Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. Waddenislanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms and barns are built with masts recovered from shipwrecks. The islands are surrounded by shipwrecks, and even today many containers wash ashore that are blown off the decks of cargo ships in the North Sea. The main source of income on Terschelling is tourism. There is some agriculture, but a large part of the island has become a nature reserve.
The Dutch Wadden (or Frisian) islands are very popular as a holiday resort for over a century already, for the Dutch as well as for the people living in the neighboring countries. Of the five (inhabited) Wadden islands Terschelling is the second largest, after Texel. Why particularly this island is so popular with the tourists is because, Terschelling is endowed with the longest beach of all Wadden islands. On the north side of the island not less than 30 kilometers of splendid white sandy beach, in some places over one kilometer wide, are waiting to welcome the tourists. And on the south side there's the Wadden Sea, one of the most important nature reserves of northwest Europe. As a result of the island's elongated shape there's no place on Terschelling further from the sea than half an hour's walk. Terschelling has a favorable climate compared with the rest of the Netherlands. Its winters are milder and its summers cooler. Throughout the year it has twice as many hours of sunshine as the mainland, and significantly less rain. The island is an paradise for lovers of nature and peace. Yet there is also enough diversion and fun on Terschelling to make it a popular vacation place for young people. People interested in arts and cultural activities will have a great time at the yearly unique Oerol festival, about which more later on.
