Café del Mar (This is not Ibiza, is Zandvoort)
After left the horrible Van Der Valk hotel at Leiden, we tried to get the fietspad to Haarlem, we were quite lost cycling between Katwijk and Noordwijk, but finally we got the fietspad that follows the coast, near the beaches. For me was the best part of the cycling routes, crossing dunes, little forest, under a heavy sunlight. Suddenly, approaching Zandvoort a red fox appears to give us the welcome to the new province (Noord-Holland).
From Zandvoort (Beach town) to Haarlem (Inner city) the path was downhill (Relax for the legs), and we arrive to the hotel, near the train station. Haarlem is a beautiful city, is more noisy than Leiden but more quiet than Amsterdam. The Grote Markt has a lot of terraces where you can take a lunch, a coffee or whatever, in one of the corners you can find the main church (St.
After think for a while we decided to buy some bottles and chips, and return to Zandvoort (By train, of course) for the sunset. If you take the train to Zandvoort from Amsterdam there is no confussion, it is a "end line station". The beach is huge and it is very clean, we tried to cool the bottles into the water, but was not successfully. There is a sign at the beach entrance that advise about what "not to do", and it is not possible to fly kites (??), but there is no advise about to drink (I suposse it is not possible, but..., you can take your own risks). The police patrol in a Off-road car, don´t be so stupid as take care about it.
The restaurants in the beach are very expensive, but there are some other near the train station with good prices. VERY RECOMENDABLE TO ARRIVE HERE FROM AMSTERDAM.
