Tag Archives: Spain

Lanzarote, Day 1 – an early start

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Friday February 25 – And so the adventure begins – with an 0330 alarm for an 0430 taxi to Heathrow.  We can tell when we’re on holiday – it’s pretty much the only time we have to get up early.

The UK is well on the way to unlocking as the pandemic recedes – restrictions no longer legally required but left to personal discretion. So we were not too worried about falling foul of paperwork as we left the UK, but still felt a little in the dark about what would await us as we arrived in Lanzarote.  Jane had, as ever, done a masterful job of ensuring that we had completed all the things we thought we needed to do, but there was always a tiny lurking doubt in the corner of the mind that perhaps we might get an unwelcome surprise. So, clutching vaccination records and Spanish QR codes (backed up to Dropbox coz you never know), we stumbled out into the dark and into the taxi.

We actually arrived before the official start time for dropping off bags for our flight, but that didn’t seem to matter, and the bag drop and security parts of the process were swift and largely trouble-free, bar a poke at my laptop with an explosive detector swab. I didn’t see any instructions to wear a mask, but pretty much everybody was wearing one as they walked around. So we found ourselves a seat in what had by then become quite a busy terminal.

So busy, in fact that the queue for a coffee was sufficiently daunting that we didn’t bother.

The flight was uneventful and on time.  Mask wearing was mandated whilst not eating or drinking, but since I had a rental car to drive at the far end I couldn’t join in with the chap sitting next to me as he waded into a couple of G&Ts. The main concession to Covid on arrival was that disembarking was done in sections.  The first ten rows were called out through the front exit of the plane, then the last ten through the rear exit.  Finally the middle rows were called and we shuffled off onto the mystery bus tour that ended at the terminal building.

UK passports are still accepted at the electronic gates and after the passport gates were some desks set up to review Covid paperwork. Courtesy of Jane’s efficiency we had the right QR codes on paper and were waved through immediately, so in practically no time at all we were in the baggage hall, doing the carousel stare thing.  I took the time to pick up the keys to a rental car, the process for which took less time than the arrival of our cases.  My bag took so long to come through that I was actually beginning to fear the worst, but it finally made its appearance and so we went out to meet the Castaways rep, Eva, who escorted us to our motor, a tiny Fiat Hybrid – brand new, just 18km on the clock.  Tiny as it was, we could fit everything in and so we embarked on a tour of the car park trying to find the exit, which we managed on the second go round, with Jane getting reassurance from a nice chap that the exit was actually open.

I had brought a satnav with us which made the journey to our hotel, the Casona de Yaiza, pretty straightforward, and I discovered that I actually could still drive a car with a steering wheel on the wrong side and a manual gearbox, apparently without upsetting any of the other road users. I also discovered that I had got out of the habit of wearing a mask for short transactions indoors, and was politely reminded, when I refilled the car, that mask wearing indoors in Spain is still a legal requirement.

Because of our early start, our arrival at the hotel was quite early, too.  The reception wasn’t quite ready for us, but after a couple of minutes a nice lady called Chus (short, I think, for Maria Jesus) checked us in and explained a few things about the island – good places to go, places where you’re not allowed to go, that kind of thing – by which time it was lunchtime, for which I was frankly quite ready, having had only a bowl of cereal and two large sandwiches by this point. So we went into the restaurant, which is quite charming

where we were served by a lass called Dominica, who was equally charming.  The meal included a gazpacho based on papaya, which Jane pronounced to be delicious, and a fillet of a fish we eventually found out was called a pejerrey, a Peruvian Silverside (?) which was equally delicious.

Replete and tired, we had a short rest and then pottered round the hotel, which is as charming and quirky as the restaurant.

There are artistic touches all around, including some nice mosaic work

and plenty of succulents, some of them very substantial.

So this is to be our home for the next week as we discover the delights of Lanzarote – some walking, some driving, some appreciation of the art of César Manrique (who was to Lanzarote what Gaudi was to Barcelona) and some Nice Lunches beckon.

As the afternoon drew to a close, we thought we’d take a walk around, particularly taking up on a route mentioned in the book “Walking in Lanzarote”, one of the Sunflower books which we’ve valued so much over the years as a source of ideas for destinations and walks.  So, off we strolled, past some amazing gardens.

One house had converted its garden into a vineyard.

Also, we passed some open spaces covered with just the black laval soil (more like fine gravel, really), in some cases with people working on them, although we couldn’t see any plants or other evidence to explain what they were trying to achieve.

Some of these expanses of black soil had circular enclosures in them.  We can’t quite work out what’s going on, here – is it cultivation? Clearing for building?

The route description mentioned a flight of steps leading down to a roundabout which surrounded a Norfolk Pine.  We found some steps

but they clearly weren’t the right ones.  Heading back to the hotel, we eventually discovered what the route description had been talking about, but by that stage it was quite dark so a photo wasn’t possible.  However, since this is close to the hotel, rest assured that I will eventually and photographically take the necessary steps.

That’s it for today.  It’s been a long one and so rest and recovery is the order of the, well, night. Do check in again over the course of the next days to see how the week develops.

 

Cami de Cavalls day 18 – Departure day and final thoughts

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Saturday 2 October 2021 – We’ve been home for a couple of days, so now that we’ve caught up with the unpacking, washing and ironing, and are starting once more to get used to the rhythms of life at home – which don’t sadly, involve drinking gin every day – I thought I’d reflect on our final day in Menorca, the journey home and any other rambling that occurs to me.

We were due to be taken to the airport by taxi at 1345, which gave us the morning to fill. Although we’d seen pretty much all that Ciutadella had to offer the tourist, it’s such an attractive city that we went wandering round anyway.  This was last Thursday, 30th September; when we visited Menorca previously in 2019, October 1 was the date when all the bus services beyond the main route connecting the large towns was suspended, as this was officially Out Of Season.  So it was interesting to note, as we walked around in the harbour, that some of the restaurant umbrellas were being jetwashed.

Now, it may be that this is a standard practice for a Thursday, in preparation for the weekend; or it may be that this was an end-of-season activity, preparing to put things away for the winter. We don’t rightly know, but it had a slightly sad valedictory feel to it, somehow.

We carried on wandering around, noting a couple of other quirky artworks.

(The chap with the plunger was connected to a drawing of a pile of TNT.) We’d bought a couple of bottles of the local gin to take home with us, because we know that, unlike much booze that is consumed on holiday in The Foreign, Xoriguer gin travels well.  So we complemented it with a purchase of some sobrasada, the local sausage meat which figures prominently in Balearic recipes, particularly tapas. Let’s see if that travels as well, eh?

After a final farewell coffee in Es Pou, it was time to get back to the hotel and await the cab to the airport.  From there on, the travels went perfectly smoothly, with the minimum of time wasted standing in a queue waiting for the check-in desk to open.  The flight was on time – well done, EasyJet – perfect punctuality for both outward and return journeys and a perfect amount of gin and junk food available for purchase on board – and the UK passport gates seemed to be talking to the other Covid systems so we wafted through the border with no queue at all and without having to show any paperwork beyond our passports.  My bag was number 19 on the conveyor, with Jane’s not too far behind, the taxi was not only awaiting us but had enough fuel to get us home, and so we entered our front door some 80 minutes after the plane touched down, which was nice.  The 15°C temperature and the steady rain was less so, but it was still good to get home and find it still standing.  No-one had raided our cars for fuel, either, which was comforting.

The only fly in the ointment was our Day 2 Covid test back in the UK.  We’d booked it and DPD were supposed to deliver it, but failed because their driver (who I’m pretty sure has delivered to us before) got us confused with the nursing home at the end of our track.   The UK government web pages don’t specify what you’re supposed to do if the test delivery is cocked up. And anyway the rules change on Monday.  We’ve both taken Lateral Flow tests (negative) and have a full audit trail of the efforts we’ve been to to get a test delivered in a timely fashion, and I have no idea whether The Men From The Ministry will follow up in any way.  We’ll just do the PCR tests assuming that DPD don’t cock up again on Monday, but it was very frustrating.

So, here we are, back home, and here I am on a rainy Saturday in Surrey, with the temperature at 13°C outside, thinking final thoughts about a memorable 18 days.

  • It’s been a great experience; although we’d recreated the mileage a year ago, it was pleasing to know that we could still take this sort of mileage in our stride.  Although we did less vertical ascent than last year, we found this year generally harder going; the heat was one factor and the surface underfoot was another which made this year’s exertion greater.
  • The pattern of the days was different from my original expectations. Like last year’s re-creation, I had hoped to be able to walk about half of each day’s distance, find a hostelry of some sort, have a drink and some lunch and then finish the walk.  As it turned out, with only a couple of exceptions, we did all of the walking without breaks of any pith or moment. The heat had a lot to do with that – we wanted to get the walking done before the day got too hot.
  • The exercise emphasised to me what a wonderful thing the human metabolism is.  On our longer walks in the UK, ones on which we take water with us, it is not unusual for me to have to dive off into the bushes for a discreet pee.  Over a fortnight of walking in the heat, despite taking on a fair bit of water as I walked, not once did I feel the need to relieve myself; and I never got dehydrated, either.  My bodily systems just sent the water where it was needed, including as sweat to try to keep me cool.  It nearly succeeded in that last. Nearly.
  • One of the great things about this holiday was the fact that we could indulge ourselves with slightly too much to eat and drink (what’s a holiday for if not that?) and not come back half a stone heavier than when we left. Garmin Connect estimates that covering the Cami used up 18,625 calories, which converts to just over 5lb in weight.  I have arrived back weighing pretty much the same as when I left the UK.
  • Would we go back to Menorca?  Actually, probably not, not at least in the foreseeable future.  It’s a lovely place and I’m glad we (a) visited and (b) went back; but we’ve now seen a great deal of what the island has to offer, and there are plenty of other places in the world we haven’t yet been to that I think now have a higher priority (particularly whilst we have our health and mobility).
  • Would we recommend it?  Yes.  The island’s a delight, the Cami360 team do a great job, and I would unhesitatingly recommend it as a walking holiday, though I think it wouldn’t be wise to undertake it in the heat of August.  Apart from anything else, they need tourists – we were quite surprised at how few English voices we heard, and one of our taxi drivers was quite vocal about the excessive number of Spanish tourists that have visited this year.  Covid has had quite an impact it would seem.
  • Photography note: I could have taken my Big Camera with me, but didn’t.  I trusted that a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 would do a good enough job and it has.  I also had a small video camera with me (DJI Pocket 2, since you ask) but I only used it once and actually the phone would have done a pretty good job if necessary. The light was normally perfectly good, there weren’t any tricky wildlife shots or other unusual circumstances where a more capable camera would have been needed, with the one exception of the Cova des Coloms, where I would have liked to have with me a camera that could cope with a bigger range of light.  But one photo out of a couple of thousand doesn’t in my mind justify having to lug the extra weight, particularly in that heat.

Here’s a map of where we actually walked. The various colours are assigned by Garmin depending on the speed we walked.

So there we are – another holiday over and another set of blog pages satisfactorily drafted.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I have had writing them.  There’s still a lot of uncertainty about international travel so our plans for future trips are still somewhat fluid.  But I plan to be back among these pages with more photos and commentary and I would be delighted to have your company whenever that happens.

For now, stay well!

 

Cami de Cavalls day 17(2) – Molified

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Wednesday September 29 2021, evening – We’d just got to the point where we were on our way out for an evening meal at the Moli des Comte; this place.

On the way there, I took the opportunity for a few more photos of Ciutadella in the late afternoon light.

The Municipal Market was a nice source of cityscape-type shots.

We got to the Moli in time for a gin (OK, two) before we ate – in typical Spanish style, the earliest time that dinner was served was 8pm. The inside of the place is delightful

and I don’t feel I can explain its story any better than its menu does:

As we got towards 8pm, more and more people were congregating, obviously also expecting to get a table at 8pm. At about 19:59:30, all of a sudden there was a concerted rush for the restaurant area, and I have to confess that Jane and I were caught slightly on the back foot, to the extent that several people got there before we did. However, it did seem that they’d been expecting this rush and so they got everyone seated and menued very quickly.  In fact, the whole thing was very quick – too quick, actually.  We took our seats at 8pm, had starters, main course and coffee – and were back out on the street before 9pm.  The food was very good, but an extra few minutes to appreciate the experience would have improved it enormously.  It’s not as if they were packed out or anything; they just got on with it very swiftly.  This is a bit of a shame.

However, our mild discomfiture is to your advantage, because it meant we had to wander about the city whilst the meal settled.  So, guess what?  Yep, lots more photos, you lucky people, and actually the first set of night photos of Ciutadella I’ve taken.  It was very interesting, seeing it during the evening and picking up the various vibes.  Unsurprisingly, it looks good at night.

and there’s a lively vibe at just a few seconds after 9pm(!)  The central square was, as one would expect, very animated,

and the Municipal Market was a happening place

and it was here that we noticed that a lot of places had queues of people waiting for a table. Given the apparently almost limitless supply of places to eat – they put tables out everywhere –

it was a bit of a surprise to find some places with significant queues and busy tables

and others almost bereft of customers.

Our favourite fish place, S’Amarador, was, unsurprisingly, very busy.

So we completed our paseo and headed back to the hotel.  Tomorrow is the day for our journey home.  I will report on it, particularly if there’s any excitement about getting into the country or, indeed, getting home from the airport given difficulties finding fuel, etc.  So stay tuned and find out how it all ended up.