I come from a lovely little fisher’s town in a Dutch region
called Zeeland (‘sea-land’). The big mussel statue right at the entrance of the
village shows how devoted we are to our trade-mark. I am sure every villagers
as well as visitors owns at least one picture posing proudly in front of the
gigantic shell-fish!
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| The Big Mussel in Bruinisse |
Because the seafood we eat (muscles, lobster, oysters, razor
clams etc.) is freshly caught from the North Sea, I feel that I have a
legitimate excuse to be a real fish snob. There is no way I would satisfy my
seafood-cravings with the tasteless, frozen fish you get in London!
Not having traveled much in England yet, and only
experienced greasy Fish ‘n Chips wrapped up in a newspaper, I did not realize in the slightest there did exist such as thing as a sea-food heaven in Britain!
But after getting off at the wrong junction on the A2 on our way back to London
from The Netherlands, we somehow accidentally ended up in a true ‘fishy’
paradise named Whitstable!
This charming fishing village is by far one of the nicest
places I have ever visited. The fish market in the harbor is very impressive because
it offers some of the very finest oysters and fresh fish, for reasonable prices.
Judging from the oyster shell recycling I was not the only person who enjoyed slurping
the juicy raw oysters with a bit of lemon juice or a dash of Tabasco on it,
whilst sipping on a glass of fizz!
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| Piles of empty oyster shells! |
We walked along the beach path and admired all the beautiful
houses and the quirky colorful fisherman’s huts looking out on to the shingle
beach and the North Sea. I could definitely see myself living here in summer
months.
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| I want the pinke one! |
We also played a game at the beach: who could throw a pebble
into the sea the furthest. Being quite terrible at the game, we moved on to go
on a proper oyster hunt! Sadly we found no pearls, but we did collect heaps of
oysters (which we returned untouched back to the sea of course).
After a pint at the Old Neptune (which is slap bang on the
beach!) we regrettably had to leave the salty air and head back to the Big Smoke.
J promised to treat me on a romantic weekend in Whistables in summer, I am
beyond excited to discover what other things this picturesque village has to
offer!
Liefs,
Dutchy xx
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| Bruinisse vs. Whitstable? |