ravelling with kids is always a conundrum, and oftentimes parents sacrificed their enjoyment to focus on kid-friendly travel. I’m not one of those parents and I’ve never been a fan of vacation parks with their enormous indoor pools with water slides and children’s theaters. Parent or not, my preferred travel destination involves huge, open spaces, with little interaction with kids and other human beings as much as possible. There’s really not many of these places in the Netherlands. But then, you have Texel.
Texel is the biggest of the five Dutch Wadden Islands, that includes Vlieland, Terschelling, Schiermonnikog and Ameland. It’s also the most popular, especially among Germans and Belgians. You wouldn’t want to come here in the summer, particularly during the school vacation. With only 463.16 sq km welcoming at least one million tourists each year, it is suffocating.
But between the first week of spring until the end of April, Texel is the most ideal place for a long weekend getaway, for grown-ups and kids alike. We’ve been here several times, as a couple and after our daughter was born.
Texel offers a diverse landscape unique in Europe. Whether you are a solo traveller, couple, and couples with kids, big families, or picky parents like us, there are loads to do on the island.
otterdam has this not-so-little secret spot for families, hidden in one of its swanky neighbourhood, Hillegersberg. While I have frequented this area to dine out, I only discovered Plaswicjkpark of late. Because why else would one go here if one doesn’t have an offspring?
It’s been four months since I gave birth. The weather was slowly getting warmer and the promise of a lovely spring made my husband book a weekend getaway as a present for me.
We initially wanted to stay at Inntel Hotel in Rotterdam to watch the fireworks at the Erasmus Bridge and toast our 8th year anniversary. But in the end, we decided against it because the room that we got was more than €200/night with no view of the Maas River. Besides we’re not really party goers. So why not go somewhere more peaceful instead, where we won’t be bothered by the noise of New Year’s Eve. So we booked an old favourite for a weekend getaway in Gelderland and drove to Putten on Thursday afternoon, on the last day of 2015.
Postillion Hotel Amersfoort Veluwemeer We’ve stayed at Postillion Hotel four years ago. I remember being crazy about the location and the food. This time was a little different. I booked a much cheaper room (at €60/night), which looked dated and had no bath. The food was also less impressive, the wine disappointing and the cocktail that the barman tried to mix for me, disgusting. But the wellness area is as relaxing as before. We enjoyed the Turkish steam bath and sauna all to ourselves for 1.5 hours for only €15 extra. Not bad for the first day of 2016.
One of my favourite lobbies especially that sofa those kids are occupying.
We dressed up a bit for New Year’s Eve dinner. Here’s a lobby shot with Jimmy Choo boots, Saloni Lodha skirt and a vintage top from my cousin.
The hotel was full of guests and dogs, all escaping the New Year’s Eve fireworks and parties. Robin and I dressed up a bit but we felt out of place in the restaurant during dinner. It would have looked liked a regular weekend except that the hotel was decked in holiday ornaments.
We dined-in both evenings. The more affordable season’s menu costing €27 was more delicious that the more expensive options on the regular menu. The same was true for the wines. Our palate were more entertained by the Salento than the Rioja, by the duck (above) than by the wild boar and fried chicken.
During dinner, we finished a bottle of Rioja while still having a bottle of champagne waiting for us in the room. Of course the improper order of drinking did not discourage us to finish the champage. Which resulted to…you guess it. Drunkness and a very bad hangover the next day. I was already asleep by 9:000PM and missed the all important countdown on TV.
After a late breakfast the next day, I went back to bed to nurse my hangover while Robin watched TV (I think he miss having one) and later on inspected the hotel’s terrain while I was dozing off. I managed to haul myself out of bed at noon. It was the first cold day of the winter season and a thick mist enveloped the whole of Gelderland that morning. The mist gave a mystical feel to the surroundings, particularly the yacht haven and the lake. I took the chance to practice my photography “skills”. These photographs were taken around the hotel’s property.
The man in the mist.
Ghost boats.
Robin took this photo of me at the end of the jetty.
Harderwijk After the short photography session, we drove to the Hanseatic city of Harderwijk. Vischpoort, the 14th-century gate was a few meters away from a very large parking complex outside the Dolfinarium so we conveniently parked there. Since it was January 1, parking was free and there’s hardly anyone going about the city square.
Everything was closed. The small city square was so quiet except for a group of kids playing hide and seek. Their shrieks and laughters bounce off the old walls, filling the square with a childish glee. It felt like Christmas morning rather than the first day of the year.
A few meter’s away from the Vischpoort gate is this tree line. There’s a cute boy who smiled for my camera. Can you see him?
The Haven van Harderwijk with the windmill called De Hoop in the background.
Vischpoort, the 14th-century city gate.
Part of the old city wall.
Typical Dutch houses in the city square. Most of these are still residential houses and have not been turned into a store, a restaurant or an office space like in Amsterdam.
Do you spot the children playing hide and seek?
A two-hour walk around the town made us hungry and the only place open was a kebab eatery. So our first lunch of 2016 was these cholesterol-laden Turkish meals.
The infamous broodje doner and kapsalon. If you ever visit the Netherlands, especially Rotterdam, don’t ever leave without eating these. Warning – both meals packs up up to 2000 calories per order.
We tried looking for Landgoed Schovenhorst, the old forest we visited in 2012 but it was difficult to drive in thick mist. So at 3:30PM we drove back to the hotel. We’ve scheduled a sauna session at 4:30PM so we had at least 30 minutes to watch TV and look at the photos we took that day. And of course there’s nothing more fulfilling after a sauna session than a huge meal of duck and wild pate. This time however, with only a glass of wine.
Amersfoort We started Saturday morning with a cold and rainy 10km run at Strandboulevard, a long bicycle path the starts from our hotel and goes all the way to Harderwijk. Unfortunately it was still very dark so we could not enjoy the scenery provided by the beach. But it was an exhilarating run nonetheless, the first long distance run we’ve had since a month ago when I decided to have a break from running. Followed by a warm shower and a full brunch, it was a nice way to begin the day.
However the day intended to be rainy and dark and our plan of exploring the forests was quickly abolished. At check out, we got a tip from the receptionist to visit Kunsthal Kade in Amersfoort. It wasn’t open until 12 noon so we killed time drinking coffee at the very hip Kunsthal Kade cafe.
It cost €10 per persoon and to be honest, we weren’t very impressed with the current expostion called Land Art. But there was this sand box installation where you are allowed to play, take photos and share it on social media. Of course, I couldn’t resist. If you follow me on Instagram, you’d find my video spinning it the sand box. Just thinking about it is making my stomach crunch at this moment. I’ll spare you the torture.
Installations called Reed Moved by Fans by Dutch artist Marinus Boezem (foreground) and Wood Circle by English artist Richard Long.
That’s a cave and everything present on a cave. I forgot to note the name of the artist.
We left the museum after an hour. There weren’t many options on a rainy day but indoor activities so we agreed to watch James Bond’s Spectre afterwards. We still had three hours to kill so we decided to walk around the old city starting from Koppelpoort towards the city centre. The rain was starting to get heavy and I was starting to get crancky. We stop for a glass of rose and some calorie-laden bitter garniture. By the time we left the cafe at 2:30PM, the rain has let up and Amersfoort looked a little lovier in its wet glory. I won’t mind living here.
The medieval gate Koppelpoort.
The city centre of Amersfoort has maintained the old buildings that now houses modern stores.
Want cheese? There are endless little streets to explore.
While walking back to Pathe cinema, we passed by the De Drie Ringen beer brewery and stopped to have another drink. The pub has cozy and warm interior unlike the usual dark pubs that typifies breweries. There was a local gathering going on. There was also erwtensoep (typical Dutch pea soup for winter). Too bad we weren’t invited.
This eye-catching painting on the left gives a tasteful touch to this pub. On the left is our glasses of Drie Ringen dubbel, sweet, malty and just what you need for a rainy winter day.
Spectre was another entertaining and over-the-top James Bond movie. My husband had a certain swag when we left the cinema. With popcorns and cola, it was the perfect way to end a weekend trip. By 7:30PM we were home enjoying a plate of adobo flakes for dinner.
Last week was very stressful at work. We were working overtime everyday to meet client’s demands so I was really looking forward to this weekend. My husband booked us a night’s stay at Landgoed Kortenbos in Meerlo, a small town in Limburg. When the Dutch go to Limburg it usually means communing with Mother Nature. Or a beer drinking binge. Limburg has several Dutch breweries including Hertog Jan and Brand.
I'm Dheza, raised in a barrio in the Philippines, immigrated to the Dutch polder and travelling through running. This blog documents my life, to which I would like to look back to with tears and smiles when I am old and unable. Drop me a line dhezakuijs@gmail.com.
