World Port Days 2018 - Exploring the grounds by daytime!

Pirate ships and ferris wheels

During the World Port Days, a lot of stuff which is usually off limits is now open for a visit. Like this military police ship, that has been used for hunting down (real) pirates.

Only a few people were allowed on board at a time

And some stuff is only available during these days, like this ferris wheel that they built for the two day World Port Day event, and will be taking down again tomorrow.

Temporary ferris wheel

They set it up below and next to the Erasmus Bridge, the white one in the back

Crowd

We went for a walk and some roaming around the event grounds on Saturday night, got to watch the fireworks, and one of the surprises to me was the vast amount of people turning up for these World Port Days. As Sunday had amazing weather, we decided to take another stroll through the area. Again, I was surprised to see so many people. The little hike we made was just over 6 kilometers, but with the slow moving crowd it took us forever to gat from A to B.

People everywhere

Especially the bridge was crowded

So much to see

So what were all those people coming for? Well, the pirate hunting ship of course, and the ferris wheel. Or did they come to watch the boats and ships parading the river?

The river Maas and the boat parade

I felt this boat had too many ropes for its own good

They even had some helicopters joining the parade

Maritime shopping

Maybe they came for the shops and food stands?

Best place in town for a giant squid stuffed animal or a pirate flag

Stand selling rope in many sizes and colours

The lady monitoring the stand saw me taking a picture. And she told me all the colours at her stand made her so happy. So I came and made a close-up, because I loved the colours too, and also to show her my appreciation for being such a happy stand-monitor.

Miniatures

While walking around, we came across this miniature port area. They had set up the place with miniature cargo ships, miniature cranes, miniature cargo. Only the people working the cranes were regular size, creating a bit of a misfit.

Miniature port

This fellow was working very seriously on shovelling the cargo (rice) from the cargo ship and onto the miniature conveyer-belt with his miniature crane.

World Port Days 2019

I think there was a lot to see and explore out there that we missed completely. We just walked around a bit, randomly. For next year, I'd do a bit more research on what there is to see and what events are going on. At least this year's walking about gave me the impression that going into the event area is worth the while.

If I'm still sticking around here in September 2019, which I hope I will be, and if you are still here too... then I'll be sure to give you an update on next year's events!

---