Schiermonnikoog

Luckily, after the cancelled holidays of this year, there was finally some time away for us. Not aboard, but to the island of Schiermonnikoog.

Schiermonnikoog is one the islands north of the Dutch mainland. It is the smallest inhabited island of our country. There are living around 950 persons.
“Oog” is another word for island, “Schier” refers to the gray and “monnik” is the Dutch word for monk. So the name of the island refers to “the island of the gray monks” and that is explained by that the monks of the Cisterciënzer order who lived in the past on the island.

We had a lot of luck with the weather. It was only one afternoon a bit chilly and windy. For the rest of the week was a wonderful Indian Summer.

Schiermonnikoog is a great island for bicycling and hiking. The are many paths specially for that purpose that will take you almost all over the island. It is also very nice that as a visitor you’re not allowed to bring a car along, it is very quiet with traffic on the island (only the residents are allowed to have motorized vehicles).

We made many walks. We started already before breakfast. Breakfast was ready was ready at 8:30, but then we already had our first walk.
The island not has beautiful beaches, but also the awesome forest. It is a very diverse island.

The beach of Schiermonnikoog is unique! Schiermonnikoog has the widest beach in all of Europe.
When you walk over these huge beaches, you almost feel like walking through a desert… but the sea in the distance will show you are not. Oh, and the wind of course…

We made many great walks, but one was special.
In the hotel where we were staying breakfast was ready at 8:30. As we both are always quite really awake, we made already our first walk before breakfast.
One morning when we got out for our walk, we noticed that there a morning dawn laying over the ground. It was truly beautiful!

We will be visiting this island again, that is for sure….