The journey to Birmingham airport was good, despite the heavy rain and spray from all the lorries. We were checked in and having breakfast by 6.15am and I was really glad I hadn’t paid extra to pre-book the seats as we were all sitting together (although sometimes I don’t know whether this is a good thing…!)
The flight to Lanzarote takes about four hours, or so I thought, but our pilot managed to do the journey in three and a half due to a strong tail wind. It was a typical charter flight, short on space and noisy, made even worse by the family in front who let their son play his DVD of the Pink Panther at full blast until the woman in the next row asked them to turn it down!
We arrived to bright sunshine and warm temperatures and while Keith went to get the luggage I queued up at the Gold Car rental desk to pick up our hire car for the two weeks. It was a bit of a long wait and she tried to sell me extra insurance but we stayed firm and a couple of minutes later we were looking at our little red Seat Leon. The first challenge was trying to find the mechanism to open the boot, which was hidden underneath the Seat badge! The second challenge was trying to get all of our luggage in the boot and we failed! The children ended up having a case between them on the back seat!
Villa Plus had given us excellent directions to get to our villa in Playa Blanca and with Keith reading them and me driving we had a very good journey, admiring the scenery and the volcanoes in the distance. The car was fine, if a little short on power. I put my foot down to overtake a car going up a hill and nothing happened! I put it into third and still nothing happened (it was a good job it was a dual carriageway!) so I don’t think I’ll be doing a lot of overtaking while we’re out here, which is a good thing!
We found the villa without getting lost once. It’s situated in a residential area a short way from the town so we’ll be able to walk in every night, something I was delighted about as I can have a couple of glasses of wine and not worry. At first I thought the villa was a little dark, but as we went around opening shutters the light flooded in. By now it was really quite hot so we unpacked and then ventured down to the promenade for a drink and a snack. There were a good few people on the beach and the views over to Fuerteventura were stunning. We found a restaurant, ordered some drinks (the first beer!) and sat back and relaxed.
The food was very good and the waiter was highly impressed that Sophie ordered in Spanish – he was really pleased that she’d spoken his language and kept patting her on the back! Keith had ordered a pizza (which was huge) while the children went for spaghetti and I chose an omelette. All the food was fresh and delicious so we’ll earmark the place for an evening meal in the future.
On the way back to the villa I treated myself to a new pair of sun glasses (I’d left mine at home but needed a new pair anyway) and we popped into a Spar to get some essentials for breakfast.
Back at the villa the children went into the pool while Keith and I sat and relaxed. It was about 5pm but the sun was still shining and it was still very warm so we’ve already gained an extra couple of hours of daylight!
In the evening we strolled down to the promenade and had a good walk around to explore. There are lots of shops, bars and restaurants along the promenade and in the town. It seemed very quiet and the restaurants along the front were deserted. In the distance we could see another area of bright lights so that’ll be a place to explore later on (we later found out it was the Marina). We called into a little bar for a drink as none of us were really hungry after our big lunch. It was very friendly and a pint of San Miguel was only 2 euros so I can see us going back there!
A couple of the restaurants looked very busy so we picked one called Volcan de Timanfaya after the area of volcanoes on the island. The menu was extensive but as they included chicken fajitas Sophie had begged us to go there! The maître d’ was a bit of a character and the waiter a real joker. The place was very busy and although I had my reservations (big menu, on the front) the food was actually very good. Keith opted for lamb chops thinking he’d get a small portion but there was a huge pile on his plate when it arrived! I chose breaded veal cutlet while Mikey went for pork ribs (do I need to say what Sophie had?). The grilled meat dishes came with either jacket potato (very good with a sour cream and chive dressing) and vegetables and they were delicious. Sophie was beaten by her fajitas – there was a lot of chicken but she said they were very, very good. I enjoyed half a bottle of Rioja with my meal and it felt really great that I didn’t have to drive back.
None of us could manage a dessert so we paid the bill (about 60 euros) and waddled off back to the villa where it wasn’t long before we were all tucked up in bed!
No comments:
Post a Comment