We left lovely Alkmaar and made it to Sixhaven Yachtharbour in Amsterdam by early afternoon. Eva arrived on time, and as usual, half of her baggage was gifts, including a bottle of Apérol and coffee. I think she believes one should never run out of these.

The following day, we only made it as far as Haarlem. We revisited together the St. Bavo’s Church and admired the great Christian Müller Organ, which G.F. Händel had already played on in the 18th century, as well as the 10-year-old W.A. Mozart. Our new discovery was the so-called “Dog Whipper Chapel,” dedicated to the men who, in the Middle Ages, disciplined unruly dogs and maintained order in the church. Inside St. Bavo’s is also the grave of the Harlem painter Frans Hals.

In Leiden, Austin could practise his “parking skills.” The main harbour was already full of double-parked boats, but there was still a spot on the shady side canal. With a bit of help from the boaties in front and behind us, Austin got Lodi in between with centimetres to spare. In the evening, we realised that the park next to the mooring was also a meeting point of the local 'cannabis club'.

The next day, on Sunday, we enjoyed a stroll through town and ended up at the fishmarket to a busy café and restaurant scene.

While contemplating where to stop for our Sunday coffee and apple cake, we bumped into a couple from Melbourne, Jerry from an Italian background and Louisa from Dutch heritage. They were so friendly, and we chatted for ages amid the passing crowds. Louisa told us that she and Jerry got together after she left his restaurant mistakenly without paying. It looked like he forgave her, as they had been together for the last nine years.

Cruising into the Delft, the Popular "Zuid Kolk" marina was already quite busy. We met again the harbourmaster from years ago, who found us a temporary mooring along the quay and handed us a welcome package. Like many harbours around the Netherlands, mooring fees and electricity get paid via the “AanUit.net APP”. 

Delft is famous for its blue and white ceramics, and there are real and fake examples in shops at every corner. We skipped the Delft factory, which we had visited last time, and showed Eva around the charming little streets of the old city instead. We started at the picturesque East Gate. After a coffee on the so-called “Beestmarkt” or cattle market, we admired Delft’s old town hall and Nieuwe Kerk at the central place, which, as usual, was full of tourists. We walked past the Prinshof and Leger Museum, where the first King of the Netherlands, William of Orange, was shot in 1584. His trusted dog died shortly after, and both are buried in a grave in the New Church.

Of course, we had to visit the Vermeer Visitors Centre. Unfortunately, all his artworks are scattered through museums around the world, and the centre contains only replicas of his paintings. Johannes Vermeer, born in Delft in 1632, painted mainly females, his most well-known being "Girl with the Pearl Earring”. Love, reciprocated or not, is one of his major themes. He even painted pregnant women, which would have been quite unusual and frowned upon in his days. Interesting were also the explanations of symbolism within his paintings. For example, a broom, usually a sign of moral purity, became the meaning of living together without being married, which the Dutch call:” Being married over the broom”.

The next day, we had to shuffle a few spaces forward with our boat to make room for others, which didn’t bother us. Except that the restaurant terrace became a hangout for a group of youth after closing time, keeping Eva and me awake until the early morning hours while Austin was blissfully in Lala-land.

Fair enough, too, as he had to chauffeur us to Rotterdam the next day. Exiting the tidal lock, we entered the vast Maas harbour in Rotterdam. It was a windy day, and the water was choppy, not to mention the wash of the passing barges and, worse of all, criss-crossing express water taxis. But Austin got us safely into the East Harbour before the wind picked up some more and developed into quite a storm during the night. Safe to say that Eva and I needed an extra big safe arrival drink that night. It was also a goodbye drink, as Eva was expected at her sister’s place in Germany the next day. 

After our third crew member had rudely left us, Austin and I made our way to Witte de Withstraat, a vibrant area of bars, cafés and alternative shops. We had already seen much of the town's stunning architecture the previous day when walking from the modern Central Station, which opened in 2014, along innovative highrises and bridges. Now we headed to the Museums Plein and walked towards the city’s reflection in the glass of the “Depot Boijman”.

This is the first art depot in the world accessible to the public, and apart from its incredible architecture, it has six floors of fantastic art on display.

For example, on the third floor, paintings of some of the greatest masters like Rembrandt, Gaugin, Monet, Picasso and van Gogh are hanging from the ceiling on glass screens, exposing the back of the framed artwork, which reveals the type of canvas, scope of restoration and sometimes another painting underneath. The beautiful landscaped roof terrace gave us a birdseye view over Rotterdam. 

Like most museums we visited this year, we used our Dutch Museums Card, which gives us free or significantly reduced entry to museums and churches. It has already paid for itself and is valid until June 2025.

We took the metro to take our weary legs to the Markthall, another example of innovative architecture and design. The big market hall offers fresh produce and multiple eateries and restaurants and is popular with locals and tourists.

I really liked the area around the old harbour. Fantastic art deco buildings, historic boats and bridges, and modern architecture like the "Cube Building" present an exciting mixture. 

There would be many more areas to discover in Rotterdam, but we suffer a little from “big-city phobia”. So we decided to move on until another time perhaps.