Tuesday 26 March 2013
Lanzarote - day 7
For our final day we decided on a cultural tour - we rented a car and travelled to the Jardin de Cactus, then to Teguise, to the castle and Museo de la Pitatería, then back down to the Fundación Manrique. We then moved to the coast, to Arrecife and had lunch there, then we visited the castle and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Castillo San José, then back to Nazaret to visit LagOmar, the house of actor Omar Sharif, also suggested by Cesár Manrique. Both the Manrique house and LagOmar ware encased in volcano bubbles, some really spectacular architecture. What a sight for sore eyes! We really enjoyed the day.
Lanzarote - day 6
Nice long walk midway along the southern massif, about 12 km to Playa Quemada, where we had a rewarding swim in the ocean :) Quite hot, but still windy and pleasant.
We then moved on to el Golfo, los Herra... and las Salinas, three spectacular viewpoints along the western coast. The ocean was really amazing today.
Back to the bungalow complex we had a shower, a pint of lager-top at the Black Bull, and a nice dinner at Luis', where Lino bought an extra bottle of red wine to wash down the nice meal.
We bought a map of the island. Tomorrow, last day here, we're renting a car and have a cultural tour :)
We then moved on to el Golfo, los Herra... and las Salinas, three spectacular viewpoints along the western coast. The ocean was really amazing today.
Back to the bungalow complex we had a shower, a pint of lager-top at the Black Bull, and a nice dinner at Luis', where Lino bought an extra bottle of red wine to wash down the nice meal.
We bought a map of the island. Tomorrow, last day here, we're renting a car and have a cultural tour :)
Lanzarote - day 5
This morning we hiked to the island's highest volcano, Famara, at 653m. The hike wasn't too steep but my heels need a massage now... The view from the flat top was, needless to say, spectacular. Just before the climb we stopped by a village on the beach, a surfers' paradise, where the waves were indeed quite high. There were dunes and the sea from there was really something! You could see the surf spray going well inland. We came down on the other side of the mountain, to the village of Haria.
Back to the cars we went to the Jameos de Agua, actually the other side of the tunnel formed by the Cueva de los Verdes. This collapse had been manhandled by local architect Cesár Manrique, making thus an installation of subterranean lake of sea water, swimming pool (once a disco), and vulcanology museum. Although the latter showed the signs of age (it's been devised in the late 60s) it was all rather interesting. In the lake you can see quite a large number of white blind shrimp-like tiny creatures, normally only found in the dark depth of the sea...
Tonight we'll be dining in Teguise, in a traditional restaurant, where there'll be a reggae gig and all.
Quite a tiring day, although very interesting and intense, as usual.
Back to the cars we went to the Jameos de Agua, actually the other side of the tunnel formed by the Cueva de los Verdes. This collapse had been manhandled by local architect Cesár Manrique, making thus an installation of subterranean lake of sea water, swimming pool (once a disco), and vulcanology museum. Although the latter showed the signs of age (it's been devised in the late 60s) it was all rather interesting. In the lake you can see quite a large number of white blind shrimp-like tiny creatures, normally only found in the dark depth of the sea...
Tonight we'll be dining in Teguise, in a traditional restaurant, where there'll be a reggae gig and all.
Quite a tiring day, although very interesting and intense, as usual.
Lanzarote - day 4
Another great day, hiking along a canyon, the Barranco in the Famara range. Spectacular scenery throughout, basaltic columns, lush vegetation, we even met with a gallinula ploropus, a polla de agua with great deep green feathers. The wind was quite fierce and we also had a shower, but overall the day has been great.
We also passed from Tiguise, the original capital of the isle, although obviously during their siesta, as most shops were closed... The pueblo is nice, quite characteristic. We had a cerveza and a carrajillo in a local bodega, where we'll be dining tomorrow night.
Tonight's dinner will be a paella at Luis :)
I'm really enjoying this holiday - every day seems more interesting than the previous one. We also celebrated today's NOTAV march with our own pucture with the NOTAV flag, and a collective shout of "a sara' dura" echoing down the valley.
We also passed from Tiguise, the original capital of the isle, although obviously during their siesta, as most shops were closed... The pueblo is nice, quite characteristic. We had a cerveza and a carrajillo in a local bodega, where we'll be dining tomorrow night.
Tonight's dinner will be a paella at Luis :)
I'm really enjoying this holiday - every day seems more interesting than the previous one. We also celebrated today's NOTAV march with our own pucture with the NOTAV flag, and a collective shout of "a sara' dura" echoing down the valley.
Friday 22 March 2013
Lanzarote - day 3
What an excellent day! We started out this morning and walked to the top of Caldera Blanca, a nearly perfect circular caldera with a sort of circular green oasis in the centre. We had a spot of rain there, but nothing to worry about - it stopped as soon as it arrived and the wind dried us up just as quick. On the way there we encountered an endemic bird, the Upara bastard, a sort os small ostrich - although it can fly, it walks on the ground not to fall pray to the falcons flying about. We then moved on to a walk around the Montaña Colorada, but we didn't make it 'round as we were a bit pressed for time. We moved on to another volcano, where we actually went INSIDE the caldera. The scenery is truly amazing!!!
We had lunch at the Bodega Rubicón, a winery of the wine region, where we had excellent food for a decent price, under 15 euros each, including the wine.
The best part of the day had yet to come, though. A tour in the Montañas del Fuego, Parque Nacional de Timanfaya. You can only go on tour on the local coach, as no other vehicle or walker is authorised on the preserved area. The tour was well worth it though - the scenery is grand! You can just about imagine the kind of force of nature involved in the rumbling of lava rolling down the mountain. You go from crumbling masses to smooth deserts, often in the space of a few paces one from the other. It really is quite hard to describe - I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure they give enogh credit to the landscape. [pics will be added once processed]
As I said, an excellent day out, with lots of magnificent sites, although we didn't do much walking.
We had lunch at the Bodega Rubicón, a winery of the wine region, where we had excellent food for a decent price, under 15 euros each, including the wine.
The best part of the day had yet to come, though. A tour in the Montañas del Fuego, Parque Nacional de Timanfaya. You can only go on tour on the local coach, as no other vehicle or walker is authorised on the preserved area. The tour was well worth it though - the scenery is grand! You can just about imagine the kind of force of nature involved in the rumbling of lava rolling down the mountain. You go from crumbling masses to smooth deserts, often in the space of a few paces one from the other. It really is quite hard to describe - I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure they give enogh credit to the landscape. [pics will be added once processed]
As I said, an excellent day out, with lots of magnificent sites, although we didn't do much walking.
Lanzarote - day 2
This morning we raised quite early, around 7, and we took a walk along the beach as the town was waking up. I like walking early in the morning, there's a good feeling to it. The cherry on the cake was seeing two girls INSIDE a gym, running on the platform, when they could have done it outside in the fresh air, along the seafront - really ridiculous!
We then had breakfast at Tentation, a bakery that also sells hot drinks and juices. In our 'package' we also have breakfast (and dinner) included. The choice of food was very good, we can try something different every day.
We then set out and went to the village of Ye with the car. We have two guides with us, one who speaks Italian and the other Spanish and English, so I could finally practice some of my Spanish un poco ;) From Ye we started our walk along the volcano La Corona in the N of the island, and we reached the top quite easily. There's no volcanic activity anymore in Lanzarote, and all the calderas are closed at the bottom. Along the way we saw quite a few endemic plants and we stopped here and there to hear some geological explanations. The landscape is really peculiar, all very interesting, rather unusual for our Alpine standards. We then walked along the mountain, to the local water reservoir, and further on to the Northern cliffs - something really spectacular, basaltic cliffs dropping down some 200m to the ocean. The walk was very pleasant and not hard at all. Plus, the weather too has been great!
Back to the car we stopped for a fruit smoothie, then we went to la Cueva de los Verdes, a spectacular tunnel made by the descending lava. This can be visited because part of it collapsed revealing an entrance. It's very likely that there are hundreds of similar tunnels throughout the island. After returning home we had another refreshing dip into the swimming pool, then we went back to yesterdays' restaurant for dinner, but tonight we had a 'proper' meal of starters (complimentary), soup, stew with potatoes and dessert. The potatoes here are as We met with the Geo group at the Orio airport (BG). The flight -4 hrs- was quite uneventful and on Lanzarote we base at Celeste Apartments, in Costa Teguise. Very cozy, extremely nice setting, I'd surely recommend it. It's a one bedroom flatlet with a small patio, kitchen area and bathroom in a apartment complex. THere's also a swimming pool in the complex, although we're told that the sea's warmer...
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool. as the scenery. A great first day of trails :)
We then had breakfast at Tentation, a bakery that also sells hot drinks and juices. In our 'package' we also have breakfast (and dinner) included. The choice of food was very good, we can try something different every day.
We then set out and went to the village of Ye with the car. We have two guides with us, one who speaks Italian and the other Spanish and English, so I could finally practice some of my Spanish un poco ;) From Ye we started our walk along the volcano La Corona in the N of the island, and we reached the top quite easily. There's no volcanic activity anymore in Lanzarote, and all the calderas are closed at the bottom. Along the way we saw quite a few endemic plants and we stopped here and there to hear some geological explanations. The landscape is really peculiar, all very interesting, rather unusual for our Alpine standards. We then walked along the mountain, to the local water reservoir, and further on to the Northern cliffs - something really spectacular, basaltic cliffs dropping down some 200m to the ocean. The walk was very pleasant and not hard at all. Plus, the weather too has been great!
Back to the car we stopped for a fruit smoothie, then we went to la Cueva de los Verdes, a spectacular tunnel made by the descending lava. This can be visited because part of it collapsed revealing an entrance. It's very likely that there are hundreds of similar tunnels throughout the island. After returning home we had another refreshing dip into the swimming pool, then we went back to yesterdays' restaurant for dinner, but tonight we had a 'proper' meal of starters (complimentary), soup, stew with potatoes and dessert. The potatoes here are as We met with the Geo group at the Orio airport (BG). The flight -4 hrs- was quite uneventful and on Lanzarote we base at Celeste Apartments, in Costa Teguise. Very cozy, extremely nice setting, I'd surely recommend it. It's a one bedroom flatlet with a small patio, kitchen area and bathroom in a apartment complex. THere's also a swimming pool in the complex, although we're told that the sea's warmer...
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool. as the scenery. A great first day of trails :)
Lanzarote - day 1
We met with the Geo group at the Orio airport (BG). The flight -4 hrs- was quite uneventful and on Lanzarote we base at Celeste Apartments, in Costa Teguise. Very cozy, extremely nice setting, I'd surely recommend it. It's a one bedroom flatlet with a small patio, kitchen area and bathroom in a apartment complex. THere's also a swimming pool in the complex, although we're told that the sea's warmer...
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool.
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)