I started to travel last Monday (10.08.2015) with the trains from Essen to Vlissingen, via Mülheim, Venlo, Breda and Roosendaal. Breskens my destination is situated in the north of Zeeuws-Vlanderen, a part of the Dutch province “Zeeland”. But Breskens is only a village with 4.800 inhabitants, a quarter of Sluis, but is the ferry habour of this town. The reason for staying I don’t know. I found a little bed & breakfast for 32,50 Euro per night (with a comprehensive breakfast)

In the forenoon I arrived and so I could discover the village on foot. The accommodation was located near the little shops of Breskens so that I could take only a few minutes to go there.

A supermarket “Plus”, a discount shop was in the centre and a little bit outside was the yellow competition of Albert Heijn, Jumbo. But I made yourself comfortable and went to “Plus”. Most of the cases in the morning in order to buy the newspapers and after my day trip in order to buy some chocolate. The sleeping room was too hot for custody of goods.

This first day I lent a bike at the bike rental outlet for making a day trip in the Western part of Zeeuws-Vlanderen. It cost only 6,50 Euro with a bike lock. Another bike rental outlet would have 3 Euro for the bike lock.

First destination was Oostburg (4,900 inhabitants), in the south of Breskens. In the former times I bought a map about “Zeeland” and this map from ANWB was a little bit old. A ring road around Schoondijke was not in this map. In a newer one this road is marked. Oostburg has a cinema, an indoor swimming pool (but is closing at the moment) and a hospital.

A chance encounter was the agency for temporary work “Tempo Team” where I gave the clerk my CV in order to read it and say about the job situation in this area. He kept the CV, gave me his business card. After that I cycled to Zuidsande, a hamlet of Sluis. And after that to Cadzand village and Cadzand Bad, the beach resort of Cadzand. There are a lot of hotels, restaurants and of course the big beach.

Due to my hunger and the long return journey to Breskens I decided not to swim in water. It would have not a problem to swim in my shorts and T-Shirt because it was very hot and I thought it would be dry fast but unforeseen circumstances with my feeds compelled me no to go in the sand.

In Nieuwvliet I ate something and I went then to Groes. Theses are little villages in the neighbourhood of Brekens and all of them are parts of Sluis.

Wednesday I took the bus line 42 from Breskens to Brugge, the Flemish part of Belgium. The line 42 is operated by Connexxion and De Lijn together. Some buses are from the Netherlands and some from Belgium. The journey took 86 minutes to Brugge main station where is a big station with a lot of connections in Belgium. After a break where the polices where the collaborates of De Ljin have searched something special. Official it was a check for tickets. But in Belgium the drugs are forbidden, like in Germany so they control.

Brugge was nice but very overcrowded with tourists. Waves of visitors come into the city centre and visit the town. But Brugge was a nice place for me because I found a book (The NBN-normen) about the norms for Belgian letters. This is very important for my applications and something else. With a bus at 2.07 pm I returned to Breskens.

Thursday I lent another one a bike in order to go to the East of Breskens. I visited the quarters Hoofdplaats (798 inhabitants), Biervliet (1.631 inhabitants but this belongs to Terneuzen), Ijzendijke (2.155 inhabitants), Waterlandkerkje (550 inhabitants) and Schoondijke (1.477 inhabitants) in the Netherlands. But I overran the south border of the Netherlands in order to go to the Flemish part of Belgium again, in Watervliet (1.644 inhabitants) and Waterman-Oudeland (461 inhabitants), quarters of Sint-Laurentius.

Watervliet has a nice church (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Hernelvaartchurch) in the heart of the centre, a parish hall and a little library. In the main street there is a baker where I bought a croissant. When I was paying the croissant an insect bit me. It hurt really one’s leg. I don’t if it has attacked a nerve? There was no bulge later.

In Schoondijke I ordered some Dutch chips and later an ice with strawberries and cream.

Friday I was in Vlissingen, the town on the other side of the “Westerschelde”, an arm of the sea. I only want to swim in Breskens, not in the sea, in a normal public swimming pool. But it’s only a little pool not to swim, only to stay in water. Before my holiday started I looked after public swimming pool in the area of Breskens.

From the harbour of Vlissingen to the swimming pool in the outside of the town I had go 45 minutes and it was warm and misty. I broke out in a sweat and cursed me that I wanted to go on foot and not to take the bus.

The public pool was a water park and the entrance cost 5,20 Euro but it is not only a pool for swimming even for everything and for the whole day. It’s cheap. In others water parks you have to pay 8 or 11 Euro.

The public pool was great. A pool for swimming and a zone for relaxing in water. OK, it was a small building but everything you need to staying a nice day in water.

After that I went (again) on foot the city centre of Vlissingen, a town direct to the sea. This town has a nice pedestrian area and nice shops. The beach is small and surrounded by a few high hotels. It’s safe to say the from the beach to the ferry habour is the destination about 45 minutes on foot. This day I swam and went on foot.

The last day I was in Sluis. I took the same bus line as Wednesday to Brugge but this one only to Sluis, in the Netherlands. The trip cost me 6 Euro but you get a multi-trip travel card.

In Sluis there are a lot of shops, restaurants etc.. But the buildings of the municipality are in Oostburg.

After the arriving (generally in Breskens) I thought it is a bleak area. You can do only swimming and go by bike. Over the years my favourite to be in nature become important in my life so that it was very wonderful there.

The last evening before I went back to Germany, there were a lot of clouts, a some raindrops but it was wonderful the wind on my body (I wore only a T-Shirt and a jeans). Now two days later I’m not ill. Especially the distance is great. I blossomed out. It was remarkable that the people on the street in Breskens or in Vlissingen always saluted. Perhaps it could be nerve-racking over the years.

Tomorrow I will writing an application to a company that offers an interesting job. I can have a fling there, nature, shops, a cinema, hospital, public pool, the sea (for swimming, or only watching to the many ships that are crossed the Westerschelde to their ports) and perhaps a good (or bad) neighbourhood). The only problem is, where are the doctors and where I can buy trousers in my size? In Vlissingen? Shoes I would order for a while from Cologne but perhaps the Dutch have a big shoe size, too and one of the little shops have my size or can order they. Concerning shoelaces I had to find a shoe shop because I have touched with the other shoe the right shoelaces and the laces unravelled. In Oostburg I found a shop shop but I didn’t look after the shoe size. But I have stored receipts.

In this 6 days I only read Dutch or Flemish newspapers (de Volksrant, De Morgen, De Standaard, AD, Gazet van Antwerpen, Het Nieuwblad and in Brugge I bought Le Soir and La Libre). I only knew what the Netherlands and Belgium view thought about the world situation. Yes there were a lot of German newspapers in the villages but I don’t read it. In most cases I bought two different Dutch and two different Flemish newspapers. All the newspapers are now at home with other Dutch magazines (about Dutch football or the Belgian comics „Suske en Wiske“ or other things).