries by adopting a modern eclecticism in the design for many of the city's buildings. Everywhere there are quirky, unusually designed buildings - a number of which I've photographed for my blog. We hopped off the ship and headed for the local water bus stop where we caught a boat to the village of Kinderjik about 25 kms from the city. Located here in the countryside are 19 historic Dutch windmills. Constructed nearly 300 years ago, these wonderful old structures originally housed wind-driven pumping stations used to drain the water from a huge area that would otherwise have been unusable for farming. Much of the Netherlands lies below sea level and water management has thus been a preoccupation of the nation for hundreds of years. The work of the windmills was gradually replaced by steam powered and then electric powered pumping stations from the 1920s onwards. Although no longer operating, the windmills have been retained as a vital reminder of the country's history. The location is now a UNESCO world heritage site. We were able to enter one of the windmills that has been reinstated to show how the original wind millers and their families lived. Many of the windmills are now lived in as regular homes and we saw residents out doing their gardens, kids playing and so on. We ambled along a canal side path that took us to various of the windmills and I have to say the whole affect was quite enchanting. Being in the sunny quiet of the countryside helped of course, but having these majestic old structures as a backdrop added a magical feeling to the afternoon. My camera got a real workout. After an ice cream and some delicious Dutch pancakes we jumped on another water bus and headed back to the city to continue our visit to Rotterdam. We eschewed use of the public trams in favour of walking around the city centre so we could check out the sights up close. There is a block of cubist houses that are really out there. You'll see a couple of photos in my blog of these very unusual structures - they are the yellow ones. I can't begin to imagine what they are like inside. The new central market in Rotterdam is a real draw card for tourists and locals alike and we joined the throngs visiting it. It's housed in a huge shed structure that also doubles as an apartment building. Hard to explain but take a look at the pics I've posted. Like Amsterdam where we visited in 2015 Rotterdam has a phenomenal number of cyclists who use specially designated lane ways. It's quite funny to also see mobility scooters tearing along these. We enjoyed a late afternoon snack at one of the many restaurants in the central market and then wandered back to the ship, quite content to put our feet up and have a drink after all the walking we'd done. It was lovely sailing out at 10 pm just after sunset with the glow of the day still in the sky and the lights of the city in the background, thus ending our day in Rotterdam. All up a delightful day. Cheers now