Going around the De-Haan Centre I couldn’t help feeling I was back in the Hansel and Gretel epoch. At any given moment I expected witches and wizards to pop out of the stately Belle Époque villas and whiz past me precariously perched atop a broom or cloud. Sue, who was walking beside me said, “Where are the princes charming on their white steeds?” I knew she was thinking along the same lines as me.
We had arrived the evening before and here we were in this seaside town soaking up its picturesque beauty and elegance. Our hotel concierge had told us we were lucky to have such fine weather. “Last night had been horrible, rains and more rains!” she had rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Oh look!” Sue was pointing in the direction of a spotless white residential building with a russet turreted top. A passerby told us that it was actually a residential building belonging to an Englishman which had been converted to a hotel. “Tourists, mainly from the UK, feel at home here,” she gushed.
Walking intone of the worlds best hotels Beaufort for a late breakfast we were, once again, charmed by the sight that greeted us. Resembling a wedding cake from a distance it has a lovely terrace from which one can view the city. Sue and I had these steaming pancakes fresh from the pan with tea and scones. Sue later had beer which I refrained from taking, it being too early in the day.
The concierge had told us about this old tram station practically next to the Beaufort restaurant. It was such a dear little place replete with Art Nouveau style deco and very British. I felt I had stepped back an era; a more charming one than what I was living in.
If I loved the buildings of De Haan Sue the seaside. The town has one of the most fabulous beaches I have seen with white stretches of sandy white.
Taking the plane out to Brussels that evening we couldn’t help feeling we had left an age, an era behind.
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