Germany Beach Trip!
- Mallery Zion
- Mar 27, 2018
- 3 min read
Knowing that I had never been to the ocean, for a late birthday present my friend Laura, her mother Monika, and her mother's friend Sabina kindly planned a surprise trip to the cutest fisherman and harbor towns up along the North Sea!
Going back to the beginning: We loaded up on Haribo gummy snacks and hit the road. Laura and I fell asleep on the car ride there, so I wish I remembered more of the drive. It was a 2 hour drive from Vreden to a beautiful town called Emden! When we first got there, we drove around the green countryside searching for a beach for me to see and touch the ocean for the first time!
We came to this wind turbine (Windkraftanlage) farm, and next to it was a big levee. We climbed up the steep hill and there was my first ever view of the ocean!!!
After that, we decided to go up one of the famous lighthouses "Der Campener Leuchtturm". This was a cute little historic spot, with a pretty nice view. It was quite the feat to climb up 320 stairs with a sprained ankle!
Then we drove around trying to find a nicer beach to relax at and touch the water. I think we found a nice one! The sun was out and the sky was blue! The sand and shells on this beach were so nice! I brought a few shells home! This was my first time touching the ocean!
My favorite part of this area was the nautical town of Greetsiel
When we got to this harbor "Hafen Greetsiel", the overwhelming beauty made us hungry of course. We ate at a cute Greek restaurant down the cobbled lane named Zorbas (just like Dancing Zorbas from My Big Fat Greek Wedding)! Laura and I had the traditional dish called moussaka, and it was SO good!
Walking around this area was extremely quaint, nautical, and eclectic. There were tons of fisherman, seal, sailor, and yellow raincoat souvenirs peaking out of the store windows. I brought back a ship wheel magnet with the town name, and a nice big seashell from a shell shop for my mom to put her pearls in.
Along with everything nautical themed, their friendly greeting "Moin Moin!" is found everywhere.
Then we drove a bit and found a big beach area next to a sort of community center and restaurant. I don't know what this area or town was called. There was a beach that was covered in these roofed beach chairs. People own/rent these so they always have a spot to sit on the beach. At the water's edge it was stone that went down into it. There was also a marathon going on at the same time we were there, so there was plenty of people to witness us taking pictures. There even was a nice little tower to climb up that had a great view. It was also FREEZING especially with all the wind coming off of the water!
So back in Emden, it is more of a modern harbor town. I'm one for small, old time, and more in touch with nature towns. But I did enjoy Emden. We ate at a good pizza restaurant - the only place that was open when we were walking around late. It was nice walking around at dusk with not many people out. Before we went back to our hotel I remember we sat in I think a type of more bar and grill style indoor cafe. We did a lot of walking around the town, and had to walk a long way back to the hotel.
We stayed at Hotel Faldernpoort. It was nice, and very interestingly set up. I was most impressed by Laura and I each getting our own duvets on the same bed. They also left mini packets of Haribo Gummibärchen on the bed. I vaguely remember the latch to the bathroom being interesting. They had a nice continental breakfast in the morning too! I'm pretty sure I got all of my Emden and Greetsiel postcards from the hotel lobby.
This beach trip was so much fun!
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