Zandvoort a Zee

The train ride from Amsterdam Central to Zandvoort takes about 15 minutes. A few minutes prior to arriving there, the rolling grass covered dunes appear. The train passes through Haarlem and some gentle countryside where lots of modern windmills have been planted. We saw one classic windmill in Haarlem. The Sunday noon time train was full to standing room only, and when we arrived, all we had to do to find the beach was to follow the long stream of people heading that way. The air was a little cool mostly because of the brisk steady breeze running from the south. Out of the wind, the air was quite pleasant which would explain the popularity of the wind tents available along the entire length of the beach. The sand is very fine and soft on the feet. We hadn't dressed for swimming as we weren't expecting that the water would be as warm as it is. So, we rolled up our pant legs and crossed over to the sand bar which rose above surf about 20 meters from the shore line. The fresh herring and kippeling served on the beach are great! Take a look at the Victoria hotel near the train station...when it was built, the owners of two homes on the street didn't want to sell, so the hotel owners built it around them. You can see the narrow part of the facade which is different from the rest of the hotel.