The versatile European metropolis

Beautiful beaches, many bikes and a lot of shopping malls. This year, my family and me made a trip to a very nice city. I am talking about Den Haag in the Netherlands.

In 2020, my family planned a trip to Tunesia. However, the pandemic ruined the plan. There were not that many places to go to anymore. The Netherlands seemed like the only place we could go to. I did not like the decision to travel to the Netherlands, because ten days in Tunisia with an ‚all inclusive‘ hotel would have been much cooler, I thought. Additionally, we did not have a comfortable flight but a long ride of four hours by car.  

When I arrived, I was very impressed. The weather was very nice, a bit too hot at the beginning but towards the end it was bearable. The beaches‘ name is De Pier and it is 11 kilometres long – but I will talk more about it later . It was very full but not uncomfortable. At the beach, there were little houses. It seemed like the dream holiday, waking up and instantly going to the beach. Maybe a plan for next year.  

In this city, there are many spots to spend your money on easily. My family visited one of those big shopping malls which is called ‘Passage‘. It is a very luxurious mall with a huge glass roof. It was built at the end of the 19th century and iI could see its charm instantly. I was astonished or rather shocked that during the pandemic the Dutch did not wear masks. 

This city is also very nice from the fun aspect. We took a ride in a big wheel at that beach. It is 50 metres high and one ride takes about 20 minutes. The way to that attraction was extraordinary in some kind of bridge or hallway, you walked approximately 25m above the beach. We passed several restaurants such as ‘The Rough Kitchen‘, ‘Restaurant Pier Zuid‘ or ‘Firma Pickles Burgers & Winesat‘ and even a playing ground which attended the interest of my two younger siblings. Theoretically, you could do a sleepover directly at the beach, but it is obviously expensive – prices started at 315€ per night.   

On the way back to Germany, we stopped in Amsterdam and visited the stadium of the local football club ‘Ajax Amsterdam‘. As a supporter of ‘Hannover 96‘, iI was quite surprised that the ‘Johan Cruyff Arena‘ is only slightly bigger with its capacity of 55.000 visitors. Nevertheless, the success of this club was more impressive than Hannover’s. Many former international superstars used to play for Ajax in the last few decades, for example Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit or Zlatan Ibrahimovic who still plays.  

 After seven days, I can summarise that the Netherlands are a fantastic place to chill out and spend your time. The Dutch people are very friendly and the fact that everyone speaks English or even German makes it easy to get in contact. I will definitely come back.  

Text: ileo 
Pictures: pixabay, ileo