Flower Auction
7.45am
Meet and greet with your English-speaking guide / driver in the hotel lobby, from where you will be taken for a 30-minute drive by luxurious private vehicle to, and guided tour of the World’s largest flower auction, Flora Holland.
The indoor Flora Holland compares in size to the city of Monaco. Experience the hustle and bustle of the auction floor, watch traders bidding against the clock and be amazed at the quantity of beautiful flowers traded.
See how this auction process works and notice a variety of millions of flowers. You can watch the entire auction from a walkway above ground-level. Did you know that on an average auction day they auction 30 million cut flowers in more than 30,000 varieties? You will be, as everybody else, very much surprised. www.floraholland.com
Rotterdam Architecture
10am
We continue the tour with a 60-minute drive to Rotterdam for an interesting architecture walking tour with a real architect. During the tour, you will get all the ins and outs of the Rotterdam architecture and it’s amazing sights.
Buildings like the Van Nelle Factory and House Sonneveld are examples of the renewed architecture in the period right after the War. In the 80’s and 90’s it received its definite status with the Cube Homes of Piet Blom, the Art Hall Museum (Kunsthal) by Rem Koolhaas and the Netherlands Architecture Institute. With a lot of courage and bravery the city began cleaning up the old harbor areas to living and work areas. Symbol is the Erasmus Bridge from 1996, which attached the harbor area “Kop van Zuid” (Head of South) to the city center.
As Rotterdam keeps op developing, you can nowadays find some spectacular buildings like the Rotterdam by Rem Koolhaas (largest structure in the Netherlands), the Red Apple by KCAP Architects with the famous Dutch interior designer Jan des Bouvrie, Rotterdam Central Station (three architects) and of course the Market Hall, which of course we will visit.
Markthal
The spectacular Markthal is the first indoor market hall in the Netherlands. A highlight of Rotterdam that has received several awards. Stockholm, Barcelona, Valencia, Copenhagen, almost every large city has one: an indoor food market. A lively market hall, which is bursting at the seams with fresh fish, warm bread, tender meat, countless different cheeses and freshly harvested vegetables.
A market where shopping is an experience and where you can go to enjoy a drink or grab a bite to eat. Open seven days a week, there will be food, food and more food under a spectacular horse shoe-shaped arch. From fresh fish to specialized poultry, from cappuccino to cheese, from Surinam to Zaandam, from ice cream to biological vegetables it is all there. Restaurants and cafes on the ground floor and the first floor, a supermarket and a spacious vehicle park in the basement. www.markthal.nl/en/
Along the way there is leisure time for lunch. Your guide will give you several suggestions for a delicious local lunch.
3pm
From here, you will bet taken back to your hotel in Amsterdam, where you will have the remainder of the day for your own leisure. You will arrive back before 4.30pm.