Are you from the EU? Have you ever been to any of the beaches in the Netherlands? Shout it out on the comment!
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Yeah.. it's not the best time of the year to go to the beach unless you're a surfer or a one who does water kiting (if that's the word for that cause am not sure whether it's actually called water gliding). Anyhow, my husband and I went on a wet and windy sidetrip to Scheveningen.
Somehow, it felt like a ghost town being less crowded compared to how full and bustling it usually is during the other seasons specially in summer. It's not just the Dutch that flock here, in fact, a lot of us do and most of the time, you'd see plate numbers from different countries that are EU members all heading for the wide shoreline.
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Among the three beaches in The Hague, I like Scheveningen the most. It has everything, aside from the food centers, there are surfing schools which already has a resto and a sport center in it. Just in case you're wondering, no I can't surf but I would love to learn! Aside from the chic restos at the end of the unusually wide shoreline, there are hotels and shopping malls! Yes! Shopping malls! Ha! Ha!
We have a lot of beaches in the Philippines and you may as well compare this to Boracay except for you can't really snorkel here and the shoreline.. it's unusually wide! The whole world knows that the Dutch are the masters of the water and a few years ago, my husband and I were in Kat Wijk Aan Zee (that's another beach in The Hague) and we were having lunch in one of the old hotels there which probably no longer exists. I still remember it's called La Savoy and I love it there because it's has the best sea view and we spent nights there before Christmas days to visit his best friends in Leiden.
The last time we were there, there were huge ships in the sea and the whole sea city was being renovated. You may be asking out there, "how on earth can you make renovations in the sea". The Dutch even made cities on them and most of Holland is below sea level. That day, my husband told me that those ships were pumping sand out of the sea bottom and to widen the shore with. Please don't make me explain further I don't know how that works. All I know is the beaches here have an unusually wide shoreline.
It's a lot wider than what we have in my country and I can't help but compare because the last beach I went to before I moved here was Batangas. It's too sad to watch the shorelines there near vanishing. Not the case here, so every summer, lots of people come here to sunbathe and going through the parking lots would mean going in circles but not this wet and windy day. They were almost empty.
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I've been going to Kijk Duin most of the time, some days we go to Zandport, I l love it more in there just cause it's pretty remote and less crowded even in summer. Hmmm.. probably not after this ahahahah.
We were to have dinner with some folks but we were early so we drove there and were and were pretty much surprise that the parking was empty. We headed to the parking at close to the pier so I kid my husband that he doesn't have to worry we could just park near what looks like a floating resto there but he said, it's not that it's just that we've never been to that side of the beach so there. Like a joke, the heavens decided to wail so we had to sit still in our car and stare at kite surfers wrestling with the waves and the lighthouse in front of us.
Finally, the heavens hushed but it sure left a puddle in the parking I had to tiptoe when I got out of the car. Of course, I tried taking pictures right away but the damn wind made almost all the shots look distorted. It was cold and walking on the sand to the nearest resto would mean dirt on the car and tha's a no no so we headed back up and took the nearest stairs down to the resto. That's when I saw those crowned triplets. I have to admit it's been quite a long time since the last I've been here so the three crowned fishes I saw on the tiles were new for me.
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Puddles everywhere! We headed into a resto close to the surfing school and it's all decorated in blue just to order something to snack on. I was looking forward to dinner but the anacondas in my tummy were already hungry even though I had a heavy lunch that day so I had to feed them. We had something light though just an afternoon snack. My husband reminded me that ordering my favorite desserts here may cause break outs on my nearly clearing forehead skin but it's so hard to resist a latte macchiato and a cheesecake. I'm not a cheese head so he doesn't get my addiction to that pair but I can't either but who doesn't like cheese cake?
Somehow, I regret ordering it because this cheese cake wasn't what I expected it to be it was rather crumbly that I have to check the date it was made. It was new but perhaps I'm just used to a different texture so I tricked my husband into sharing me his more delicious carrot cake.
The place was so chic and beautifully adorned with Christmas decors yet I didn't bother taking shots of what it looks like inside not even it's beautifully walled modern toilet because I was looking outside all the time. I was wondering how on earth those kiters do their stunts in this cold wind. I think my face would even freeze in the water. Just when one comes out of the water another sets of kiters comes in and they have the almost empty shore as their dressing room. I can't imagine doing that but then again, I came from the tropics.
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I noticed the flag of the crowned triplets so I asked the waitress what that means and she explained that it's the emblem of Scheveningen. We chatted some more and the crew went on adding decors in the resto probably because there were only four sets of clients in there (including us) so my husband and I went back to staring out at the sea making comments on everything our eyes captured sometimes laughing at the gulls and crows being blown away with the gust trying to hover up the sand but had no choice but land because of the strong wind.
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The occasional crying of the heavens keep blurring our view and before it gets too dark we fled and headed back to our car at the next warning of more wailings we saw in the clouds. On the way to our appointment, we saw a huge fishing ship heading to the dock and my hubby pulled over and asked me to take a pic of it. (laughs)
On the way to dinner we went through the tunnel and the heavens poured its heart out. My husband asked what I think about the beach. I told him I wish it's this less crowded in summer because I actually get dizzy in the crowd during summer not to mention the dread of parking which is very much not the case right now. Besides, I can't remember ever swimming at the beach here even in summer, one, the water is always furious with huge waves and still too cold to the feel. Sun bathing? I love the sun and walking on barefeet at the beach but I don't really sunbathe because I'm aware that it could cause brown patches to my face so in summer am usually wearing a hat lying on one of those rented matted open cottages with a beach umbrella on my head.(more laughs)
Anyhow, spending moments with my very funny husband is always the best no matter what the occassion is. He always makes me laugh so before I could even whine about the weather, he's already seen something funny to laugh about. Would I go back to Scheveningen? I actually asked him to drive there this weekend but we already have an appointment booked so I guess I will have to wait for another empty day to go there. Hopefully, it was the last snowy day this month.
This content's 100% mine. Except for the pic of me my husband took, I took all the rest using his mobile and all of mine.
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