Rotterdam → Kinderdijk: A Ph-erry Tale of the Holland Hug

When I was a child, growing up in India, I used to ask my mom to buy me this small, fat, egg-shaped chocolate called Kinder Joy. But I never really bothered to learn the meaning. Kinder means children. Kinderdijk - Children's Dike is the meaning of the name. Legend has it that after a terrible flood, a baby was found alive here in a wooden cradle, floating on the water. As fascinating as it sounds, it was not the name that attracted me. Nor was it the windmills. It was something else. Something beyond what a camera can show you.

If you Google Kinderdijk (please do so after reading the blog), you could see that no amount of what I am going to show you will justify what Kinderdijk is, and especially not with our smartphone cameras. It was here I felt, perhaps for the first time, truly frustrated by my smartphone's camera. Kinderdijk is pristine. Kinderdijk is elegant. Kinderdijk is magic. Kinderdijk is utterly graceful. This is what it is! It has a unique charm.

So, what makes Kinderdijk so elegant?

Let's find out but for that we have to pass through Rotterdam. Our journey started as usual with a selfie - yes, that one - in the lift. You know, a tiny bro-moment.

Lift selfie - Episode 2

We headed towards Rotterdam as Kinderdijk is accessible only from Rotterdam. Contrary to Amsterdam, Rotterdam is all modern. Modern ultra pro max (appeasing both Android and iOS users 😛). Rotterdam - a dam on the river Rotte. Rotte apparently is a small river in the Netherlands that I never read in my high school geography books for reasons unknown. So the dam was built where the Rotte river meets another river named Nieuwe Maas. So this is your etymology 101 for Rotterdam.

When we reached Rotterdam, I could see a visible difference between the capital and the 'vice-capital' (cricket lingo, sorry 😅). Rotterdam being the second largest Dutch city, it is completely modern. The case is so because the city faced a devastating bombing from the second world war, and they reconstructed the whole city. Rotterdam went on to become the largest port in the whole of Europe - impressive ❤️🤍💙.

I am a big fan of such places. The places that faced a backlash, and came back stronger. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Warsaw, Rotterdam to name a few (from my little History knowledge). The cities of resilience 💥. Salute 🫡.

Coming back to the modernity of Rotterdam, it was quite fancy. I got the same feeling I got when this Salem boy went for the first time to Chennai and flabbergasted (not showing off my vocab - this is the only word apt here), "Oh wow, what a city!". I happened to reexperience exactly the same but with several orders of magnitude stronger 😅. We just were able to see three places in Rotterdam - Markthal (Market hall, but in Dutch), cube houses (quite literally titled cubes), and the Erasmus bridge. All of them stunningly modern. We stayed in the Rotterdam for two hours only and it was already quite an experience. I couldn't capture the Markthal, but let me show you the cube houses (and the Erasmus bridge), but let me board the ferry first, wait 😉.

Cube houses - see how nicely cubical they are.

At the back of me is the Erasmus bridge - Sorry, travel blogging was not an idea back then, so I just wanted a photo with it 😅.

The Holland Hug - my peak Dutch moment

The Ph-erry moment is so special to me that I have to describe it to you before anything else.

Looking at the Dutch flag 🇳🇱 on the Ph-erry (ferry, but I will tell you later why I call it a Ph-erry), I went near it to have a selfie with it, which unfolded a magical moment of my life. It was the inauguration of my travel soul 😊. I walked near the flag, ready to snap the shot. My peak Dutch moment unfolded itself magically. And by unfolded? I don’t mean figuratively. I meant it quite literally!

As I raised my phone to position the frame, the Dutch flag 🇳🇱 curled itself around me 🥺. The moment felt so profoundly personal – like the Netherlands itself had come to hug me 🥺.

The Dutch hug. 🇳🇱🥺

This is my peak Netherlands moment. Nothing will ever come close 🥺. It felt like a Dutch mother embraced me, whispering: "There's more to see in this world, son". This photo cracks me open - harder and harder each view.

Dank je, Nederland 💚.

Honestly? I still can’t describe it. That moment—the flag wrapping me, the perfect shot—felt like winning. Pure. Pristine. I just..... connected. My gut screamed: "This IS your Netherlands. This is what the Netherlands means to you".

I don’t know if words do it justice. See, I usually edit my writing... but this time, I did not. Let this flow raw from my heart. Untouched. I’d be a heartless monster to "perfect" this 🙃.

Isn’t it wild? Your moment can unfold anywhere. Even mid-selfie, on a random ferry, surrounded by water. Seriously?

P.S. To you reading this... I hope you find yours too. ✨

A Ph-erry tale ride to Kinderdijk ⛴️

We got the tickets to the water ride and boarded the Ph-erry ⛴️. Ph-erry because we were literally photoshooting ourselves left, right, and centre 😅😂.

That is quite literally what we were doing. So much so that others started asking for clicks from us. A lady and a young guy (perhaps her son or a grandson, I suppose) who looked like they're from the Netherlands itself, a lady from somewhere in Southeast Asia, and a few people here and there. Calling it a ferry is an injustice. Let's stick to Ph-erry 😅.

Photos were our (actually my) only obsession 🙈.

As I was wearing this near-military-green jacket (Ajay’s, of course 🙈), bro was taking pictures of me and, mid-click, he said in a cheeky tone,

"Dutch soldier maadhiri iruka da 🪖" - Ajay

(You resemble a Dutch soldier.)

Can't blame him - I was wearing a near-military-green jacket with a Dutch flag!!!!!

Am I auditioning for the Dutch Military-tourist edition or what? 🇳🇱💂🏻 Let me show you the photo.

Vacancy, Netherlands? I am quite fit!

The Kinderdijk

We finally "landed" (well, I am coming from water 🤷🏻‍♂️) on the site, and dang, this is my first international UNESCO heritage site. After buying the souvenir (yes, will show you towards the end, at the usual souvenir spot of my blog), we started entering the site.

The place started like a small road passing through a road between two green fields. Then suddenly water began to glint. Then you see a little figure out there, a tiny 'mill' from far (they're not small at all, they just start appearing). The first one starts appearing. Then another one, then another one, and so on. You see windmills lined up so both sides with such a majestic grace.

This is basically how the path looked like - Greek, blue and the mill - majestic, isn't it?

Green, blue, water, and the mills!

A new place without a selfie? Not my thing! A selfie with the legendary mills 😉.

Why are these mills legendary? What makes these mills special? Why are they UNESCO recognised?

These mills are the water management mills of the 18th century. As you might have known, the Netherlands is 26% below sea level. So the mills basically were the survival tech of the 1700s and doing that at that time is just legendary impressive. The mills basically took the water that was waiting to devour the land and turned the land into fertile civilization. This is a race against gravity 💜.

It is quite astonishing to me to see such a set up back in time.

Kinderdijk built a civilization where the nature said "NO!". Again, a big fan 🛐.

My name is RAB - I am a Kinderdijk fanboy.

I cannot explain you what makes Kinderdijk great? Is it their green fields? Is it their blue - green contrast? Is it the monumental legendary high-status windmills? I really can't explain. The place has the vibe. The vibe is lovely can I say? Kinderdijk - a place with a constant inflow of tourists, in a vast green low-lying fields, with water "managed" by windmills of the 18th century, giving you a lush green, bright blue look. This is the maximum I can verbally give you 🥲.

This is my - 'The Kinderdijk photo'.

I'm sorry I will admit my inability to articulate the beauty of Kinderdijk which I knew right from the beginning when I started writing this post - that my writing can do no justice to the place whatsoever.

After roaming around the place for about two hours, we started our journey way back to the ph-erry (this time, it is philosophical ferry 🙈 - sorry 😂).

A Ph-erry tale ride back (but this time, Philosophical)

Way back, we had nothing but bro moments. Ajay was discussing how travel enhanced him, and how he evolved over time in travel. And so did I although this is the third day of my first ever travel. He is my travel hero, but more on that on Den Haag ('s-Gravenhage) appreciation post.

Fanboy moment - if that is not exaggeration ;)

It was nearly a quality hour of bro moment for us and a life enhancing experience. The Kinderdijk day is the day that showed me what a place can be to you when you enjoy the travel moments with someone who means something to you.

Finishing the day (and of course, SOUVENIRS)

After "landing" back in Rotterdam, I finally completed the singular pupose of coming to the Netherlands: getting an orange T-shirt (orange being the Dutch color) and prove to my future self that I’d been here 😂. Seriously, this was my sole mission entering the country 🙈—score an orange "The Netherlands" tee and snap an iconic photo. Mission accomplished! (Okay, it actually says "Holland," but close enough 😉). Tell me how it is in the comments!

I wanted to buy only this and nothing else. Buy an orange Tee, get a nice photo and come - this was my only Dutch goal, and look where we are here!!! Life is insane!!!

Now, my legions of avid readers (let's laugh together) are surely asking: "RAB, where’s the SOUVENIR?!" Fear not—I’d never let you down 😉. Grabbed two that day: one from Rotterdam, one from Kinderdijk. Behold your loot:

Somehow I found a piece where all Markthall (in the board), Cube houses, and the Erasmus bridge (again, in the board) is covered - quite fortunate!

Anything Kinderdijk - Legendary!!!!!

We wrapped the day by train-hopping back to Den Haag ('s-Gravenhage), grocery raiding at Albert Heijn, finishing dinner, and plotting tomorrow’s 'night'mare 'day'-trip to ’s-Hertogenbosch… then called the day off!!!

Thank you, Kinderdijk. And I will talk to you from 's-Hertogenbosch.

Until next time, Eet smakelijk, y’all :)