Texel- A Week in Review

We stayed at Kustpark Texel in their TX4 "detatched chalet with terrace." I had a slightly different vision of a chalet, but this place was comfy and warm so I was happy.

Sticking with the strangeness that is bed situations here, it was 4 single beds, but we successfully slept on two pushed together and used a queen sized sheet with no problems. We decided to save a little money by bringing our own bedding, but what I didn't know is they still provided the pillows and comforters. So instead of taking our two down comforters, pillows, AND sheets, I really only needed to bring the sheets and pillowcases. They also offered an end of stay cleaning service which we opted out of since it was €65 and the only "extra" things they did was clean the stove and inside of the fridge, and mop and vacuum the floor. Since there was a mop and vacuum in the bungalow it seemed silly to pay for them to do it.

The only real complaint we had about the kitchen was that the knives were as dull as hen's teeth and we ended up grabbing a packet of paring knives from the supermarket. Otherwise it was decently equipped for the amount of cooking we did there. Our bungalow didn't have a dishwasher, but I think some of the larger ones at that particular facility may have. The bathroom was a little smelly, so we got some toilet bowl cleaner and solved that problem right quick too.

Before we left, I was having concerns about the availability of groceries and such on the island. My experience with tourist areas in the past is that they tend to jack up the prices to silly levels, so I gathered up almost a weeks worth of food and piled it into the car. As with the comforters and pillows from home, this probably wasn't needed. There was a LIDL in De Koog (the village where our bungalow was located) as well as a Super de Boer. I also spotted an Albert Heijn in Den Burg (one of the main towns on the island). Next time we go I'll pack sandwich stuff (maybe a non moldy avocado and do the rest of the shopping on the island.

While I did enjoy seeing the seals at the Ecomare, it's probably not something I would go do again. The entry fee was €8.50, and I just felt like maybe there should've been more to it! I am not sad that I went though, how else would I have found out about the woolly rhino?

The Schipbreuk- en Juttersmuseum was great though. I'd go back there again for sure. It was so interesting to see all the things that washed up. The only downside was the video explaining the finds was all in Dutch. I caught some of it and Martijn helped fill in the blanks so it was alright in the end. I loved how much weird stuff he had found on the beaches!

I can't leave out the fact that we managed to do TWENTY ONE geocaches while we were there! I'm quite certain we walked at least 7000 miles this past week. My legs are aching, but I think it was worth it.

Don't you like my fabulous hat? It has a fold-down ear covering and is very warm.

The last thing I'll mention is the ferry. There's no road to the island, so you must take the ferry. The round-trip "ticket" was €35 for us and the car. If you go by bike or by foot the charges are different, and can be found on their website. It's a fairly quick ride, only about 20 minutes and they have restrooms and a cafe on board.

We enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. We plan on going back again sometime.