Oh, I do like to be beside the sea side...

While the rest of my weekend was mostly unspectacular (well, not quite: I found an amazing Vintage store, but I'll probably get to that in a later post), we decided to make the most of the good weather (no rain!) we had today and go to the beach. The closest beach resort from Amsterdam is Zandvoort: from Amsterdam Central it was just a 30 minute train ride, which took us past the picturesque town of Haarlem, and which also featured the first pleasant surprise. Free Wifi in the train - in Germany it'll probably take another 10 years before that happens!

Zandvoort itself is barely worth mentioning. Several ugly high-rise hotels which have definitely passed their best days a long time ago, some resorts from the same era, bike rentals and tourist bars... The only somewhat noteworthy landmark was an old water tower, but even that is just a replacement for a water tower the Germans blew up in 1943.
However, the town must have had some glorious years as bathing resort in victorian times, after all Empress Elisabeth of Austria was one of its visitors.

Apart from that, there is really not much to tell except showing pictures: the beach is amazing, lined by bars, cafés and restaurants. Several take-away trucks cruise along the beach and sell beverages, ice-cream, and of course a large variety of fresh fish. We bought kibbeling (deep fried cod) with garlic sauce, a perfect snack for the beach. Some children and hardcore swimmers were in the water, we preferred watching it from further away while sipping a beer/cocktail.

I'm already looking forward to spend some warmer days there - having a beach this close to where I live is a dream come true!

Lurking seagulls