Rotterdam is the largest port in the Netherlands, and probably the largest town, period. It undoubtedly has many faces, most of which I haven't seen. What I have seen - the areas around train stations - is of an ugliness that must be seen to be believed. The very rays of sunlight lose their lustre on touching Rotterdam. Rotterdam Blaak is like some bleak city-of-the-future fantasy. Rotterdam Zuid is ratty and impoverished. Rotterdam Alexander is Bijlmer transplanted. Fortunately, all I see of Rotterdam is Central Station, the occasional computer market and, depending on which railway lane the train pulls into, the back of a zoo which is probably "Diergaarde Blijdorp" and a drop of relief in a desert of visual horror. For those whose retinas can stand the abuse, Rotterdam offers laundrettes (all run by Chinese women, it seems) and very cheap computer shops all in the same street, at least one of which is sure to sell that rare and hard-to-find peripheral.
Of this horror of a town, I have only two pictures, both of the tram lanes right in front of Rotterdam Central Station, flanked by very high buildings.
