It was an early start in Sittard packing up and having a coffee before saying farewell to Lauren, Loe and Pixel. We were due to our next house sit at 10.30 am and needed to make it from Southern Holland to North East to Capelle ann del Issel near Rotterdam. As The Netherlands isn’t that big though and the motorways are easy to drive on, it only took us a couple of hours to reach our destination. We had used the TrustedHousesitters app to book this housesit a good few months in advance and we were going to be here for just over 2 weeks looking after a menagerie of animals.
We pulled outside of a very traditional looking dutch house, a small stream and bridge out front and were greeted by Joy, her husband Fred and son Aaron as well as Riley the big golden retriever- more like an excitable small polar bear. Dave got shown how to use the very high tech coffee machine by Fred as Joy went through with me what to do with all the animals and where things were in the house. It was a very lived-in family home with lots going on. There was Riley the dog to look after, 3 cats (Sooty, Tikka and Misty), 4 guinea pigs and some fish. Although it seems like a lot, all of the animals were fairly chill and apart from feeding them/making sure they had water and giving them fuss it was only Riley that needed walking. It was a bit of an overwhelming couple of hours trying to take in all the information, but thankfully Joy had written us a detailed welcome guide on the app and left us a binder with lots of other useful information. We headed out with Joy, Fred and Riley so they could show us the normal places he goes for walks. There was an absolutely gorgeous park- Schollebos just behind their house that had walking paths, bike paths and even horse trekking paths. It also had a dog beach and a lake that Riley enjoyed going swimming in.
Whilst we were at the housesit we took him out each day for a long walk here where he loved to chase after his ball and swim in the lakes.
Once Joy, Fred and Aaron left we had a bit of a breather to just take in all the information and to settle into their home. In the afternoon we went out to the local town area of Capelle ann del Issel as Thursday was the local market day. It had a range of fresh produce, Vietnamese foods and most importantly- fresh giant Stoopwaffell for 2 euros which we had to of course try!
As we were staying here for a good few weeks it meant that we could just go out to explore something each day. Each day would start with me feeding all the animals and Dave taking Riley out for a short walk before we had our own coffee and breakfast. Then most days we went out to explore for a bit and sometimes came back to have lunch (saving ourselves some money) before then taking Riley on his long walk at the park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous whilst we were there for the most part so we took him swimming everyday to cool off. Then often we would do some editing/reading/play games etc. or go out again for a few hours before chilling with all the animals in the evening. We made the most of the weather whilst we were there and had a garden- where we had a BBQ one evening and ate outside a lot.
Over the two weeks, we did a range of things. We spent days exploring the local countryside by bicycle or walking. The infrastructure for cycling in the Netherlands is insanely good and there are gorgeous paths through the fields, cities and alongside the many canals/ waterfronts. We found some viewpoints at Herge Bergs Bos park- with one of the only hills in Rotterdam. We cycled to and around Kralingen lake which had a fantastic view of the city skyline, lots of rich woodland and a beautiful beach that we paddled in to cool off from the ride. We even saw some deer on the way there. One of our last days at the housesit we also rode the bikes all the way to Krimpen aan de Lek where we got the passenger ferry over to Kinderdijk for 1 euro. Kinderdijk is a UNESCO world hertiage site where you can see about 19 traditional windmills. It was fun to cycle around the area, and then we had to cycle back to the house (not so fun on the legs or bum!)
We also broke up exploring Rotterdam over a few days and travelling into town via the local metro. One day we explored from Blaak the cube houses- which are concept houses that are all occupied apart from one that is a museum. We visited this out of curiosity as it was only a few euros and they were surprisingly spacious inside, making use of all the different corners. On this day we also saw the Oude Haven (old harbour), the outdoor market near the Markthall which was very busy and huge (Tuesdays and Saturdays) as well as grabbing lunch in the very modern markthall food hall. We managed to find banh mi for 5 euros which was a bargin compared to the other dishes in there. On another day we wandered through the historic area of Delfshaven, on to see the Euromast tower, the river and Erasmus bridge skyline, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen art museum, and Witte de Withstraat where all the bars and restaurants are. On one of our last evenings we headed to Beurs to walk across the Erasmus bridge before having dinner at the cool Foodhallen- street food, drinks and DJ- good Friday night vibes.
Using the metro we also actually went away from the city to Nesslestrande where there is a lovely beach on a lake. Lots of families were out on the beach and we chilled having a beach morning on the sand and having a dip in the clear but cool lake water- not bad for being in the city and able to get the metro to it!
Whilst we were there we also visited a local festival- TREK which was being held in Vroesenpark the first Sunday we were there. It was free to enter and it felt like the entire city was there. It was packed. The place was filled with different street food stalls, there was live music and drinks. It was so nice to be back to these sorts of events, especially after being in Germany a few days before where FFP2 masks were still being worn on public transport. The weather was fantastic too and felt like a summer's day- which just meant we had to have some beers in the spirit of things. We also had some Gado Gado from an Indonesian food stall which was delicious. There are lots of Indonesian style foods present in the Netherlands as there is a big population of Surinamese (and Javenese Surinamese) due to the Dutch Colonisation there which was something we hadn’t expected.
Just a short train ride away was also Gouda- home of the infamous cheese. So we hopped on a train on a Thursday so we could visit when the local market was also on. The market was only small but quaint. There were lots of wheels of Gouda lined up in the square, with people dressed in old fashioned attired with horse and carts. The main building in the centre of the market had nicely decorated shuttered which made it stand out. There were also lots of fresh produce stalls, fish stalls, stroopwaffels and deserts. After wandering around the market we mooched along the much quieter canal lanes and back roads of the town before finding a coffee shop- Hofje Van Jongkind. It was styled well inside with low hanging lamps, big plants and coffee chairs. They also had a roaster on display as they roast their own coffee. After getting our flat white coffee fix we headed back to the train station as there wasn’t too much to see.
We had a lovely time at this housesit, being able to explore the local area and nature, chill with the animals and it also gave us some time to look and arrange some future plans like where we want to go in Thailand and arranging a house sit in Malaysia. But after a few weeks our house sit came to an end and we had to say goodbye to all the animals, and Riley who was such a good dog! The same day as leaving we were heading to our next housesit Wassenar and our last place on our 3 month motorcycle trip of Europe.
Thanks
Alex
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