TWTD.co.uk | [Blog] Eindhoven is Great!

[Blog] Eindhoven is Great!
Thu 15th Jul 2010 15:39

Former Eindhoven resident David Huxley says Town fans off to PSV for Saturday’s friendly will have an enjoyable weekend away.

This blog has been submitted by David_Huxley. To view more from this author click here. TWTD blogs are added by site users unedited by the admins. Want to become a TWTD blogger? Simply send us your first article via the Contact Us page.

If you are going to the PSV game you will find Eindhoven is a great city to visit. I lived and worked there for five years and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The city is a bright, modern and colourful place but not touristy at all and, while still hugely reliant on the massive Philips company, it has wider range of employment than 20 years ago.

Most of the Town fans going will probably travel via the Harwich ferry and on arrival at the Hoek van Holland will get the train from the station at the ferry terminal. The journey via Rotterdam takes about 80 minutes and there is plenty of interest to be seen from the train, including the two Rotterdam football stadiums and lots of views of the ships on the Rhine. As you arrive at Eindhoven the PSV Stadion is on the right-hand side just before the station.

Coming out of the station’s main entrance is the Station Plein with taxis and cars everywhere and immediately opposite are the main shopping streets. In the Demer there’s C&A, Vroom and Dreesman (like Debenhams), Hema (Woolworths-ish) and everyone likes Blokkers which is a homeware and gift shop. Off the street is the Markt with a McDonalds and at the other end in indoor mall.

The PSV Stadion is only 300 meters or so going right from the station and it has a massive Toys R Us built into its frontage. The ground has been constantly expanded and rebuilt over the years and as a department of Philips always has the best of PAs and floodlighting.

On the way to the ground you will see a white tower block with hundreds of lamps burning day and night. This is part of the main Philips lighting factory and is used to life test lamps. It gives the city the name Lichstad or ‘City of Light’.

There are dozens of places to eat and drink in the city centrum but do try any of the small snack bars that abound. Try their croquettes and frites, which are delicious and cheap. Croquettes are a fried sausage of a meat goulash and each serving comes with a mayonnaise sauce if you want it.

All Dutch bakers make wonderful bread and cakes especially chocolade bollen, which are choux pastry covered in rich dark chocolate and filled with very thick cream.

If you are staying overnight you can book a hotel or B&B room by telephoning the Tourist Board office at Eindhoven Station and arranging what you want through them. The number calling from here is 0031 40 2979115.

After the game, all the best bars are in Stratumseind which is the extension to the main shopping street south. Everybody speaks English and is very friendly.

Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.

dobbie73 added 08:22 - Jul 16

Blimey, you're making me hungry!! Very nice descriptive blog, thank you. Unfortunately I can't make the friendly but having read the above, I almost feel like I'm there ... enjoy the game!

0 forum posts
373 news comments
11 match reports
1 blogs
0 polls

Please log in to report abuse

TheDalaiFarmer added 03:13 - Jul 20

Blimey, when was the last time you were there? The river between Hoek Van Holland and Rotterdam is The Maas (not the Rhine).
The Philips factory you mention (Lichttoren/Light tower) is now an apartment block/shops/cafes/hotel. Get yourself back over, sounds like it's changed a bit!