Grand Hotel Amrath Kurhaus
Rotterdam Shore Excursion – the Hague
With the Baltic portion of our cruise completed, the Holland America Rotterdam returned to the port of Rotterdam to prepare for an additional week in Norway. This game us the opportunity for a Rotterdam Shore Excursion. We decided to spend time in the Hague, even though we’d been there once before. I wanted to see Scheveningen Beach and areas around the Hague this time.
We immediately renewed our joy over the amazing transportation system in the Netherlands. The Rotterdam metro has a stop just a block away from the cruise terminal. We tapped on and rode the metro all the way to the central station in the Hague.
Rotterdam Shore Excursion – Madurodam
The layout of the Hague main station is hard to figure out on the internet, but it’s easy to understand when you get their. The metro arrives above ground and you tap off before you descend into the main terminal. You can then either tap in to the rail area or walk to the edge of the main station, where you will find numerous trams are stopping. We tapped on to the #9 tram, which took us straight to Madurodam.
We arrived at Madurodam just as they were about to open on this bright sunny, warm day. The outdoor miniature models of locations in the Netherlands are quite detailed. Cars and boats move about the displays wirelessly. You can even control some boats yourself and send them wherever you’d like in the waters. If you don’t enjoy sharing in the excitement of children, Madurodam isn’t something I’d recommend though.
Scheveningen Beach
Rotterdam Shore Excursion – Scheveningen
After our visit to Madurodam, we decided to hop on the #9 tram again in order to visit Scheveningen Beach. I’d seen photos of the beach before and it has the same feeling in person. It just doesn’t fit your expectations of the Netherlands.
Scheveningen has a large sandy beach filled with lounge chairs you can rent. There is a very large pier with a ferris wheel. The entire beach area is lined with restaurants. The atmosphere feels like the Caribbean instead of the Netherlands. We also checked out the famous Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus, which is right on the beach.
Rotterdam Shore Excursion – Hans im Gluck
The beach crowds were only just beginning to arrive at Scheveningen, but we already needed to start making our way back to the cruise ship in Rotterdam for its 3pm departure. We caught the #1 tram to den Haag (the Hague), catching a glimpse of the Peace Palace at a stop along the way. Then we walked to Passage in the Hague to visit the Hans im Gluck Restaurant.
The reason for this visit was because of a request from our young granddaughter. When I began studying German quite seriously, she had given me a story book in German called Hans im Gluck. When I discovered a restaurant in the Hague based on this story, she really wanted us to go there. Hans im Gluck wasn’t open yet that morning, but employees did kindly let us enter and take some pictures.
After that, it was time to take the metro back to the Rotterdam cruise terminal in preparation for our mid afternoon departure for Norway!
