The Netherlands : Island of Texel

I had to drive all the way up North of the Netherlands. I decide to kill two birds with one stone and visited the beautiful little island of Texel. (pronounce "Tessel") This island is known for it's bird life and sheep breeding.

We first had to take the boat from Den Helder. It costs 25€ for the round-trip (http://www.teso.nl/en/). As the sun was going down we drove all the way up to the lighthouse  north of the island where we discovered a splendid sunset.

We had booked at the Fletcher Hotel de Cooghen in De Koog (which was ok because of last minute booking but that we would not really recommend otherwise, go for a B&B instead!). What we didn't know is that Texel has a tradition of celebrating "Ouwe sunderklaas" one week after Sinterklaas. Every inhabitant disguise himself and knock on doors taking weird voices and makes fun of known Dutch figures. So the hotel was kind of noisy however the breakfast was really nice. We had supper at the Bodega 59 (http://www.bodega59.nl/) which wasn't too expansive and quite good. If we had to do it again we would choose a more authentic place in the countryside like a bed & breakfast.

We woke up early to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was overcast but we enjoyed walking at the Oudeschild's seaport where fishers had just come back from the sea and were unloading fish and repairing nets. Afterwards we went hiking in the National Park Dunes of Texel (http://www.npduinenvantexel.nl/page/English). You can see a lot of bird species in these dunes. It's said that you can spot some seals and if you want to learn more about them you can stop by at the Ecomare (http://www.ecomare.nl/).

For lunch we stopped at the "Inn de knip" (http://www.inndeknip.nl/). This is a beautiful little café lost in the town of Den Hoorn has lots to offer. You can eat all kind of homemade dished : soups, sandwich, fishes, etc. It's definitely worth a stop.

Belgium : One day in Antwerp

What should we do this weekend? "Well let's go and visit Antwerp!" "But where should we start a Saturday morning knowing it's "Sinterklaas". (= Biiiig Belgian tradition for Children!)

Well we decided to start where most travellers start: at the train station. We had been there in the past but it's always a pleasure to see this wonderful train station. We parked the car in the underground parking under the station (about 18€ a day).

We had a Starbucks before leaving the station (old habbit we picked up in the US) and just wandered in the streets. The buildings are really nice and the main square is really nice with the view of the Cathedral of our Lady in the background.

We had read about a small museum in the backstreets that was really worth a visit. "The Poorterswooning" Museum (http://www.poorterswoning.be/) is a really nice little house of a 16th century house where you can see how a trader lived at that time. The guide put you really in the picture and it's just like you travelled back in time. (3€ per person where 1€ can be used in the café downstairs)

A second thing worth seeing is crossing to the other side of the river through the "Sint-Anna tunnel'. This 572 m long tunnel is reserved to pedestrians and bikers. The escalators are still the originals which are made of wood. When getting out of the tunnel you can enjoy the view of Antwerp's skyline.

This was the last step of our trip. We walked back to the train station using all small streets. We definitely have to come back another day to explore more of these old streets and houses.