Paradise Beach Found

Formentera, May 13, I think this is it! The worlds most beautiful beach. Crossing a rock, suddenly there was this beach, about 40 meters in width and about 300 meters long with azur blue water on both sides. This must be it! In the background is Ibiza.

Europe?

Formentera, May 13th. Although I have been to Ibiza quite a few times and heard from others about the beaches of Formentera, I never took the 30 minute boat trip there. Today I did! Jeroen and I took the 9:50 boat, rented a bike and by 11 am we reached the totally empty, most beuatiful beaches I have seen in my life. The colors are just unbelievable and so is the scenery. I could not believe this is Europe, it looks more like the Caribbean. Unfortunately but to be expected my camera is starting to give up on me. See the black spot in the lower left corner, it would be two more days before it went silent on me. I guess it is the sand and me not taking good enough care of it.

Sangria on the beach

Ibiza, Salinas, May 12. Today my frined Jeroen flew in from Barcelona. Although it didnt look like a beach day we were at Salinas beach around noon to have a liter of Sangria (or two) at the Jockey Club. It turned sunny as soon as we arrived and we had the best afternoon. Sangria at the Jockeyclub is all freshly made with only natural fruits, then you order your bottle of wine of choice and they mix it right there and then at your table. Ofcourse we went for the Cava-Sangria. Divine and look at the color. What a great afternoon.

Ibiza Morning

Ibiza, May 12. I love Ibiza mornings. Especially going to the harbor very early and seeing the first ferries leave to Palma, Barcelona and Formentera while drinking a latte, knowing soon it will be nice enough to go to the beach.

Cloudy view

Ibiza, May 11th. The view over the Mediterranean from my apartment is just breathtaking.

Ibiza Clouds

Ibiza, may 11th. I spent the late afternoon at the pool. With such dry air and clear skies the cloads of Ibiza are just among the most beautiful I have seen.

Ibiza

Ibiza, May 11th. Today is my first day of 14 days on the island of Ibiza. Getting up at 3 am to catch a 5 am flight was not a good idea. Arriving at 7.30 am in the morning, light drizzle and cold. Not a good start. But by 1 pm I was on a sunny beach at escavallet. I love Ibiza but have only been there in the off-season. And it clearly is the off season because there seems to be no-one on the island. For the next 2 weeks I will stay here and have friends visit me in my large apartment in Figuretas.

Friday Evening

Amsterdam, May 2008. I was working today, so I missed a beautiful sunny day. But in the evening I hooked up with Jeroen who had been 'sailing' most of the day with his friend who owns a small boat. We had dinner and drinks at IJkantine and returned to Amsterdam with the boat. It was a great night, with beautiful sunset. The canals of Amsterdam are so much fun to be on, full of small boats and people having fun. A great way to spend the friday evening.

full swing summer

Zandvoort, Mei 2008. I don't think there is more summer like the last few days. Despite it being a thursday, I was back on the beach with Jeroen and two of his friends. We arrived around 10:30 and had to leave around 6:00 pm, but what a day. Temperature was perfect and with the low humidity the sun felt great. Today was the first day of the year that I went into the water, the sea was cold, smelly and not looking very fresh, but that's the one thing about the North Sea, it really never gets that nice, fresh, blue thing. It looks like we will get a few more of these days and hopefully I will be back on Saturday, my last day before I leave for vacation to the beaches of Ibiza.

Before Sunset

Zandvoort, May 2008. Who-ever thought that the Netherlands is not much of a beach country should come and visit. The last few days have just been perfect for the beach. These pics were taken around 6 pm yesterday. It looks like paradise to me.

Summer feelin'

Zandvoort, May 2008. A rare weather situation will serve the Netherlands with at least 2 full weeks of summer this May. Temperatures will be in the mid 20s and sun is expected for all days. Today was the last day -before going to work- that I could spend on the beach and although we did not arrive at the beach until around 2pm, we got a full days of sun out of it. This was also the first day I had dinner on the beach. It was remarkable how few people were on the beach, considering the weather conditions and the fact that it is a national holiday. Glad we came, would not have wanted to miss this day.

No beach today

IJkantine, Amsterdam, May 2008. Because of Jeroen's sunburn -he got yesterday at the beach- we stayed in the city today. It was a bautiful day, sunny, nice and warm and it being sunday, everyone seemed to be out in the street. A perfect day to eat lobster and drink chardonnay on the terace of the IJkantine, which is reached by the free ferry from central station. We must have sat there for hours, it was a perfect day.

Wow-day

Zandvoort, May 2008. Today has been the first real 'beach-day', with perfect conditions, temperatures around 20 degrees, no wind and clear clear blue sky. Despite it being a weekend-day (saturday), there were no people on the beach when we arrived around 11. Also the first day that Tyn Akersloot beach club had its beach-beds out, what a sureal beautiful sight. I got to the beach with Jeroen meeting my friends Julia and Marcel who had arrived earlier. We had a few drinks, ate a bit, slept on the beach and drank some more. What a perfect day, we must have stayed until about 7 pm or so.
Zandvoort, may 2008. Jeroen clearly got too much sun and although today is another beautiful day for the beach I think we are going to stay in the city and return to the beach tomorrow. It looks like the Netherlands is go to get its first real spring week this week, with the forcast predicting perfect beach conditions until the end of the week. I llt try to squeeze a few more hours on the beach in.

Friday Fun

Bloemendaal, Republiek, May 2008. I like to just go to the beach for coffee in the morning, stay an hour and go back. This morning I went straight after I had been to the gym. It was shortly after nine and I had not even showered. Because my usual hang-out Tyn Akersloot was preparing for a party today (I saw them putting up a tent yesterday: not a good sign), I decided to go North from the station as supposed to South, like I always do. The North runs towards Bloemendaal, which has a completely different vibe. We call it high-strung, pretentious and fake, others may find it ' young', 'hip' and 'happening'. Beachclub Republiek is certainly a happening place, but not at 9:45 in the morning. It was beautiful, quiet, sunny and nice. I was having a great time and it never took me so long to read a paper (I read it all!). But then ofcourse people with children started pouring in with groups of screaming kids in front, behind and on both sides of me. Time to leave. I then got to beachclub Vroeger. Tacky but fabulous for today and I even lounged on one of their beds until their dumn music started to really annoy me.
Bloemendaal, Vroeger, May 2008.

Day after

Zandvoort, may 2008. Yesterday was Queens-day in the netherlands. A day that typically everyone gets horribly drunk by noon and continues heavy drinking in the street while eating shitty bad street food, listening to miserabe street music and being hugely annoyed by all the other drunk people in the street. Although I did not participate in the more public celebration, I did have a hangover this morning. So I went to the beach and had breakfast there. It was not very warm, but very clear and that typical thing where it is cloudless over the sea and the clouds linger over land. Needless to say there was no-one on the beach today, probably all recovering from yesterday. I love it there!
Clouds over land, sun over the sea.