Having arrived at Hoek van Holland on the overnight ferry from Harwich, its really simple to get into the city of Rotterdam itself, with the ferry terminal having its own stop, Hoek van Holland Haven, on the Rotterdam Metro’s line B. From here there is a train every 20 minutes, with the journey to Beurs in the city centre taking around 40 minutes. If you want to head to Rotterdam Centraal, you can either change at Beurs for lines D & E, or change at Scheidam Centrum for rail services to Rotterdam Centraal. You can get a day ticket for the Rotterdam transport network for €17, or as with most major cities these days, pay as you go with a contactless enabled bank card.

If you’ve read last week’s post, you’ll know we got up to plenty during our time staying near Lindau. You’ll also know I hinted at a day where, thanks to Lindau’s location on the Bodensee and it being close to the Austria border, we visited four countries in one day. Whilst you don’t have to read that post, I’d certainly recommend it however, as promised, this post is all about the day where we visited Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland all in one day!

Back in August we were fortunate to be able to spend a few days in southern Germany, basing ourselves in the town of Lindau on the northern shore of the Bodensee. Whilst our arrival into Stuttgart on a British Airways flight from Heathrow had been smooth and uneventful, we unfortunately had some issues with our car hire, delaying our departure from the airport. However, we eventually set off on the two-hour drive south via the German autobahns to our accommodation on the outskirts of Lindau, which would be our base for five nights.

This is the second of two posts covering our time in and around the Irish city of Cork, so if you haven’t yet read the first part, I’d recommend doing that first. As a re-cap, after a late-night arrival into Cork, we’d spent our first morning taking part in a free walking tour, before enjoying a delicious lunch in the English Market. Now, after a nap and refresh at our hotel, it was time to head back out into the city, to meet a friend for dinner at a highly recommended restaurant.

With our arrival in Cork onboard an Aer Lingus flight from Heathrow being just before midnight, our first day in the city started with a relaxed breakfast at the hotel before we ventured out into the city. Whilst I have visited Cork before, this was Beth’s first time in the city and so rather than wander aimlessly like I had done, we decided to make sure we saw some of the real city. As such, our first destination was the Opera House on Emmett Place to join a walking tour with Yellow Umbrella Tours which would show us both the touristy highlights of Cork as well as hopefully some hidden gems!

This post covers the second part of our holiday in Somerset, so if you’ve not yet read part one, I’d recommend reading that first. You can find it here. If you have read part one, you’ll know that it covered the first three days of the holiday and so we’ll start this post with day 4 and a visit to one of England’s smallest cities.