August 12, 2012
-
(written on 26 March 2013)
And as predicted, the weather was perfect for a visit to the beach today. There are two beaches in the Netherlands that are particularly easy to reach by public transport. Zandvoort is just west of Haarlem and closest to Amsterdam, so it’s the city’s favourite destination when the weather is warm enough (like today.) My favourite destination is not Zandvoort though, but rather Scheveningen. That’s a part of The Hague. It doesn’t take much longer to reach though, and I do prefer the beach there (even if it weren’t for the fact that encountering someone from Amsterdam is less likely)
So after my morning coffee and muffin I packed my beach necessities in my backpack and headed to the station. I took a train to The Hague central station. One of the stops on the way is Amsterdam Sloterdijk station. As it pulled into the station it stopped exactly so that my seat offered me a glimpse in the station ticket hall, and to one of the ticket machines in particular. And exactly there stood Val! I could see him from the train and immediately sent him a text (as the train was pulling out of the station again) and he replied soon after that indeed that had been him… and that he was going to the beach as well… and that he was going to go to Zandvoort. Told you! Would have been very nice to spend the day with him actually, but yeah, Scheveningen is just a bit nicer.
Obviously I didn’t do much all day except soak up some sunshine. I’ll be going to Barcelona in two weeks and a bit so it’s nice that I will be able to soak up some sun in advance. In the early evening I walked back to the tram stop from where a tram took me back to The Hague Central Station soon enough. The train to Amsterdam also went quickly and before I knew it, I was home again, after a very nice and relaxed day on the beach. The picture shows Scheveningen Pier, which is actually the only pier in the entire country – quite a contrast with the UK where many coastal places have at least one pier.
