Lanzarote, Los dias cinco, seis, y siete (y ocho)

Lunes (Monday) 19 de Abril

Puerto del Carmen to Playa Blanca

14 mi./22.5 km

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Feeling fresh after a day off from riding, we set out for the Southern tip of the island. Originally, we had planned to bike along the "Bike Route" which follows the rugged southeastern coastline, but, you may recall, the "bike route" is a volcanic rock rubble field marked by the faint tracks of the lost, dead cyclists of Lanzarote. After talking to a local bartender who knew the route and confirmed our misgivings, we opted for pavement. Our route is shown in green. Luckily, the bartender pointed us toward the "old road" which runs parallel to a new road from Yaiza to Playa Blanca. Funny thing, at one time the old road used to be called the new road. The whole route turned out to be quite enjoyable. The first half was a steady, gradual climb from the beach into some foothills, finally reaching a plateau littered with jutting volcanic peaks and craters.

You can see the caldera a bit better in this shot:

Then we flew down through the towns of Uga and Yaiza, and we were glad to have gravity on our side. We made really great time, stopping here and there to take pictures and enjoy the view. We were surprised to find this right next to the road:

Salt! And lots of it. The Salinas de Janubio. I don't know what Janubio means, but "salinas" are salt pans. If the Salinas de Janubio got together with mucha pimienta negra, they could flavor all the sweetcorn in Minnesota (and any leftovers could be spread on roads in Winter).

At this point, the terrain flattened out and the wind began to blow up the valley, and seeing as it was the end of our day, we were tired, and because heavy backpacks tend to make bicycle seats less comfortable, there was a lot of whining. But we made it and had some time to enjoy the coastline before going out for supper. In the photo below, you can see the neighboring island, Fuerteventura, in the background.

That night, we rode our bikes down the coast until we found a suitable restaurant (local cuisine, with some vegetarian options and some seafood options). We opted for Paella, which is a rice dish with vegetables, and in Derek's case, every sea creature that they could trap, dig up, net, or spear. We're pretty sure there was some mermaid in there. The waiter wheeled our sizzling skillets out with a forklift--okay that's a slight exaggeration, but he really did wheel them out on a cart, and dish them out into gianormous plates, which he filled to the brim. It was so delicious we both had seconds. Needless to say, we didn't bike home; we walked along the coast moaning with agony, pushing our bicycles, and cradling our distended bellies. It was later that night, though, that Derek rolled over--much like a beached whale, in fact--and said in the most pathetic voice he could muster, "I ate Shamu." Laura laughed so hard she almost threw up.

Martes (Tuesday), 20 de Abril

Playa Blanca (hotel) to Playa de Mujeres

10 mi/16 km

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We hadn't yet gone swimming, so we headed for the South-eastern tip (El Papagayo), which was strewn with beaches. We ended up at Playa de Mujeres--though we stopped a couple of times to see some sights--and spent the day there, reading, lazing, and swimming. Our route is shown in blue. Here are some photos from along our way:

The Castillo de las Coloradas on Punta de Aguila built in 1778.

Another view of it capturing some of the sea-eaten lava rock of the coast.

The first good view of the beach we settled on.

A closer look.

Miercoles (Wednesday), 21 de Abril

Playa Blanca back to Puerto del Carmen

16 mi/ 25.6 km


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Now, during all of this time, we were trying to figure out from Ryanair (and news sources) whether or not we'd be able to ever leave the Canary Islands. Which we really only cared about because Derek was to give his Research Proposal Presentation in front of his department in 8 days. At this point, we still didn't really know anything but decided we had better head back to Puerto del Carmen, near the airport, where we could be more flexible if our flight actually DID leave (at this point, our flight had gone from the "cancelled" status to "reinstated" and was scheduled to leave the next day. As it turned out, we did leave that day, though were bumped to a later flight and didn't arrive home till the wee hours. There's a much longer story here, but we'll spare you, for now). So we returned, via the same way we arrived (the green route, but we took the purple route where those lines meet), and our new hotel was (conveniently) next to the bike shop. Thus, you have already seen our pictures from the journey.

The following pictures are the magical mixture of the lovely Jameos Playa, a lot of sangria, and the "last night in Paradise" mentality.

Lanzarote, Los dias tres y cuatro

Sabado (Saturday) 17 de Abril

Costa Teguise to Puerto del Carmen

16.5 miles/26.4 km

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This was a day of riding. We just had to get back down to Puerto del Carmen and we had all day to do it. So, we stopped at a couple of castles in Arrecife, also enjoyed some drummers in a parade there, and had a wonderful lunch in Playa Honda where I (Derek) had some great tuna and we shared some queso frito (i.e. fried goat's cheese drizzled with honey and rosemary--sounds weird, but it was awesome).

Our route, shown above in red, was the same as our first day, except for the last bit, shown in turquoise. The location of the two castles are designated by the green monopoly forts.

This is the backside of the Castillo de San Jose. It has since been turned into a modern art museum. We didn't feel like paying the five Euros to go in. Plus, we were all sweaty and in no condition to ponder modern art. Either way, the castle, made completely out of lava rock, was really cool and there were some fun pieces out front as well as a great view of the bay at Arrecife, as seen here.

So this is the next castle we came to. The Castillo de San Gabriel. Apparently only saints lived in castles. The name of the drawbridge in the foreground is "Puente de las bolas" due to the two cannon balls on top of it. In any case, this too was a lava rock castle and we did go in this one as it was free, though I think Laura and I both found the exterior and the views of the ocean far more interesting. The castle itself was built in 1590.

These are the drummers we mentioned. We don't really know what the occasion was, but they were drumming for a rather large parade winding through the narrow pedestrian streets of Arrecife. They were good, and loud, and a lot of fun.

Here I am a bit closer to the castle. You can see some sailboats in the background. Don't know what the occasion was, but there were a lot of them making their way past the castle.

And here's Laura firing a cannon towards the walls that hold the sea back from flooding Arrecife. Oops! Now Lanzarote is two islands.

Domingo (Sunday), 18 de Abril

The Teguise Market

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We took Sunday off from the bikes and rode a bus to the Sunday market in Teguise. Basically, every Sunday the locals gather here to sell goods to tourists like us. Some of the stuff is really ridiculous (like cheap beach towels and plastic sand castle making equipment) while other vendors have some really neat things, like jewelry made from the lava rocks of the island, though you have to be careful about what you're buying as some of the jewelry can be plastic imitation of lava rock. We also found some really nice handmade textiles and fabrics. Teguise itself was a quaint village with a nice town square and a castle on a hillside up above it. The day was pleasant and we had a really great time. We returned to Puerto del Carmen in the afternoon where we proceeded to lounge on the beach and do some sandy yoga before walking down the main street to find a really great restaurant where the host chatted us up about his Norwegian girlfriend and served us perhaps the best meal we had during the whole trip, culminating in strawberry flambee for dessert. It was phenomenal!

The map above shows a little shopping basket at Teguise.

This gives you a general feel of the Teguise Market: fairly crowded and with tons of vendors. In the background you can see the Castillo de Santa Barbara (again with the saints). It was first built in the 1300s and served to defend Teguise (the old capital) against Moorish raiders.

There was also lots of music at the market. Here's one of the many Spanish guitarists who was playing there.

Finally, a picture of the clock and bell tower in the main square. The name of the church to which the tower belongs is La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. As for the evening, unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures at the beach in Puerto del Carmen or at our restaurant. So, use your imagination.