After a brief hiatus, I’m back to getting some of the Netherlands posts togather. This post covers departing from the Hague and headng up to Texel, an island in the North Sea. We were spending a couple of days there as it was a spot that Mom really wanted to see. We had some fun stops along the way, as we headed as far north as this trip would take us.
The map of our drive on Sunday, with some of the stops along the way.
Sunday August 25th, our day started at a pretty reasonable time. The weather was once again a bit iffy, but we were doing a fair bit of driving and hoped it would work out. Our goal for the day was to get to Texel Island in the North Sea. We were spending a couple of days there exploring, as this was a part of the country that Mom really wanted to see. It looked super interesting, so Mackenzie and I were up for it as well! As it was Sunday morning, the roads were a bit quiet and I was able to move the car from where we had parked over the weekend to out front of the apartment to make it easier to pack our luggage back in the car. We were packed up and on the road by about 10:00, with our planned first stop out at the beach.
The view of Scheveningen Beach.
Scheveningen Beach is a popular spot on the coast, just west of Den Hague. It was only a 15 minutes drive from where we were staying, so it was quick to run over there to see what all the fuss was about. Parking was easy, and soon we were out on the beach! It was a pretty cold, windy day, so it wasn’t like we were going to swim. Although, there were people in the water - both surfing (full wet suits) and swimming. Those people were crazy. We wandered the beach for a little bit, then headed up onto the Pier. The Pier is a pretty tacky tourist trap, with typical shops, restaurants and a big Ferris wheel. And bungy jumping and a zip line! As we were well into the shoulder season, there were not a huge number of people about.
The full view of the Pier, including the ferris wheel.
We decided to ride the Ferris wheel, getting a nice view of the area and a front row seat to watch the crazy people bungy jumping. I think we got 4-5 cpomplete revolutonsof the wheel, giving us nice views out over the ocean, as well as views inland to the dunes along the edge of the sea. A little further north from here, the Dutch Grand Prix Formula One race was being held! Sadly, we could not get near it, and tickets were super expensive (and probably sold out anyways).
A view of the beach from the Ferris wheel.
Cool VW bus done up in rattan, beside one of the restauarnts
After than, we went out for a walk among the dunes to get some exercise and see what else was around. The path from the beach took us across the main road, then across some of the dunes. We worked our way parrallel to the beach fro a while, heading north.
As with much of the Netherlands, it was all pretty flat. There were not much in the way of view points, but there was a bit of a high point that we could see, so we walked up to it. It provided a bit of a vantage point, enough that you could see a NATO radar facility off in the distance. That was interesting, especially once we figured out what it was!
The slight elevation did afford us a decent view of the beach, as well as views north and south. It was pretty nice, and the bit of rain we had earlier had stopped. It was still overcast and looking a bit stormy, but it was not too bad.
We made our way back down to the beach, and wandered for a bit trying to decide on where to have lunch. It started to rain so we ducked inside one of the first restaurants, and decided that it was as good as any. They actually had a brunch buffet going on, so that worked and we had a second breakfast.
It was then time to start our drive north. We headed back to the car, and hit the road. We tried to avoid the main highways, sticking to smaller roads which gave us a better view of the countryside. The drive was quite nice and gave us a chance to see lots of scenery. What struck me was how invested they are in bike paths - they are everywhere! Almost every road and highway has a bike path along it, and I’m sure you could get anywhere in the country by bike. It’s amazing! This was an observation that came up repeatedly on the trip as we explored the country.
It was time to go see a whole selection of original windmills!
At one point, we got caught out by a draw bridge that blocked the highway to let a sailboat through! This was a multil-lane highway, and it just stopped all the traffic.
While the drive north was only a couple of hours, we had lots of time and decided to break up our drive by making a stop in Zaanse Schans, a “historic” Dutch village, complete with original windmills, cheese maker, weaver and other period appropriate displays.
As it was a Sunday afternoon, the place was a madhouse! The parking lot was very full, but we managed to find a spot at the back of the overflow parking lot. But we still thought it was worth checking out. As it turned out, Mackenzie had been to this place as part of her school trip earlier in the year, but as the visit had been rushed, she was willing to check it out again.
Approaching Zaanse Schans from the parking area, it gives you a panoramic view across the canals to the collection of windmills along the river Zaan.
It was cool to see the old windmills, but the rest (and especially the hords of people) I could have done without. We did go into a few of the old shops, which were set-up as a cross betweena museum and tourist shops.
They had some odd museum-type displays (in the cheese shop, for instance) that then led you inot this huge shop selling actual cheese. There was also a chocolate shop where you could make your own hot chocolate. It smelled good, but we passed on buying anything. Some of the shops (the weaver, for example), you had to pay to enter. This was also true of the windmills, so we were happy to just enjoy the views from the outside.
One of the windmills was operating as an actual saw mill, and we could see them sawing actual logs into boards. You could actually see how the wind was powering the huge saw blades and cutting the logs. Thats was pretty cool - Shawn would have loved that one! We did get sucked into a number of gift shops - I’m not sure how one place needs so many gift shops!
The map of our walk around Zaanse Schans
In one of the gift shops they had a display where they actually made wooden shoes. And of course, you could buy them in every colour under the sun.
After escaping from the madhouse, we continued north towards Den Helder where we were to catch our ferry to Texel. The Dutch Grand Prix (Formula 1) was on this weekend, but a single day ticket was pretty much the cost of a weekend ticket (almost $400 Euros each) so attending was out. It would have been cool.
I was hoping to drive by the circuit, but they had all the roads shut down (they were doing a “car free” Formula 1 race… so odd), so we had to give it a pass. So we took the straight shot up to the ferry. Texel is just off the north coast, a short 20 minute ferry ride across. The ferries ran every 30 minutes, so it was easy to just show up and go on the next ferry. When we arrived, we had just enough time to check out the little terminal, grab some fries and a drink for the ride.
The ferry looks a lot like the big ferries that go between Tsawwassen and Vancouver Island, except that the upstairs was configured very differently. And they made you leave your car, even for a 20-minute trip. The ferry ride was, as you might expect, very easy. We were on Texel in no time, and on our way to our hotel.
We were staying at the Landgoed Hotel Texel, I think the only hotel we were using on our trip. It was only about 20 minutes from the ferry to the hotel, through mainly rural countryside. We discovered that there are a lot of sheep on this island. The roads were perfect - well maintained and easy to navigate.
Our hotel and home for the next couple of nights.
Check in was smooth, and our room was pretty well set up for what we needed. There were two twin beds and a sofa bad in the room, which I took. The room was big and looked out over the back gardens of the hotel, including a small pond. We took some time to get unpacked and sorted out.
The hotel was just on the outskirts of a small town called De Koog, and so we walked the short distance into town to explore and find some dinner. The town was tiny - one Main Street - but had quite a few options for restaurants. We ended up selecting a burger place that was not that great.
The food was just OK. But it got us what we wanted, and filled our bellies. After dinner and on our way back to the hotel we walked out to the beach to check out the North Sea. The dunes here are huge, and it’s quite a long way from the edge of town, up and over the dunes before you get to the water. There was a campground in the dunes that looked pretty great - other than the crazy wind. We walked down to the water, but the wind was howling, and it was hard to stay out too long. Mom and Mackenzie dipped their feet in the water. I couldn’t be bothered to get shoes and socks off to do it too. I had hoped to swim, but I’m not sure the weather is going to make that possible. We explored for a while before heading back.
Our walk back from dinner, out to the North Sea and back to the hotel.
We came back to the hotel and I went down to the lobby bar to figure out rental bikes and to have a drink. I found a local whiskey that they make on the island, which was actually quite good. It had been another busy day, but a good one! We got to see a lot of the country, and it was quite lovely.
There were some barnacle geese in the small pond at the hotel!
