Blogs from Zealand, Netherlands, Europe

On Saturday, Debussy left Middleburg at 2:30 for a long day and overnight back to Amsterdam for. As the weather was marvelous, we spent the entire afternoon outdoors on the top deck, enjoying the sunshine, the cool breeze and the beautiful scenery. After transiting a series of locks, entered a large bay with islands. Hundreds of sailboats were out taking advantage of the unusually wonderful weather on a Saturday afternoon. Fran snapped a picture of some Dutch campers. Occasionally, our relaxation was punctuated with 4 short blasts of the horn which is to remind boaters to get the f out of the way. Boaters can be really stupid. Except for watching, other activities up top included eating and drinking and maybe a little exercise. Fran did a full hour of Yoga and she did a special ... read more

Operation Market Garden was a huge and risky bid for the allies to try and end WW2 by crossing over the bridge at Arnhem, bypassing the Siegfried line and surprising the enemy troops. However it all went disastrously wrong and many airmen lost their lives while others were hidden by the Dutch resistance and later helped to escape. It began with a massive parachute drop 6 miles away from the bridge by the 1st Airborne Division supported by Polish troops as well as some Americans and Canadians. They also dropped some guns and ammunition but some of these dropped in enemy territory. Little did they know that the Germans were heavily fortified with guns and tanks and they didn't have a chance. We went to the Museum which was Hartenstein house, which was used as the ... read more

The Amalea left Hoorn during dinner last night, and cruised all night and this morning to get to Middelburg, in the southern part of the Netherlands (in a province called Zealand - apparently where the name New Zealand came from). It was very pleasant, and sometimes sunny, sitting on our balcony while cruising this morning. After lunch on board, we went on a(nother) walking tour of Middelburg - a small town, with lots of complicated European history. Then back on board, and sailed during dinner again, apparently had to catch the times of the bridge openings, en route to Belgium.... read more

Day 10 April 24 - Veere, Zealand, Netherlands We arrived in Veere and after breakfast, we chose to skip the tour of the delta works and go inside one of the many dams they have protecting the land from the North Sea. Instead we walked into this small, sparsely inhabited town of only 500 that has been in existence since 1281. What a treat we were in for. We absolutely fell in love with this town. So clean and charming. There were docks on both sides of the town with beautiful yachts and sail boats. A huge church that was built centuries ago and not is an event center. We stopped at an outdoor cafe in the town center square and enjoyed hot chocolate with a large bowl of fresh whipped cream. We also ordered apple ... read more

Thurs 9thOctober Oh busy day...washing, internetting, and waiting for customs. They came at 2pm with “Good news and Bad news”. “The good news is...you can stay longer than 6mths, and the bad news is that we were wrong”. They were very lovely admitting that they really didn’t know – but as we said, a good learning experience and now they do know for all the other non EU boats that they come across in future!! Fri 10th Many of the Marinas here have bikes you can borrow (free of charge). So, as Breskens is so flat, we borrowed two bikes for the day, rode into Breskens and then caught the ferry across to Vlissingen – bikes and all. We spent hours riding around and exploring the town. We found the markets and then spent ages walking ... read more