The long Dutch winter is over, the days are getting longer, my spirits are getting higher, and I feel an increasing urge to write and share!
So, we just got back from an unforgettable 8-day trip to
Fuerteventura, the most eastern, second largest, but one of the least known Canary Islands.
Once again, we travelled at a very short notice: we booked a last-minute package holiday (flight & board), just 2 weeks in advance. It was a ridiculous price of 200 Euro per person, so we didn't have to think twice. I did a thorough preparation by borrowing 4 books and a video about Fuerteventura from the library. I read extensively and was very much intrigued by the island.
It's always exciting to find out whether a place meets your expectations. Fuerteventura turned out nothing we had expected, but nonetheless absolutely fantastic.
Day 1 (March 31):
Leaving the cold, rainy Holland behind, we boarded an early 4.5-hour long charter flight, with Anne Sophie falling asleep almost immediately and having slept through most of the flight. As we approached the destination, we could see the volcanic craters of the neighboring island of Lanzarotte.
As we left the airport, we were met with the warm summer breeze and lots of sun. Our daughter loves buses, and the 40-minute bus ride from the airport to our hotel in
Corralejo in the very north of the island was really fun! We saw a landscape we never experienced before: stones, desert, solidified lava, mountains, volcanoes, emerald sea, little vegetation and a lot of wind. Beautiful and foreign!
Our apartment/hotel was quite OK, nothing out of the ordinary, pretty basic, but good enough, with lots of light and beautiful colors, and mostly English tourists. This is low season, so we didn't see great numbers of tourists in Corralejo or elsewhere. We spent the rest of the day wandering in the small traditional center of the former fishing village, and then took a pretty long walk along the western boulevard, with Anne Sophie running around wildly to and fro, trying to climb the lava stones and all kinds of ladders and climbing frames set up along the boulevard. There was wind and beautiful sunset and great view of Lanzarotte and of the small neighboring island of
Isla Lobos. We ended up in the centre of the town, eating delicious local tapas (with adorable
Canary small wrinkly potatoes and
Mojo sauce) and listening to the local musicians.
Day 2 (April 1):
Our rule is to always buy local produce as much as possible. It is usually the most delicious food you can get. Due to the arid climate, not much is grown on Fuerteventura, but the local
Majorero goat cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and especially bananas are really good. So these would be the bulk of our breakfast and our take-away sandwiches for lunch. It was Friday and we were planning to go to the neighboring Isla Lobos, but the glass bottom boat was out of operation on that day, so we decided instead to take a long walk along the beach.
We started out pretty early and, as always, we realized too late that our extremely white skins we burning. The only one with good amounts of sun lotion was Anne Sophie, but Luda and me were in for a couple of days of burned skin. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the walk and ended up on a fine beach with lots of kite surfers showing off their mastery of the wind. Anne Sophie enjoyed running away from the approaching waves with her usual lots of laughter and screaming and squealing. Then we played in the sand and got back home pretty tired but very happy!
Day 3 (April 2):
I picked up our rented car early in the morning and we went off to explore the island. We drove to La Oliva (former capital) with a beautiful Canary-style church and went on to see the famous
House of the Coronels, impressive and majestic in its colonial beauty, set against desert-like mountainous landscapes. In the House you can learn a lot about the history of the island and about the day-to-day life on the island in the old days. Then we drove through the interior of the island, with moon-like landscapes, gorgeous mountains, windy passes and small villages towards another former capital,
Betancuria, a small, picturesque town established by the first Spanish colonizers under the leadership of Jean de Béthencourt. From there we proceeded to the west coast at Ahuj, with black sand beaches, cliffs and caves that can be reached through a narrow path along the cliffs. The sun was already starting to descend and the sea and the waves glistening in the sun were magnificent.
We drove back in the direction of Betancuria and stopped at Vega de Rio Palmas, from where we embarked on a hike along a dry bed of a stream (
barranco) towards the tiny white chapel (Ermita de Virgin de la Peña) situated precariously on a side of a beautiful gorge. At the altar hangs a painting showing the discovery of a statue of the saint which now stands at the main church. This statue was brought to the village by Jean de Bethencourt. Shortly afterwards the church was totally destroyed by 'Jaban' the pirate in 1593 but the statue was hidden so well that it was only rediscovered in the 17th century. It was along this stream that Jean de Bethencourt and his army marched upstream in the 15th century.
Pretty tired and hungry after 2.5 hours of walking we got into the car and went looking for a restaurant. The restaurants in Betancuria and La OlivaOliva and Corralejo
Day 4 (April 3):
The next day we decided to explore the volcanoes not far from our base in Corralejo. We drove to Las Lajares and walked about 12 km along a series of bigger and smaller volcanoes, which arose as a result of eruptions some 8000 years ago. We walked past Montana Colorada, up to the perfect crater of Calderon Hondo. This is where Anne Sophie started to show character. When we started climbing up to the edge of the crater, she insisted that she wanted to walk along and not to be carried in the baby carrier. I was quite stunned as she walked all the way up the steep path, with me, of course, holding her firmly by the hand. Anne Sophie had a lot of fun at the viewing platform with lots of squirrels running all around her, while we enjoyed the beautiful view of the crater and of the glowing hills and mountains of the northern part of the island.
On the way down, there were a couple of stone huts, which turned out to be restored dwellings of the early inhabitants of the island. While Anne Sophie was running in and out the rooms of the houses, we learned how the people of the island prepared (quite sophisticatedly) the ground to make it fertile.
We continued to the Bayuyo volcano, but couldn't quite decide which one it was. Only on the way back did we notice the path up to the volcano. Luda decided not to go up to the Volcano and continued back, while the two of us went up. Yet halfway we turned back, because the wind was getting very strong.
We drive to the picturesque coastal village of El Cotillo. We visit the lighthouse and walk on the solid lava, in which small puddles of sea water turn into salt. We end up on a wonderful white beach with a small beach restaurant and delicious fresh Gallo (chicken) fish. Anne Sophie is playing and running around in the sand and shallow sea water.
It was a nice day with a lot of sun and wind!
Day 5 (April 4):
On day 5 we drove all the way to the south of the island with short stops in Antigua, Pajara en La Pared, with the fashionable Morro Jable as our final destination. From there we drove another few kilometers on a gravel road and started on our day trip along the valley of Gran Valle up to the beautifl mountain pass of Degollada de Cofete, which in the old days used to be the only way to the small village of Cofete. As we start climbing up, Anne Sophie asks for a walking stick and walks along. She really enjoys climbing! There's lots of wind at the top of the pass, we can hardly stand upright. But the view on both sides is magnifiscent. If we had more time, we'd go down to Cofete, but it's getting late and we walk down back to the car, with Anne Sophie refusing to get back to her baby carrier. We sing along as we walk and the time flies!
We drive along the beautiful wide white-sand beaches of the East coast and stop in a small coastal village of Tarajalejo for a delicious meal of fish soup and fresh local fish. German tourists are everywhere. We enjoy the small beach, Anne Sophie is playing with a cat and a local boy. Life is wonderful!
Day 6 (April 5):
It's time for a glass-botom boat trip to Isla de Los Lobos! We leave early in the morning with the first boat. For Anne Sophie this is probably her first boat trip. She is secure in my lap. She likes the boat, but is a little cautious. We disembark and head directly towards the volcano of Montana Lobos, the highest point of this small, uninhabited island, which used to be a home to a rare sort of seals. We climb up the volcano along a steep narrow path, with Anne Sophie climbing along, using a walking stick! The view of the island as well as the view of Correlejo and of the remaining half of the crater are magnificent. We walk down, with Anne Sophie's hand firmly in my hand.
We board our glass-bottom boat for a sea trip. We watch the shoals of fish swarming in the clear waters under the boat. There is an opportunity to put on a mask and swim in the sea next to the fish. I grab the chance along with two other young men. It's fantastic!
We return to the Isla de Lobos and spend the rest of our time on the beach of a quiet lagune. There is no one around and we sunbathe and swim naked - wonderful! We take the last boat back to Corralejo and spend the evening in the cosy centre of Corralejo enjoying ice-cream, night-life and live performances by various local artists.
Day 7 (April 6):
We drive a few kilometers to the east of Corralejo, park by the white-sand dunes and walk away from the sea in what looks like a real desert. White sand is everywhere. We climb and slide down the sand dunes. Anne Sophie is enjoying it immensely. What a feeling! I've only been to a desert once, which was in the Judean desert. I liked it there, it had small plants and bushes and so. But this desert is just sand, lots of it, sand everywhere. There are no people around. Only sand, sun and wind. We walk slowly, no rush. Peace.
We walk back to the sea. The wind is so strong that there are no people on the small beach. Luda settles in behind some stones. Anne Sophie and I run from the waves and play in the sand.
We drive to the west-coast town of El Cotillo. There are surfers all around the beach. We choose a restaurant with a view over the far stretching cliffs of the coastline. We see the surfers in the distance struggling with the waves. We eat freshly caught queen fish (at least that's what they call it) and some goat meat. The ice-cream is also delicious. There is a little boy who comes to play with Anne Sophie. They seem to be perfectly al right, even though they don't speak the same language. We meet the mother, who is a Canarian from Tenerife. We talk to some international girls who surf and hang out with surfers. One of them, a Czech girl, is a surfing photographer. She tells me I should try surfing. Maybe! It sounds like lots of fun!
The sun is coming down. Anne Sophie and I climb the roof of a stone barn to bid the sun farewell, our last sunset on Fuerteventura.
Day 8 (April 7):
Everything comes to an end. It was our last day on the island. We drove down to the nameless pass between Valle de Santa Ines and Betancuria. From there we started our last hike: first a steep climb to the cross of Morro de la Cruz and then a picturesque walk along the mountain ridge to Morro de la Fuente Vieja. Along the way we saw many beautiful small flowers, we saw eagles in the sky, and the view of the west coast was majestic. On the way back, Luda decided not to climb up to the cross, but to traverse the mountain along the northern slope. I begged her not to go that way, but she did and so I went along with Anne Sophie in the backpack. I must say at certain points I thought that I can easily fall down and the slopes were quite steep. So slowly, step by step, we managed to get to our car. I was really angry at Luda that she insisted on taking that route. But all's well that ends well. On the way back we visited a local goat cheese factory in Tindaya and bought some cheese for home. We went back to Corralejo, spent a couple of ours on the beach, with Anne Sophie and me building sand castles, delivered our car, boarded the bus to the airport and flew off back to Amsterdam, with Anne Sophie sleeping all the way. We arrived at 3 am and got on the night train to Leiden, where we parked our car.
But our adventures did not end there. The car wouldn't start because the battery went empty (even though I didn't leave any lights on). So we had to wait for about an hour before we got help from the car assistance. We got home at about 6am, and being tired and confused, I left two of our bags outside. Luckily our neighbor was walking out his dog, saw the bags and brought them home. All's well that ends well. It was a fantastic holiday, and we'll surely be back on the Canary Islands!
