Art in a Former Prison...

On the way to the brewery, we walked next to a former prison complex...

…and we walked through it on our route back to the hotel. 

Although there was a museum on the opposite side, most of the complex was still abandoned with a variety of sculptures brightening up the place.

That evening we had dinner with Cosmo at a funky restaurant with yummy food...

…and very unusual artwork. 

 

BlueCity...

Years ago we heard rumors of an urbex site in Rotterdam: an abandoned waterpark. We heard that it was impossible to enter, so we never even tried to find it. 

Years later we learned that BlueCity, an innovation hub for start-ups in the circular economy, had taken over the basement of the former tropical paradise. 

I was excited when I saw on a Rotterdam tourism Instagram account that BlueCity was having an open house. 

Here was our chance to visit an urbex site while learning about innovative new companies.

Unfortunately, what we assumed would be set up like a trade show with the chance to talk with the budding entrepreneurs about their businesses, was more like a museum display with a sign about each company but no information about actually buying any of the new products or tasting the beer brewed in the basement.  

Veronica pretended to swim in the former lazy river. 

While we were disappointed by the displays, we were far from disappointed about the opportunity to visit this cool site which originally opened in 1989 and closed in 2010. 

 

Inside Murals...

The artwork inside wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as the murals outside, but at least some of them were entertaining. 

Outside Murals...

While much of the building was covered in random graffiti, there were lots of interesting murals scattered around.

 

More Broken Windows...

I especially loved the view from this window...

…of these delicate red leaves.

As with the tiny windows, I took photos of the larger windows from the inside...

…and from the outside. 

Impossible to tell if this mask ended up here by accident or by plan. 

 

Tiny Broken Windows...

There was an incredible variety of types of windows in the huge building. I especially enjoyed taking photos of windows from the inside looking out onto the fall leaves...

…but also captured plenty of different types of windows from the outside.