I haven’t written much about Lanzarote and actually I haven’t taken many photos either. It is a strange place. I cannot work out if I like it or not. We have stayed in the rather plush, new marina which is called Rubicon, situated on the South Western tip of the island. It’s OK but nothing special, though not a bad place to lay up for a while and organize yourself before crossing as a few boats do (the A.R.C. have taken over Gran Canaria so until they all leave many more boats are here). We had a good time there however, as one does when the people around you are great.

To the West of the marina, along the coast are small resorts dotted together to form one long tourist ridden area full of trinket shops, the modern version of McDonalds – the Chinese bric-a-brac shop, English and Irish bars and restaurants, pizzerias and the occasional Spanish tapas bar or restaurant.  The town of Playa Blanca does have however an ice-cream parlor (Italian) that sells the nicest ice cream I believe I have ever eaten, simply delicious and there is a Spar supermarket – which is a little cheaper than the two next to the marina. Also, if you smoke cigarettes they are very, very cheap here, on this tax-free island. (We bought a box for my sister-in-law and a whole carton with 200 cigarettes in cost a mere 8,50 euros!). Diesel is also comparatively cheap too – to fill up our Gerry cans we paid around 90 cents a litre.

To the East of the marina the development gets a lot less busy and there is a lovely walkway that takes you along the coast. Beaches are few here but those that there are seem pretty clean and the water is very clear.

This island, as with all of the Canaries, has been created by volcanic activity spewing  lava up through the sea bed, eventually forming enough ‘land’ to surface above the sea level and create an island. It has an impressive volcano park (especially if you are a volcanologist) which you can visit. We did and although the bus ride around the park is fairly interesting the highlight is feeling and seeing the intensity of heat that is still in evidence not far below the surface. In fact you can eat a heated sandwich off of one hole (which has a handy grate above it and is amazingly hot). The park restaurant uses this natural BBQ to heat and sometimes cook its food on and at other outside holes in the ground you are treated to a short but impressive display using ice cubes and water which someone puts into the holes and which is then spectacularly spurted out as gas.

There are several parks and interesting tourist attractions based around the islands unique lava formed landscape and you can easily spend a whole day hopping from one to another.

Arrecife, the islands capital and largest town is another anomaly to me. I like it because it is raw, it is a real place devoid of the tourist hoards, here you can finally feel a little of Lanzarote, the locals hang out here and no one is here to impress the foreigner but it is also quite run down in places and I feel as though everyone here could do with a good hug and some TLC.  A little like the landscape – hard on the outside yet warm (I daren’t say hot) on the inside?

The sailing school here on Arrecife is really impressive, they are out in all weathers and some of the children can be no older than six. Another highlight was watching a yacht race along the waterfront organised by a local club here –  for beautifully crafted model yachts! All very exciting!