Rotterdam’s Old Harbor (Oude Haven).
At the edge of the modern city, the Oude Haven still feels like Rotterdam’s heartbeat. Historic barges float quietly in the water, their polished wood and ropes recalling the time when this was a working port, filled with the smell of tar and salt.
Beside them rises Het Witte Huis, once Europe’s first skyscraper — elegant, white, and proud, a survivor of the old city that was lost in 1940. Behind it, the Willemsbrug ties the past to the present, its steel lines echoing the masts below.
Far in the distance, you can just make out De Hef, the old railway lift bridge — a reminder that Rotterdam’s story has always been about transport.
Today the Oude Haven is a place to linger: cafés along the quay, reflections on the water, and the sense that here, in this small harbor, the whole spirit of Rotterdam still comes home.
