Category Archives: Zandvoort

Haarlem and a detour to Zandvoort beach

After nine years of owning a car, I’ve forgotten train journeys. While I’ve travelled further and farther, the places close by became unfamiliar, especially those that were too close by car and a bit too far to bike leisurely—which is pretty much most of the country beyond the city reaches.

It occurred to me that I’ve either passed by or barely passed through Haarlem almost always to get to either Zandvoort or the Bloemendaal beach. So, I set out to explore this tiny city/town and was not disappointed.

I got down at the station, which was vast and seemingly uncrowded.

The dissonance caused by architecture that felt quintessential and familiarly Dutch and yet truly unfamiliar, was striking

The city center filled me with a sense of calm a stark contrast to the bustling city of Amsterdam that I just left behind.

After walking for hours, I couldn’t shake the urge to go to the beach, which was just a stone’s throw away. I took the bus to Haarlem centraal and got onto a train to Zandvoort.

While the beach was deserted by the usual standards of its use, I turned out to be not the only crazy one to brave chilly and windy weather for a glimpse of the ocean.

Walking on an empty beach, soaking in the smell of the sea while washed over with wild winds, left my soul cleansed. The bubble around me, growing over the years, eroded away. The cloak fell down, my mind unbound, my soul unwound, and I felt free.

Standing tall as a sentinel is this residential building, which always evokes an urge to buy an apartment and become a hermit, living the rest of my days in solitude, staring at the sea. Alas, that is not for me; I need the company of people and the energy that comes from bit of the hustle & bustle of a city, or even a small town.

Watching surfer-boarders trying to catch waves and kite surfers taming the winds serves as a reminder that there is a more emphatic version of “being on the beach” than mine, which is relatively meek.

Sitting in an empty beach shack and sipping hot chocolate, watching the waves while away from the wind, was the icing on the evening I didn’t know I needed

Ocean Beach

Being on the ocean beach lets me let my heart wander around to enjoy the various sights: of people gleefully playing and cheerfully singing; of friends and family; of kids building sand castles; of dogs swimming and happily barking while they run around to fetch their play things; lovers lost in embraces of each other; people like me lost to solitude of their own. All mortal senses and feelings drown away in the majestic splashing, crashing and ever thrashing ocean waves, and instantly I am at Peace.

Plus walking barefoot in beach-sand gives one hell of an amazing pedicure. So I went to the beach again.

Zandvoort again

After not having travelled anywhere outside Amsterdam for over a month, I was restless. It was at 2 PM, on a lazy saturday, I decided that I had to do get out and do something. But given that it gets dark by 4.30 PM during winters, I was left with one choice of place – Zandvoort beach, which was only an hour away by public transportation and I had absolutely no complaints about it, for I can spend days just watching the waves.

I reached just in time to be able to capture some amazing beach-scapes, self portraits and few long exposures.

Zandvoort

It probably was the first time that four of my friends, all unanimously agreed, for an impromptu trip to the beach. After a 30 minute train ride, we reached Zandvoort and 5 minute walk later, we were at the beach. It being a friday, neither of us were in a hurry to do anything and that gave me with plenty of time to walk around and take pictures.