The Netherland : New Year in Zealand

New Year's Eve isn't really a big thing for us so we decided to make the most of these days off to drive somewhere and spend a few days discovering new places. Our pick went for a region near the sea and not too far from our house. We both went to Zealand when we were younger but we wanted to refresh our memories.

After some search our heart was set on a small cabine near the small town of Wissenkerke

(https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3959613?euid=655b8459-822f-167c-9356-aceb734ccaeb&locale=en). This suited our news (self catering + dogs allowed) and fitted our budget.

On our way to our cabine we decide to stop first in the town of Goes. We had seen nice photos of this town on the internet and stopping there was definitively a good idea. The little Christmas market in the city center was still standing and nice to wander throught. Afterwards we walked around the nice little harbour. It resumes so well the idea we have of the Netherlands, bikes and boats everywhere.

After stopping by our cabine we decided to go watch the sunset at the lighthouse of Westkapelle. We did well and we could sit down and watch the sun disappear slowly between the blue sky and the clouds. The colors were magic.

The good thing of winter days is that you don't need to wake up to early to still see the sunrise. On our way to get some breakfast we had to stop near a small lake when we saw the sun rising.  It was just so beautiful.

After our stop for the sunrise and getting some breakfast we went to the little town of Veere. The weather was quite cold but the sky was blue. The sun was illuminating each narrow street of this lovely little town. We had to stop and have a coffee on the harbour. After lunch we decided to visit Middelburg. It's definitely a nice city but we would prefer the small and cosy side of Veere. Moreover it was New Year's Eve so everybody was getting ready for later that evening. So we decided to drive back to our cabine and start getting supper ready.

On our last morning we decided to have a walk near another lighthouse I had seen on the internet which looked like a cinnamon candy cane. We thought we would be alone on the beaches of Nieuw Haamstede but we actually saw a lot of families enjoying the nice fresh air after probably a hard night.

This ended our trip in Zealand but we definitely be back in this area to discover more beautiful hidden places.

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.