| I woke early in the morning, and looked out of my fourth-floor window of the Hotel Bilderberg Europa in Scheveningen. Not a tulip or a windmill in sight! You might think this a little strange for the Netherlands, but my Dutch friends had implored me … if you’re going to write about this trip, please avoid these clichés. This was my first visit to Scheveningen, but the name conjured up an image of a traditionally garbed Dutch fisherman sitting on the harbour wall swallowing raw herrings whole. There was no sign of him, either, just a view of the pier, rather reminiscent of Blofeld’s Alpine hideaway in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and a tantalising scrap of ash-blonde beach, glimpsed between two tall buildings of modern Scheveningen. My appointment in The Hague wasn’t till noon, so, after breakfast, I set out to explore. It was only a step or two to the beachfront promenade, and I found there were really two Scheveningens. The first is the resort, centred round the Kurhaus, or spa, and second is the harbour, some distance south, beyond the prominent red lighthouse I could see in the distance. They’re joined by one of the longest, cleanest beaches I’ve ever seen, and, at that early hour, a fleet of tractors were scurrying around it, towing equipment which would pick up any seaweed, litter, dog doo-dah, etc. and also rake the sand. On the beach itself were a surprising number of beach clubs, restaurants and bars, most of them with names such as Copacabana or Bora Bora, with the décor reflecting what the owners think such places look like. I don’t quite know how to describe these without seeming to put them down; that’s not my intention. In a Mediterranean resort, they’d probably be thought tawdry and tacky. Here, they’re just right. I ate in a couple of them during my stay, and I can report that, no matter what you think of the décor, the food is great! And, those open fires are most welcome when the evening chill sets in. Beyond the clubs, I found that the Sand Sculpture competition was in force and, protected by temporary barriers, the sculptures, made by various groups and organisations, were on display. The theme was ‘Mozart’, as this year was the 250th anniversary of his birth. On the other side of the promenade was the Sea-Life aquarium. At this early hour, it wasn’t yet open, but a subsequent visit proved it was well worth a call. It’s quite a hike down to the harbour. In retrospect, I wish I’d taken advantage of the hotel’s ‘rent-a-bike’ service; it’s only 11 euros a day. It was really too far to walk out and back in the time I had available to me, but I found I could catch a tram to The Hague from near the harbour, so off I set. There are actually three harbours at Scheveningen, as, although it’s still a fishing port, it’s also a container port, and leisure sailors moor their yachts and powerboats here, too. But, there was only the faintest smell of fish. My Dutch fisherman sitting on the harbour wall wasn’t there. In fact, there wasn’t a harbour wall! But, the habit of eating whole raw herrings is alive and well. There’s a statue of a herring-eater on the way to the harbour. And later, in The Hague, I saw two smartly dressed businessmen partaking of them at a stall outside the Binnenhof, or Parliament building. In fact, the harbour isn’t all that old. It celebrated its centenary only recently. But, fishing always went on here. Before the harbour was built, the habit was to haul specially built flat-bottomed boats across the beach with teams of horses to launch them. Very little trace remains of those days, except at the nearby Hague. In 1881, leisure visits to the seaside were just coming into vogue, and artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag, on hearing of plans to build a harbour, sought to capture Scheveningen as it was. But, he didn’t just do a painting. He produced the Mesdag Panorama, a massive cylindrical canvas, more than 40 feet high and 360 feet in circumference. After considerable restoration in the 1980s, this can be seen at 65 Zeestraat … the Netherlands’ largest painting, and the oldest 19th century panorama in its original location. Here, you aren’t just seeing a painting, though. It’s nearly as good as a visit to the Scheveningen of 125 years ago
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