Happy New Year!

Have a great New Year!

Here's to 2012!

Cheers!

Back to reality

Today has passed in a blur of washing, unpacking and shopping, all the while accompanied by the steady fall of rain out of a grey and gloomy sky. What a welcome home! I've realised that although it's wonderful to escape the cold and grey in warmer climes, it's a nasty shock coming back to it! At least in the summer there's some hope of sun and warmth when you get home!

I woke up late which was a surprise as I never slept in while in Lanzarote. I can't even blame the time difference as there wasn't one! It took a while to get going and I resisted for a few hours but we had to go and do some shopping and the scattered cases blocking up the rooms was not a good look!

It's amazing how quickly a holiday can be dismantled and put away. Within a couple of hours the luggage had all gone and everything tidied up, the only clue that we'd been away the piles of colour-coded washing waiting to be loaded into the machine and the huge ironing basket...oh, and our tans which look really strange and certainly not natural! I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb in Tesco's this afternoon among all the pale faces!

 It was back to our normal routine in the evening. Keith went to the pub to deliver the cigarettes and to catch up with the gossip, of which there was a bit, for once!

Well, it's over...

...And we're home safe and sound.

We were all up early this morning and out of the villa by 8.30am which was a good thing as we had a slight hiccup with finding out where to leave Lump. We naturally headed for Departures at the airport when really we should have gone to Arrivals where we picked her up. We almost (and I say almost) left her in a completely different terminal altogether, which would have been fun when we came to hand the keys in! At one point I did wonder how many circuits of the airport we were going to do by the time we found the right place!

As we were early we grabbed a coffee and a pastry for breakfast before checking in at 10am. I was then able to sneak onto the internet to update this and catch up with...nothing at all really!!

Our flight left a few minutes early but the pilot warned us we had a head wind so it took us a bit longer to get home. I put a pair of earphones in and just switched off for almost the whole flight, listening with a lot of pleasure to some favourite music, namely Talk Talk, The Psychedelic Furs and some vintage U2. This meant I didn't have to listen to the two year old near us who screamed every time the seatbelt light went on and obviously didn't want to sit in her seat! I'm so glad I wasn't her mother!

Landing at Birmingham at 5.30pm was a return to earth with a bump in more ways than one! It was cold and windy and dad wasn't there to meet us! Typical me, I started to worry and imagine all sorts of horrors, but the reality was that he hadn't left home until 5.30 himself as he thought we weren't going to land until almost six!

I drove his car home and let me tell you, the M6 was not pleasant! What a rude awakening! Mum was at our house to greet us and when they left the kids literally tore all the wrapping off the presents we left behind. The house was in uproar! Luckily we managed to get a table at the local pub so we went there for a quick meal and then it was home to survey the cases, the mess and the stack of mail!

PS...I've updated the blog with lots of photos and some weblinks and also added some more stuff that I forgot about (like Mikey's haircut!).

Marina Rubicon 

Galeria Bar 

Last day...and someone gets a Spanish haircut...

So, today is our last day as we’ll be setting off early tomorrow to catch our plane which leaves at 1pm. It’s been a most enjoyable holiday but a very strange experience celebrating Christmas in another country, especially as it’s been so warm. The weather has been considerably better than I expected with (as yet) only one morning where we saw rain. We have been guaranteed sunshine from around 8am to 6pm with the real warmth coming through between about 9am and 4pm. After that it gets a little cooler but it was wonderful to be able to sit out on the terrace at 5pm and still feel the lingering warmth in the sun, especially as it would be pitch dark at home at that time.

It hasn’t felt like Christmas at all, I’ll be honest, and I still get a little jolt of shock when I see Christmas decorations in the restaurants and shops. It feels like it should be June or early July and I really can’t believe we’re in mid-winter. I have a feeling we’ll get a shock when we return home tomorrow and feel the much colder temperatures!

We’ve loved the island very much and it hasn’t changed for the worse at all since we last visited in the 1990s. There’s so much to do here and we haven’t done half the things we wanted to do such as visit Fuerteventura or La Graciosa island, see the beautiful cactus gardens or explore the capital Arrecife. I have a feeling we’ll be back again.

I’m not sure we’ll rent the same villa again, though! It’s been OK, but we’ve had several niggles (with the pool) and the toilet in our en-suite refuses to flush every now and again which Keith has to fix by taking the cistern apart. We did mention it to Villa Plus and we’ll have to leave them a note tomorrow warning them about it for future customers. There’s been a strange smell pervading the house for the two weeks we’ve been here and no matter how many doors and windows I leave open it still persists!

The bathrooms could do with updating and I really wish Spanish villa owners would take a leaf out of American villa owners’ books and provide BIGGER beds! Our bed was a small double which has meant that Keith and I haven’t slept together for two weeks as we found it so uncomfortable being crammed together in a tiny bed! Not romantic, I can assure you, after almost 20 years being married! Perhaps when we were first together but now we’re used to our own space in bed! Beds in the US are normally at least a Queen size (5ft?) and it would really add to the experience, believe me! Perhaps I should start a campaign!

We spent the morning shopping for presents to take home and wandering around the shops, picking up some very good bargains. The Canary Islands are not part of the EU when it comes to duty allowances so we can only bring a certain amount of alcohol, cigarettes and perfume back with us. But the bargains more than make up for it! Keith bought his mate Dave two packs of cigarettes at a very cheap price and it does explain why some people just come here to pick up duty free tobacco.

On the way back to the villa we called in, very suddenly, to a hairdresser's salon that we passed every day for Mikey to get a haircut (how I forgot to mention this originally is beyond me!). He insisted he wanted it done as his hair was rather long and messy. The hairdresser sat him down and asked us how we wanted it, but when she started shaving it she left it really long on top, so he resembled a palm tree!

I started to panic but after she finished shaving his hair she wet it and then expertly cut the top so he had a very neat and short new haircut!

Back at the villa I did as much packing as I could before relaxing with a book and enjoying the last of the winter sunshine. The clouds that had been hanging around all morning cleared away to a beautiful blue sky and Keith and I both savoured the warmth!

Every cloud has a silver lining.

 

 

Pool cover on and everything tidied up outside ready for our departure.

 Our evening was spent at two bars – saying goodbye to the Marina with a last drink there and then another drink at the Galeria bar where it was very busy for a change. In fact, the whole resort was a lot busier than it has been and although we’d booked a table at the Volcan de Timanfaya, the place was packed and we had to wait a few minutes before our table was ready.

The sun sets on the Marina...and on our holiday.

 As always, we had an enjoyable meal with starters of chicken soup for the children, garlic bread for Keith and a gorgeous prawn cocktail for me, which was easily the best I’d ever had, and included pineapple, apples and lettuce with big juicy prawns and a delicious sauce.

Keith re-visited his shoulder of lamb while Mikey had the last pizza of his holiday, Sophie had chicken cordon bleu while I opted for veal escalope, and very good it was too!

Mustafa and Raoul - our waiters at the Volcan de Timanfaya

Not sure of this waiter's name but he was a great laugh too.

We paid a last visit to the ice-cream parlour before going home and turning in early, in readiness for the journey home tomorrow!

Fundacion Cesar Manrique and we’re thwarted by the piggies…

 

After breakfast we headed off to the house where Lanzarote’s most famous son, Cesar Manrique, used to live. His house, with several rooms made from lava bubbles, is a haven of peace and tranquillity, full of beautiful works of art (I saw two Picassos) and sculptures. As well as his own sculptures and paintings he has works by other Spanish artists and I tried to work out, without any success, what some of them symbolised. His trademark contrast of white floors and walls, against the black volcanic rock and the deep green of various plants and cacti was everywhere and is something I particularly love. 

We wandered through the fantastic rooms looking at his furniture and admiring the water features and plants dotted about. Outside, one huge white wall is covered with a multi-coloured mural and a tinkling fountain adds to the serenity and calm of the building.

The children had an ice-cream and I had a cup of coffee before I discovered a gift shop crammed full of beautiful jewellery, bags and scarves. I couldn’t resist buying a gorgeous handbag, totally different to anything I’d seen back home, and I spotted a lovely scarf and necklace as presents for my mum.

I really could have stayed at the house all day and just enjoyed wandering around the gardens, but Keith and the children were growing restless (they don’t appreciate his works of art as much as I do) so I reluctantly followed them out to the car. Keith had a yearning to go to the Papagayo beaches, just outside Playa Blanca so we set off across the interior of the island, meandering through sleepy little towns and villages and crossing a fertile plain where herds of goats grazed. We also passed through the region of La Geria again, where most of the wine production is located and gazed at the distant volcanoes, all different colours under the blue sky.

Papagayo is a natural reserve and we had to pay 3 euros to visit the area. There is no proper road, just a very dusty and rough dirt track and I drove Lump very slowly, just in case I got a puncture on the sharp stones. Several other rental cars had no such qualms and passed me very quickly in clouds of dust. It was a bumpy, uncomfortable journey but the beaches at the end of the road are well worth the effort of getting there. We hadn’t intended to stay so we hadn’t got any swimwear with us, but if you’re a beach bum they’re definitely the place to head to. Several boats were moored some distance from the beach and we had a fantastic view over to Fuerteventura. There were no bars or cafes and if we were staying any longer we’d definitely go back and spend some time there with a picnic…maybe we should have gone there on Christmas Day!

After another bumpy ride back we drove into Playa Blanca and had a pizza at a restaurant called L’Artista overlooking the beach. The portions were very generous so after lunch it was back to the villa and a long snooze by the pool!

In the evening we decided to try a new restaurant which went by the rather long name of El Horno de la Abuela. Sophie told me that “Abuela” is Grandmother but we had no idea what the rest of the name meant! Forever afterwards it was known, rather rudely as "The Horny Grandmother"!

We drove into the resort for a change and parked on a side street and then walked the short distance to the Galeria Bar. We were a bit later than normal, owing to the large late lunch we’d enjoyed so by the time we were ready to eat it was almost 8.30pm. Unfortunately, El Horno de la Abuela was “complet!” so Keith didn’t get to eat the suckling pig he fancied after all…perhaps there’s a conspiracy amongst the piggies!

We opted instead for a restaurant right on the front called Brisa Marina. It was pretty busy but they managed to squeeze us into a table at the back. It was an enjoyable evening, the food was very good and the waiting staff efficient and friendly without being overbearing. We skipped starters for obvious reasons and plunged straight into the meaty main courses. I chose escalope (veal, I’m afraid to say) with a marsala sauce served with green beans, carrots, a little heap of rice and chips. Not sure I needed both lots of carbohydrates! Sophie had a chicken escalope, breaded, with chips and veggies, and both Keith and Mikey went for lamb. Mikey opted for shoulder (not as big as the Volcan de Timanfaya) while Keith had a leg. Again, his wasn’t massive, but he said it was very tasty. I chose a Marques de Caceres Rioja to wash it all down and very good it was, too, despite the waiter giving the glass to Keith to taste…as a woman am I not supposed to know anything about wine?!! Hmph!

Brisa Marina was the only restaurant that didn’t offer us a complimentary glass of honey rum (or a liqueur of your choice if you were a valued customer) at the end of the meal. We didn’t mind, but it was the exception to the rule. We passed on the dessert at the restaurant and went to our ice-cream place for a couple of scoops on the way home.

Back at the villa we had the last few dregs out of a bottle of Lanzarote red and then to bed, with only two more sleeps until we’re back in our own bed…and I’m looking forward to that!

Sipping wine and feeling fine...

The start to our day was lovely as Keith and I sat on the terrace while the children were still asleep and watched as a couple of pigeons came down to see if there was any food about. We’d noticed them before, sitting on the wall and eyeing us hopefully, but as there were some crumbs left over from our picnic of the day before they hopped down and pecked about, coming very close to both of us and not showing any fear at all.

Keith went inside and crumbled up the last little cake we had and scattered that about for them and soon they were joined by a host of little sparrow and chaffinch type birds who hoovered up all the tiny crumbs. We had a feeling that previous occupants of the villa had fed them before and they were obviously used to having food left out for them.

We don’t have any animals near us this year, just the odd lizard which scuttles about and then disappears into the stone wall. There are a few cats about on the promenade and a very friendly black and white moggie at the marina who tries to sit on your lap, but that’s about it. No donkeys or cockerels, thank goodness!

Today, apart from sunbathing and lying by the pool, I have been mostly smashing things…in the supermarket, while reaching for a box of eggs, I knocked a large jar of haricot beans onto the floor where they smashed into smithereens! I was not very popular with the cleaner who looked at me as if I’d murdered a baby when he arrived with his mop. Then, back at the villa, I managed to smash a glass on the terrace which went everywhere…

Apart from the mishaps, today has been very relaxed and we managed to get a lot of sunbathing done as the sun shone out of a clear blue sky. We also spent a lot of time in the pool which has finally warmed up. We’ve had a few problems with the temperature which should have been about 26 degrees, but at one point last week it was less than 22 and was very cold! Today it’s been like a bath and very pleasant to swim around in, gazing up at the azure blue sky and trying not to think of the journey home on Thursday and a return to dismal grey skies.

Our evening was spent in Playa Blanca, first at the Wax Bar to catch up with vital internet activities and then at the Galeria Bar. I called home and spoke to mum who said they’d all had a fantastic Christmas dinner at the Marriott Hotel in Bexleyheath, which was great. The cats were fine, she said, and she was looking forward to us all getting home and catching up with our news.

We took dinner at the Jumbo Chinese restaurant again, as we’d enjoyed our meal there so much last week. This time I chose a bottle of the Torres San Valentin wine to accompany our dinner which was a much better choice! In fact it was so enjoyable Keith twisted my arm and ordered another bottle but at least it’s only 11% alcohol!

By 10pm we were walking back to the villa (after calling into the ice-cream parlour on the way) and we were surprised to find that the resort had emptied out considerably. They really don’t do late nights here!

Paddling in the Atlantic

After a bit of a disturbed night (there were loud fireworks going off all around the villa) we had a lovely start to the day by opening our presents (all of which were useful for the holiday) and having a cooked breakfast with a glass of Cava each. The sky was a bit cloudy but we pushed on with our plan to go to the Playa de Famara with a picnic.

The journey didn’t take too long (the island is small so you could drive around it in half a day) and before long we could see the towering cliffs that overlook the beach. It’s really a surfer’s paradise as the winds are very strong, creating lovely big waves, and there were quite a few people out in the surf.

The nearby village of Caleta de Famara has a surf school and we also noticed lots of cyclists from the nearby resort of La Santa where a lot of professional athletes go for winter training.

We all paddled in the very cold Atlantic Ocean and Sophie and I made a “stoneman” rather than a traditional snowman! Unfortunately Mikey got very wet by going in much further than he should so we had to return to the car to change his shorts and try and dry him off a bit. The sea here is not recommended for swimming as it can be very rough and today the red flag was flying, although there were a couple of hardy people in! 

It was too windy for our picnic and on the chilly side, so we drove into the village to see if there was a shop open selling tee-shirts. Caleta de Famara is a traditional Lanzarote village of square white houses with green shutters and it was very quiet, which seeing as it was Christmas Day, was not a surprise!

I tried to call my parents who were down in Kent to take Nan out for Christmas lunch but they hadn’t arrived yet. It felt very strange speaking to my Nan who said that the weather in the UK was dull and mild, just how I hate Christmas to be at home.

We made the decision to go to the Costa Teguise, a resort that Keith and I stayed in back in 1995. On the way, mum called me on my mobile so we wished each other Happy Christmas and told her we’d been on the beach. I was a bit worried I’d feel sad speaking to my parents when they were so far away at Christmas but everything was OK and we’re all looking forward to having a meal together on our return, when we can bore them rigid with our holiday tales.

Once in the resort of Costa Teguise we parked the car, found a tee-shirt for Mikey (emblazoned with San Francisco University, oddly enough)  and had a very pleasant and relaxing drink in a bar overlooking the sea. It was so hot at one point that it was beginning to get uncomfortable and it felt about as far from Christmas Day as you could get! Apart from most of the supermarkets being closed, life seems to go on as normal here and the roads were much busier than I’d anticipated.

A drink by the sea on Christmas Day.

We decided to go back to the villa and have our picnic there so within half an hour we back sitting on the terrace with a beer and our picnic of ham and cheese rolls!

We had a shock in the evening when we found our favourite bar closed for the evening! Undeterred we walked on to the Wax Bar to find that all shut up as well. The only other bar we knew of was right around the headland so we ventured into Mollie’s Irish Bar and sat on the terrace overlooking the sea and the marina in the distance. It was fine for a while but it became quite chilly so we moved inside and sat opposite a television which was showing David Gest’s top Christmas songs on MTV! It felt so bizarre listening to the tunes and being somewhere like Lanzarote but it did mean we felt Christmassy for a little while!

We’d booked a table at the Volcan de Timanfaya for 8pm and when we arrived the place was packed to the gunnels! The waiters flew about at top speed, bless them, and the man who usually lurks outside to lure customers in was waiting at the tables as well. We had a good table, though, far enough inside the restaurant to be nice and warm and to have a good view of what was going on.

I’m pleased to say we had an excellent meal and when I think back to the food we had on Christmas Eve and how much it cost, I just feel even angrier. Keith and Sophie shared a starter of chicken with nachos, I chose tomato soup (thick and creamy) and Mikey went for Chicken soup. His large bowl was filled almost to the top!

As it was Christmas I decided on fillet steak for my main course, accompanied by a jacket potato, mushroom sauce and some delicious vegetables. It was probably the best steak I’ve ever had and I could see the chef grilling it on the big barbecue right in front of me. Keith chose what looked like a whole lamb – technically it was a shoulder but it would have fed all four of us easily. Our mains were 12.95 and 13.50 euros respectively, which when I think of the crap we were served the previous night at 22 euros, makes it terrific value for money.

Mikey, ignoring the fact that it was a special Christmas meal, went for a pizza while Sophie had a huge portion of pork ribs. With a bottle of good Rioja, drinks and a dessert of strawberry cheesecake for me, the bill came to 88 euros. We will definitely be back for our last meal of the holiday on Wednesday night.

As always, we called into the ice-cream parlour so the children could have an ice-cream and then it was back to the villa and a quick catch up with the news before bed!