HARBOUR CITIES SEA OF ATTRACTIONS
In our travels through the most attractive port cities from St. Petersburg, where we visited in the last edition of M Magazine, we move to the west of Europe. We couldn't leave out the city that lies at the gateway to Europe's largest port - Rotterdam. Rot terdam is a cit y located in the Rhine-Meuse delta, on the New Meuse. The city is connected with the North Sea through about thirty kilometers of navigable channel Nieuwe Waterweg. Its history dates back to the thirteenth century. The first mentions of a developing fishing settlement come from this period. In 1299 Rotterdam was granted city rights. The city lived from fishing, trade and shipping. Since the sixteenth centur y, the expansion of the por t began on a large scale for those times. The city gradually grew in strength and became more and more important port
20 | Autumn 2021 | Lifestyle
on the map of Europe. The world expansion and development was brutally interrupted by the Second World War. In 1940 Rotterdam was practically razed to the ground by the Nazis. The rebuilt city took on a whole new modernis t s t yle, becoming one of the mos t interes ting places in the Netherlands. The port has also regained its glory, becoming the largest transit port in the world, stretching 40 km in length and 105 km2 in area. The rivers Meuse and Rhine provide excellent access inland and allow you to reach as far as Basel and France. The Port of Rotterdam is a versatile commercial port that handles all types of goods. In 2008, the total transshipment of the port was over 421 million tons. The largest share was the unloading of crude oil (23.76%), as well as the handling of 9.66 million containers with a total
capacity of 16.07 million TEU (twenty feet equivalent unit). The city is a true cradle of cultures, inhabited by many nationalities from around the world. The diversity of the population gives the city a unique atmosphere. Although the architecture of the city suffered greatly from bombing raids during World War II and there are not many ancient monuments, Rotterdam is a fantastic place where you certainly can not get bored. Enjoy an overview of the most interesting Rotterdam attractions you can see in one or two days.
