This weekend I went to Texel, one of the islands in the north of the Netherlands (population of 13576). Although it was on my list for a long time, I've never visited any of the so-called Wadden Islands ever before.
My friend and I decided last minute that the past weekend was perfect to cross the first island (Texel) off the list. The island is accessible by ferry from Den Helder, which is the northernmost city of the mainland of North Holland. We started our journey from Amsterdam by car. In about an hour we were at the ferry which took us to the island in another 20 minutes or so.
Once on the island, you are in a completely different world. Although cars are allowed on the island, it is very bike oriented. The island has a well-maintained network of bike paths that allow you to go everywhere by bike safely. And of course, that is what we did :)
The best weather we could have hoped for!
We took some bikes that our hotel offered with the room and did a small loop around the island. I've recorded a portion of the route on Strava. The data is shown below:
You can see that it is quite flat on the island. The maximum elevation we reached on the measured 22.95 kilometers was 10 meters!
Somewhere along the way, we stopped for a very necessary break at the local brewery. The brewery is called Texels (NL only), after the island. They brew a variety of beers using ingredients from the island itself.
Texels beer enjoyed best with local sheep cheese!
We also visited the lighthouse located at the northern tip of the island. It was built in 1863 and from the top, you can see the neighboring island called Vlieland. This island is smaller (population of 1112) and does not allow tourist to enter by car.
View from the base of the lighthouse. If you look closely, you can see the Vlieland, the neighboring island.
View from the top of the lighthouse.
Visiting the island was a great experience. What I noticed the most was the lack of noise. While on the island we had quite a few moments where we realized the silence. I will definately visit the neighboring islands now that I've been to Texel. It's beautiful out there!
Hope you guys had a great weekend too! Thanks for stopping by :)