Fuerteventura & Lanzarote 2008

Sunday, December 28th
After a late breakfast we drove to the beach and the fabulous sand dunes at El Jable right next to Corralejo. The sea however was too cold for our taste, thus we just relaxed in the sand all day long. The permanent wind is also not that entertaining unless you’re devoted to water sports. Later we had dinner in the town again.

Monday, December 29th
We took our first tour by car around the island, staying at the east coast. Among our targets was Caleta del Fuste, where Doris had already been at the end of 2000. We had a snack at a beach bar where we even got some free ice cream! The weather became overcast. During our drive back we had a stop at the ancient Guanches settlement. We saw one of the famous Molino windmills in Antigua. In the evening we had some pizza.

Tuesday, December 30th
It had been raining all night long, and it went on during the whole day. We walked through the town and had a snack at a Rock café. We tried our luck in La Oliva, but the museums were closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we drove on to Puerto del Rosario and went into a shopping mall. We had dinner in Corralejo in a nice restaurant close to the harbor, where we got Tapas and fine wine.

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
The sun was back again, and we went to the beach at El Jable once more, although it wasn’t that warm. But clouds and rain returned in the afternoon, and so we finally continued relaxing in our hotel. We had dinner in a nice steak house and spent the New Year’s Eve at the town beach of Corralejo; the sky was clear again. We really enjoyed how the people here welcomed the new year with party horns only, whereas at home there’s always this tremendous coldness and ugly bangery, both of which should be forbidden.

Thursday, January 1st, 2009
We toured around again, staying in the northern and central regions of the island. The weather was fine. Although I took some pictures, I didn’t quite remember now at what places we had been exactly; one of those was Betancuria. (Not because I’m too ignorant, but we simply didn’t keep a serious travel diary.) In the evening we had Paella.

Friday and Saturday, January 2nd+3rd
On these two days we didn’t do something special except relaxing at the hotel pool and having a snack at the pool bar. The evening programs included spare ribs at the Casa del Carne and an Irish karaoke bar with lots of Guinness and Kilkenny. Karaoke is something totally unusual for Austrians, and we really enjoyed it; no, we didn’t sing.

Sunday, January 4th
This day was our visit to Fuerteventura’s neighbor island Lanzarote. We decided to take an organized bus tour, as the ferry crossing turned out to be rather expensive for a single private vehicle. I can’t remember exactly in what directions we circumnavigated the island, but we came more or less across the whole island. First we went to the Timanfaya National Park, where we got demonstrated naturally hot stone and the usual vapor jets caused by water poured into artifical holes. Then the bus took us on narrow roads through the bizarre volcanic landscape of the national park, where leaving the bus was not allowed. We continued to La Geria where we tasted some regional wine that is planted in artificial pits. The next must-see was Jameos del Agua, a volcanic cave styled by the artist César Manrique. I was fascinated by the bluishly gleaming water that was purely natural. At the end of the tour there was some time to visit Los Hervideros, a gorgeous rocky site at the coast with the unleashed waves of the sea.

Monday, January 5th
We finally reached the south of Fuerteventura with our car. We stopped at the famous sand dunes in Jandía near Risco del Paso and explored them for some time. We had lunch in Morro del Jable and took a walk along the beach; it was really hot and sunny. Later we returned to Corralejo just in time for the traditional cheerful Epiphany procession.

Tuesday, January 6th
I guess this was just another day at the hotel pool, intermitted by a little shopping in town.

Wednesday, January 7th
On this day we attended a Jeep safari to explore the island’s characteristic landscape more closely. The vehicles took us from Corralejo over Lajares and La Oliva to the west coast at El Cotillo. We mostly went over dirt roads and once even through a dry river bed, what was quite adventurous.

Thursday–Saturday, January 8th–10th
No particular occurences on these final days, as it seems. Our flight back to Austria went on Saturday at 1.40pm.

I’m not quite sure whether I’d want to return to Fuerteventura too soon. I’m not doing any water sports, so the weather isn’t really the kind I prefer. The landscape is not that diverse as that of Tenerife. The island makes sense if you’re into bathing or sports. Nevertheless, we agreed on getting to know every of the Canary Islands, at least the larger ones. It’s best to go there in spring or fall, but it might be getting cooler in winter than one might be willing to accept. The next island we’ll visit there might most probably be Gran Canaria. But it’s currently not clear when this will be, there are other plans for us in 2009.