Monday, February 1, 2016

Let met take you to Texel! - Part one of eight

Well hello my blogsy people! It feels like it has been forever doesn't it? Two and a half weeks ago I posted my last post before I went on my two week vacation to the island of Texel. As is customary for me I will do a slide show / travel report for you in the coming posts and I have to warn you, it will take up quite a few posts (eight in fact)! Because I went for such a long time I have a lot to show and I don't want you all to miss a thing.

My luggage right before I left. Can you tell I like pink?


Let me begin by saying I had a fantastic vacation. I really feel like I was away from my life for a while. Not that my life is so terrible, but it's good to step away from your everyday existence and just be free without any obligations, be they imposed by others or self imposed. For me a vacation basically consists of taking in the sights (usually by walking and photographing) and keeping a travel journal and in the time I have left I love to just linger or read. That's all. Nothing fancy, nothing exotic.

I did keep a travel journal this time too of course, but that I will show you later. For now we will just stick to the photo's and the walks, okay?

The way I thought I would do it this time, is to simply go through my vacation one day at a time with the corresponding pictures. That way you can really travel with me and I get to go through my own experience all over again as well. It's a win win situation. ;-)

Day 1 - Friday January 15 2016

The first day of any vacation is usually travel. Texel is the neighbouring island of my island and it's almost ironic it takes so long to get there. If you go to the utmost western point of my island the utmost north eastern point of Texel is practically a walk away, but there's water in between that cannot just be crossed without a boat. In the summer there's actually a special ferry that goes there, but in winter we have to travel across the main land. It took me about four and a half hours to go to a place that's basically only a few miles away. We'll call this the charm of travel, shall we? ;-)

I arrived at my apartment in the late afternoon and immediately liked it.





It was located in the De Koog somewhat  halfway on the island on the east side. De Koog is a very practical place to stay. It's near the beach, the dunes and the forest. It's big enough to have stores and such right around the corner and there's a good bus connection to just about every part of the island.

My apartment was right in the town center and had a lovely view on the town square.

I did not do much that first day, but settle, unpack and go grocery shopping and such.

Day 2 - Saturday January 16 2016

I really consider this the 'real' first vacaction day. Because I wanted to do a lot of walking I decided to first visit the tourist agency and get some maps and guides. The agency was located in the most central and biggest town of Texel: Den Burg. Since I was there I thought I might as well take a nice leisurely stroll through the town.




I got my map and walking guides and I also bought a big mug with a very appropriate text on it. The apartment I stayed in had only small cups and I love drinking tea from big mugs, so I just had to buy one. What can you do? This one made me laugh.


After my trip to Den Burg I still had plenty of time to visit the beach at De Koog. It was a day with very changeable weather, which  you can see by the amazing clouds in the sky.



I was actually forced to stay a while in beach pavillion because of a very big hail shower. A good time for a hot chocolate! No complaints. ;-)

Day 3 - Sunday January 17 2016

Sunday was my first big walk (even though I still managed to put in a few miles the day before). I walked two area's south of De Koog called De Seeting and Bleekersvallei. I also visited the nature center Ecomare where they take in sick seals, birds and dolphins. Some they let go again and some can no longer survive in nature so have to stay. The place also has an ongoing exhibition about the local wildlife and a ton of aquariums.




This young seal will go back into nature when it's big enough to take care of itself.




As you can see we actually had the tiniest bit of snow that day and it was rather icy weather. But quite beautiful for a walk.

And with this ends the first part of my travel report. I hope you enjoyed it and would love to see you around for part two.

Have a wonderful and artsy day all!