I We were waiting here in Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote for some mail from Canada. Thanks to Barry's sister Kim for sending on the package, it arrived safely. Friends of ours from the sailing vessel Sal Darago are currently in Morocco just a few hundred miles away. We sailed on and off with them from Cookstown, Australia to Antigua in the Caribbean. We are in no particular hurry so we have decided to wait for them here. Meanwhile we have been exploring the island of Lanzarote. It is small but filled with beautiful landscape and interesting towns.
The first place we visited was the former home of Cesar Marique, an artist who was vey influential in way Lanzarote was developed for the tourist trade. He built his home in a lava tunnel and most of it was below the ground, there were skylight in some of the room and the whitewash on parts of the walls made it so that it did not seem dark and dingy. It was quite fascinating what could be down with the landscape to make a very unusual home.
We headed down to the south coast to Playa Blanca and found a very touristy little town and did what most of you think we do all the time, we had a lovely meal in the sunshine looking out of the ocean and sipping on a jug of Sangrai. It was lovely and relaxing to just sit and take in the atmosphere. We are traveling around on local buses which are inexpensive, clean and run pretty much on time, what more can you ask for.
A few days later the west coast was our destination. We discovered an all inclusive Club Med type of establishment. It had a very sheltered lagoon where you could kayak, SUP and wind surf. We headed to the coast line and scrambled around on the lava. I figured it was time to build an Inukshuk as well.
I am sorry to report the tide pools we very unexciting, there were no fish in them just a few small snails in boring white shells. I was wishing my grandchildren had been there with me to help me explore, I remember sitting beside some great tidepools in Australia with them.
We walked into to town to find some lunch as it was unlikely that the exclusive resort would consider serving us. On the way we saw this very colourful fishing boat sitting on this trailer ready to go back in the water at high tide.
We walked to the local fine arts museum. It is housed in a former fortress which protected the harbour in earlier centuries. It certainly is an inspired use of the building which was renovated to house the fine arts collection. Cesar Manrique's influence can be seen in the set up of the restaurant which was on the ground floor, his touch can be seen in many of the islands tourist attractions.
