Date

Saturday 16th March 2019

Holy Places Visited

  • Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk [“Great or Saint Lawrence’s Church”], Rotterdam
  • Eendrachtskapel [“Unity Chapel”], Rotterdam
  • Waalse Kerk [“Wallonian Church”], Rotterdam (exterior)
  • Russisch Orthodoxe Kerk [“Russian Orthodox Church”], Rotterdam (exterior)
  • Essalammoskee [“Essalam Mosque”], Feijenoord, Rotterdam
  • Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk
  • Eendrachtskapel
  • Waalse Kerk
  • Russisch Orthodoxe Kerk
  • Erasmusbrug
  • Loods 24 Memorial
  • Essalammoskee

Distance Travelled

Approximately 12½ km (8 miles)

Route

Ian joined the pilgrimage in the morning before we parted ways after lunch. From the centre of Rotterdam I walked across the Erasmusbrug [“Erasmus Bridge”] to the south of the city, and visited the docklands area of Kop van Zuid-Entrepot [“Head of South Entrepôt”].

I stopped at a memorial called Loods 24 [“Harbour Building 24”], which commemorates the tragic events in 1942 and 1943 when a total of 686 Jewish children were forcibly deported from Nazi-occupied Rotterdam to the extermination camps at Auschwitz and Sobibór, where they were murdered. I held a ten-minute silent peace vigil in honour of their memory.

Later in the afternoon I walked on through the areas of Feijenoord and IJsselmonde to Barendrecht.

Thank you to Ian for joining for the first part of the day’s pilgrimage.