Zeeland

For our summer vacation, Jessie and I went on a cycling trip through the Netherlands. I had looked at various recommended routes and eventually we decided for a trip across Zeeland which is a province in the south-west of the Netherlands that consists of man-made islands.

To start the journey, we drove to Rotterdam where we parked our car and unloaded the bicycles. We then had one late afternoon to spend in the city before we would embark on our cycling trip the next day.

The city has some modern neighborhoods with high-rise buildings and modern architecture.

We went for a stroll to get a feeling for the city and ended up in a craft beer bar where - to our surprise - lots of fantastic Belgian beer was served.

On the next day, we took off early and, after we had left the city, the first part of our journey would lead us through the Kinderdijk which is a world heritage site with historic windmills. Cycling was a bit tough here because the location was overrun by tourists visiting the windmills.

Moving on, we cycled towards Willemstad which would be our first destination. Along the way, we had to cross rivers with ferries and would, from time to time, stop to have a look at interesting things at the roadside like this family of swans.

The towns we passed through usually looked like this with historic buildings and almost always a harbor in the middle of the city with lots of boats.

In Willemstad, I used the evening sun to take a short photo walk.

In the town, there were festivities going on (I believe for Whitmonday) and the town was decorated in the national colors.

The town is located in a former fort (which becomes very obvious when looking at it from above) and along the moat there were multiple bunker positions for canons.

On the next day, we saw more pretty buildings…

…boats…

…and harbors until we eventually arrived in Zierikzee - a beautiful small town with interesting historic architecture.

The next day took us to our southern-most stop in Vlissingen from where we would then turn around to make our way back north but now not inland anymore but along the coast.

It was around that time when the weather was the worst and to be honest the town also wasn’t the most exciting. Nevertheless, it was nice to stroll along the coast and to look at the big ships traveling by in the distance.

On the next day, our journey continued, following the coast through the dunes. Here I realized that the landscape looked very similar to what I was used to from German north sea islands only that you got this here on what feels like “main land”.

We had to cross multiple giant man-made dams like the Oosterscheldekering. These impressive structures keep the tides and floods away from the “lakes” that they create behind them and double as bridges for traffic.

My favorite location on the trip was Burgh Haamstede where we stayed at a nice hotel near the beach and went for an evening stroll through the dunes and to the beach.

Not only were the dunes very pretty, the small neighborhood behind them was also impressive with impressive mansions and a lighthouse right between them.

Our next and final stopover was in Brielle - another town inside a former fort and with a pretty church.

Finally back in Rotterdam, we still had a full day to spend so we went to a market and also visited the Dutch photography museum which I liked a lot. We also saw a large cruise ship dock in town and watched the thousands of people board.

I was really impressed by how natural two-wheeled transportation was in the Netherlands. Despite the frequent showers, literally everyone and their dog were traveling by bike. Their age didn’t matter or even the occasion. On a Sunday, we saw a family cycle to church in their best outfits.

For our last evening, we went to a small comedy show that we had found and the venue came with this sleepy dog here:

We both liked this trip a lot and are thinking about doing a cycling trip like this again.