Lanzarote, part twelve, the Rubicon marina.

PART TWELVE.

The penultimate part - if you've come here to see all the pictures, start at part one, by clicking; 

HERE

 It was a little cloudy today, but not too bad. We decided to walk the whole beach front again, just to take it all in, one last time.

It’s been a great holiday, with everything we could have wanted, from both the island and the hotel.

This is the harbour, peaceful and warm today.

Looking out across the bay as we walked west.

This is close to the ferry port (which is over my right shoulder).

We then walked all the way back east, to the new Rubicon marina.

This yacht was having some mast-top repairs.

I loved the way the guy sent his WIFE up there, while he stood looking up at her

Hang on there!

As we were close to the ‘Blue Note’ cafe, one of our favourite haunts, we thought it would be rude not to call in for a drink.

This ‘deconstructed’ piano hangs on the wall.

Some really nice murals behind the bar too, you can see the piano on the wall, just under the ‘toilets’ sign.

You can see a short video of the type of music played at night in the ‘Blue Note’ by clicking HERE

This super sculpture was hidden behind a wall, in the courtyard of what looked like a closed shop (or maybe a gallery??).

I climbed on the wall to get this shot.

The ‘Bella Lucia’ – one of two really beautiful old boats in the marina. We Googled the name, and got some interesting information on her. She was for sale at over a million euros! Read about her HERE

1881 – classic!

The other yacht next to her.

As we found a lot on this - (and other Canarian islands), attention to detail made SUCH a difference.

This lovely mast is just a marker for the harbour entrance.

The old lighthouse restaurant and view over the bay to the mountains.

Point the camera down, and there were some delicate flowers growing here.

After refreshments in the Blue Note, we sauntered along the promenade and back to ‘our’ beach.

The ubiquitous ferry was plying across, back and forth, to Fuerteventura.

Fuerta’ looked very good and clear today, probably the clearest we’d seen it all week.

The man-made reef, which made for such good snorkeling.

So, one more look at the pool, and then we headed home the next day.
However, due to my ineptitude at blogging - I missed a part out - Papagayo reserve.

You can see that by clicking HERE

We flew late, so managed to get a morning's sun and snorkeling in, before making our way to the airport.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photo journal of Lanzarote, and maybe it’s even tempted some of you to go?

If you'd like to see pictures of Fuerteventura, click HERE

Gran Canaria, click HERE

Madeira, click HERE
Majorca, click HERE
Skiathos (Greece) click HERE

Parga (mainland Greece) click HERE

Lanzarote, part nine - La Geria wines and WILD waves.

PART NINE.

After the Manrique foundation, we decided it was time for a drink (well, to have some small samples of the local vino, maybe buy a bottle or two), so we headed for La Geria, the wine region of Lanzarote.

We knew we’d found it by this incongruous marker :-)

We’ve NEVER seen vineyards like THIS!! How many man-hours it must have taken to build all the walls, wells and harbours, is mind boggling. I must admit though, they DO look amazing, and seem to protect the vines from the almost constant wind here.

The first one we came to, ‘La Florida’ bodega, looked quite classy.

Everything neat and tidy, with bits of winery paraphernalia in the yards.

And this incredible piece of kit sticking through the wall.

A wine press, we imagined? (And a nice table and stools)

AHA! Inside it became obvious how it worked.

This place is super-neat inside AND out. One of the more ‘up-market’ bodegas.

 Like something from another planet, the vine harbours cover the hillside.

IMAGINE the man hours to do this lot? It reminds me of the stone walls in the Peak District.

This next bodega did the famous goats cheese and meat tapas, so we called in.

Inside it was VERY rustic, not ultra-modern. like La Florida.

There were two Germans there when we arrived, but after they left we were alone.

We weren’t very hungry, but felt we just HAD to try this cheese, accompanied by a glass of the local wine here.

The bodegas charged four euros each for wine tasting. To be honest, I can see why. After tasting, I couldn’t find ONE I liked enough to buy a bottle. Lanzarote wine isn’t what I’d call nice! Sorry, but it really is terribly mediocre and has not got any ‘mmmm’ factor about it. No wonder all the hotels and restaurants ‘house’ wines are from the mainland (usually Portugal).

We tried one last bodega, just to be sure. This one was the most rustic (and yes, the wine was awful again)

It looks like a hard life here, very hard!

 It was time to move on. Today had been a bit wild, wind-wise, but very warm and pleasant. Ideal for touring. We made our way towards our next goal, El Golfo, to see the green lagoon we’d heard so much about.

On the way, we drove past Salinas de Janubio (the salt flats of old) and saw these AMAZING seas!! We just couldn’t resist pulling onto a small car park and getting out to see it first hand and close up.

You can read up more about the salt flats here;

click HERE

Anyway – out of the car, the seas were even more wild!

See the scene as we pulled up in the car, click here;

 Click HERE

The crashing sound was great. Sue and I just LOVE wild weather, and particularly when it involves the sea. We loved it at the lighthouse when we hired the bikes, but these seas were FAR more dramatic.

This picture doesn’t do it justice.

But THIS one does!!

We had to be careful, as the waves were really unpredictable. You wouldn’t dare turn your back on them.

Even though we were high up the beach, and the waves were (mostly) breaking much lower down the steep slope, every now and then, there was a BIG one.

And it COULD catch you out;

Click HERE

The spume off the wave crests was some of the best I’ve seen too.

That’s Sue on the (relative) safety of a bar of rock that ran for about a third of the beach.

You know that odd wave I was talking about?

This couple got caught, as one broke right up to, and over, the top of the beach slope.

See the raw wildness click HERE

  

Look how THIS wave almost reached me too.

You can see the steep angle of the beach on this shot, but it didn’t stop some of the rollers from climbing it.

Ready to run from the advancing wave!

In this one, it almost looks calm, doesn’t it, benign, almost?

I DO love the starkness of these black volcanic beaches.

After AGES spent on this beach, we decided to go to El Golfo while we still had light, maybe even watch a sunset there?

Here’s our little hire car, with another ‘montana roja’ behind me.

On the way, we passed a place called ‘Los Hervidoras’. THAT was a mistake - to pass, I mean.

I did stop to take more pics of the sea crashing up the rocks, but little did I know just what we were missing.

More of that later

One last thing today - a quick trip to El Golfo, to see the famed green lagoon.

And here it is - in all it's weird glory!

We'd seen all the pictures, but when you see it for the first time, it really DOES look alien!

There were only a few people here today, so it was good for pictures.
We climbed over the volcanic path and descended to get close up and personal.

A panorama of the beach - click on it got a larger version.

Even the cliffs were an unusual red colour.

The small settlement of El Golfo, mainly here for tourists, with lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.
 A local told us of a possible pending change in the law, which would make many buildings that were too close to the sea in National parks illegal. If this was passed, ALL these buildings would have to go!

A pose for one of the few people we met to take our picture.

We relaxed in a small bar, hoping for one of El Golfo's famous sunsets. Alas, clouds rolled in, and the best we could do was a good set of crepuscular 'ray' pictures as the sun streaked through the cloud cover.

On the way back, we called at the salt flats.
The beach with the amazing waves was just over that rise.