A day at the Beach

The Dutch coastline is like a long sandy beach belt between the land and the Sea. There are many options near Amsterdam to spend a nice day by the sea. The holiday season just started and the first week out of the school is very warm and sunny in Holland. We decided yesterday to go to the beach near the village called "Wijk aan Zee". This was a perfect option with the children and especially if you go early, you do not have the traffic jams and you find a parking spot easily. The most well known beaches like Zandvoort are always very busy during the holidays and weekends. You can easily loose your nerves when just driving there in a long queue and in the end trying to find a parking spot. We prefer going to more peaceful beaches and mostly during the morning hours.

Beach Cabins at the beach! Some you can rent and some are private.

All the beaches in Holland are behind the dunes. The dunes are beautiful and perfect for hiking and cycling, but also protecting the country against the flooding. The parking areas are near the beach and you normally can directly just walk or cycle to the beach, but I often prefer taking a bit longer route and walk first through the dunes and admire the landscape there. That already gives me the holiday feeling and hearing the grasshoppers making their music is like a strong memory from the childhood. I love walking the small sandy paths between the dunes and to watch the small, curvy hills everywhere. When you finally are on top of the hill, you will see the endless looking blue Sea, which is melting to the sky at the horizon. The hot, summer days are a bit surreal. When you watch the boats and ships in the horizon of the Sea, it almost looks they are just appearing trough a foggy wall. Like the world would be ending at that spot and the scenery far away on front of us would be just a painting or a curtain. Behind that curtain would be the space and the universe...now I start to understand why our ancestors thought the earth is like a pancake:-).The best thing at the beach is how you sometimes sunk in a dreamy mood, when just watching the blue sky & water and listening to the sounds of the waves is the only entertainment you need.

A cute, little Hotel near the Beach.

After running, swimming and playing beach tennis everyone was hungry. We had already finished all our healthy snacks and the kids were suggesting that we should go and buy some portions of "Kibbeling" from the village on our way back to the car. The fish was fresh, even the way they make it deep fried and served with the mayonnaise means this is not the most healthy snack. But yes, it was good!

The sun is nice, but the sun protection is needed.  The Sun lotion, a hat, the sunglasses, a parasol and lot of water to drink. At least these things are needed at the beach. The hot weather type is continuing, but today I really stay in the shadows and enjoy the summer at the park.