Day 43

Going to the beach was our only goal of today. We got to the beach earlier than past days. We played in the water, dried off , and went in the water some more. #productivity While drying off on the beach, we heard drumming and remembered that the Pride parade of Zandvoort was today. We went up to the sea wall to see it.

After the parade we did more beach hanging out and then went home for dinner.

Day 44

The mission today was to try more Dutch food. We headed to the central town area next to the beach. After a little walking around we landed on Het Plein.

At Het Plein we ordered bitterballen, frites, and kipnuggets. Each came with its own sauces. The Dutch definitely do sauces well!

Day  45

Today we went to the Zandvoort Juttersmu-ZEE-um. (Zee means Sea so it translates to muSEAum, Dutch puns!) The museum consists of all kinds of stuff that has been found along the Zandvoort beach by beachcombers. There was everything; toys from all over the world (including ones in good condition that you could buy to support the museum, #upcycling), cologne, candy, watches, and even a piece of a nasa shuttle that had washed up on the beach. There is also an entire wall of letters that arrived in bottles, with maps of where they came from.

For lunch we tried some local fare, kibbeling. There are fish stands everywhere on the sea wall. We picked one close by and ordered “kibbeling met saus”. It came with four sauces that were each unique and all yummy. Kibbeling is basically little chunks of fish that are fried. It was delicious! If you come to the Netherlands definitely try kibbeling!

Day 46

Today we went on an adventure. There is a more nature-y path halfway on the way to Zandvoort. Most days we joke about turning that way because that’s the path we came out from when we were lost in the dark. Today we turned to head down that path without directions…on purpose this time.

After an 8.7 km (we looked it up later) ride up and down hills all over the sand dunes we were ready for the beach. This route had taken us to Woodstock – “the more adult” beach according to our Airbnb host. This beach was farther out and seemed less commercial/touristy.

We hung out on the beach. Katie said the water looked dirtier over here. Specifically she said, “How is it even dirtier than Galveston?!” So we didn’t spend much time in the water. But the beach was relaxing and there were fewer kids/families there so it was quieter.

We headed over to Zandvoort beach (where we’ve gone most days) for dinner. Earlier in the week we saw a Mexican and Argentinian restaurant that we wanted to try so we went that way. The bike ride along the sea wall was an easy ride and beautiful.

The restaurant is actually two restaurants in one, half Mexican/Argentinian and half Italian. They literally have separate menus and separate doors to their restaurants but they gave us both menus when we sat down. Besides Mexican/Argentinian and Italian, they had all you can eat ribs. We decided to stick with Mexican/Argentinian, ordering a burrito and an enchilada. This was also the first time we messed up ordering water and we were brought bottled water at 3euros each. #notbudgettravelfriendly

Although the burrito and enchilada looked exactly the same in shape, size and color we dug in and it was yummy. The meat was seasoned well and even though there wasn’t salsa, we enjoyed!

Midway through eating the waiter brought fries to our table. Katie tried to tell them that we hadn’t ordered fries and they told us it came with the meal. French fries and Mexican food? We would come to find that fries with every meal is not out of the ordinary here. But they were good so no one was complaining!

Day 47

We are using our time in Zandvoort as a vacation from the hustle and bustle of touritsy adventures on this trip. Today we didn’t do much more than go to the grocery store and hangout around town. We said in the first couple weeks that we were “slowing down” but being by the beach has helped give us a new meaning to the phrase.

Day 48

Today we tried to see how far the beach goes. And we learned it goes on forever. We walked and walked and walked but the beautiful soft sand beach continued. It was a nice day so we were able to see lots of kite surfing as we walked as well as some sail boats.

After building up an appetite trying to walk the entire length of the beach, we went for Kibbeling again. We would eat this every day if our waistline would allow it. We had Kibbeling from Kroon where we had fish from the first day. It was a little different from the other place but still delicious. We’ve decided to “research” to find the best Kibbeling in town!

As we were enjoying our Kibbeling, multiple seagulls were eyeing the food. One of the more ornery birds decided to take action against us. As we were about to leave Cameron was shat on by a bird for the second time this trip. Luckily it mostly missed him and only got the side of his shoe. But it was still gross.

We wandered around Zandvoort until we were hungry again. We got fries from Etablissement Fritures d’Anvers which is a local landmark. We tried our best dutch to order but the owner immediately switched to English as we struggled.  

Day 49

Today we finally adventured away from the beach. We headed for Haarlem. It was a delightful (and flat) bike ride over to Haarlem.

Our first stop was the Teyler Museum. The museum was started by Pieter Teyler who lived in the 1700s. He was interested in the Enlightenment and thus promoted the arts and sciences. There were a lot of interesting pieces of old science equipment, globes, a beautiful library and quite the art collection. The audio tour was helpful because all of the text in the museum was in Dutch. (Pro travel tip: always bring your headphones that have a normal audio jack. It is much easier to have headphones than to hold their devices up next to your ear.)

For lunch we stayed at the museum and tried out the museum cafe. The quality was quite good for a cafe in a museum. The woman working at the cafe was also very nice. She took the orders and also was the one making all the food. We split a cafe au lait and a capresse toastie.

There are (somewhat) secret gardens in the Netherlands called, hofjes. These are gardens that are enclosed by what was originally almshouses for the poor. We went on a walking tour to find the gardens.

Outside one of the gardens a woman sat down near us and began telling us about the intellectuals and artists in the city. She gave lots of suggestions about where we should go in Haarlem.

After a lot of walking, we ended our day with ice cream sitting by a canal.

 

Netherlands