TEXEL: Heaven on Earth

Astrid has told me about Texel Island for 4 years now. It's her heaven-on-earth (parallel to my family cottage in Michigan) where she's been going back-n-forth since 1982. Finally I had a chance to see it with my own eyes a week ago. It was even better than what I had pictured it to be.

Here's a map of the Netherlands (click to enlarge), where we live and where you can see Texel to the north of us. It's a 15-minute ferry ride from Den Helder, the northern mainland city, to the island...

So let's begin there...after I first mention that it's my turn at Vision and Verb again, where I talk about our art and how, when we enjoy it and do it well, it's like heaven on earth...just like a place called Texel.

I love boats, period! I've been on all kinds and varieties, as you know.
This one, as ferries go, is HUGE. Which says something about Texel and how much it is loved.
And not just by the Dutch! Astrid says 40% of the island is owned by the Germans.

When Astrid met Jaap in 1982, she married into the bungalow owned by his family in one of the many bungalow parks around the island.

What a charming little heaven on earth.

And all that much more so because of it's proximity to the North Sea....

...over sand-dune hill and dale, approximately 20 minutes walking.

Right after cresting the last dune and seeing the sea, I saw all the bikes.

This is so Dutch!
And if you don't have your own bike, not to worry. You can rent one.
We walked because Astrid wanted me to "feel" the sand dunes!


Astrid flew a kite....


...while I took macros of the seashells.
I was amazed at how "anthropomorphized" they seemed so up close and personal.

While out-n-about elsewhere, I fell in love with the buoys not in the sea but scattered around the island like collector's items:

HA! One more thing to collect!

Speaking of which, I really was in heaven. Wherever we went around the island, by foot or bike or car, I was constantly adding to my arsenal....

Weathervanes, of course.




And gevelstenen (= gable stones).


See, we actually did ride bikes...the ones that live at the bungalow.

And we enjoyed the fruit of the land....

I made two carafes of rose-hip herbal tea, appropriately called the beach rose.
They, along with black raspberries, were everywhere, free for the picking.

Which makes a good segue to the special eating-out times we had....

Koffie met appeltaart while on the beach!


A very Dutch uitsmijter for lunch one day,
and wonderful smoked pepper-salmon another, with Texel beer.


And homemade ijs (= ice cream) before supper, because life is short.

Next post I will show you the two windmills on the island, the lighthouse there and in Den Helder, a couple photogenic churches, plus some other goodies down at one of the harbors. There really was no way I could process all the pictures in one week!

But here's an appetizer....

The Texel lighthouse right outside our café window!

It really IS a heaven-on-earth place...and that's my Vision and Verb for today....