The capital of Lanzarote is a bustling little town called Arrecife - population 56,000. We caught the Number 3 public bus there this morning, straight after breakfast. I was delighted to discover that the place wasn't thronging with foreign tourists. In fact the heart of the town was decidedly Spanish in character with local old men playing dominoes under the canopy of a bar down by the waterfront and workers enjoying long lunch breaks in timeless tapas bars. Girls fishing with a red bucket and local men casting their lines into the harbour.
We visited an exhibition of postcards at La Casa Amarilla. It was a lovely little exhibition with soporifuc music playing in the background and enlarged images of the island from the very first days of tourism back in the 1890's when the local people eked out their livings in agriculture and fishing. Farmers would often use camels to plough their sun-seared fields and folk still wore traditional costumes on Sundays and at religious festivals. How sad that the age of the holiday postcard is now almost over as people turn to social media , e-mails and even blogs to send out holiday messages from far away.
We visited the fifteenth century Castillo de San Gabriel - a fortress which was erected by the entrance to the town's two harbours to ward off pirate attacks when trade between Europe and The New World was being established. After a good walk round we entered Cafeteria La Recova on Calle Ginés de Castro y Álvarez. There we ordered three tapas dishes with drinks. The staff were very pleasant and helpful and we were delighted with all three dishes but especially the small pieces of chicken in a tarragon and saffron sauce. Yummy!
At three o' clock we caught the bus back to Puerto del Carmen. To our dismay, three alcoholic gentlemen we had noticed down by the seafront were also on our bus. They were loud and smelly but they behaved themselves as the bus wound its way past the airport towards our tourist seaside town. It had been a real delight to visit Arrecife - a much nicer place than I was expecting. All the pictures were taken there.
It is always good when you are on holiday and discover an unspoilt place - enjoy your stay YP (and Mrs YP)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mrs Weaver. Tomorrow we are hiring a little car for a couple of days. Time for more exploration.
DeleteLovely, and very interesting description of the daily life over there. Warm wishes!
ReplyDeleteThanks once again kind sir!
DeleteActually YP I think that the sending of post cards is having a great resurgence worldwide even though holiday postcards may be in decline. Having said that I have sent a lot in the last few days (whilst on holiday) and I communicate with various elderly friends who do not use computers (never mind social media) by letter and postcard. I have just measured the pile next to me (old and new ready for use) and it's over 4" deep.
ReplyDeleteMust be very thick card!
DeleteWhat an interesting light shade in the first photo! And the water is so clear in that fifth shot. It looks quite inviting.
ReplyDeleteIt's very nice to visit a place you don't know and be able to remember it with pleasure later.
Yeah. Shirley spotted that light shade in the tapas bar. Fun isn't it Jenny?
DeleteHe left out the part about having pie and mushy peas.
ReplyDeleteShhh! Don't tell 'em all my secrets Terry!
DeleteHow I feel at the moment, I should spend a few hours out, alone, surrounded by a calm blue sea.
ReplyDeleteI've just stuffed up some settings on my computer and am tearing my hair out trying to get it back to how it was before I began fiddling. (And Rome is not even burning)!!!!
There is always a clown or two in every crowd!
Lovely area by the looks of it, Yorkie. :)
Oh dear - fiddling with the inner workings of your computer! You are not a surgeon Lee. Did you defraggle it? Defraggling is often the way forward as most hairdressers would agree.
DeleteGlad you are enjoying yourselves YP. Way back in the 70's when we went, we found the island unspoiled. On later holidays we moved to the south of the island to stay in Puerto Blanco, a very pretty little resort, but alas, much enlarged these days.
ReplyDeleteThe old postcards at the exhibition showed a very different Lanzarote. I am envious that you knew it back in the seventies CG.
DeleteGlad you are having a good time. I have often thought how sad it is not to get postcards hardly at all these days.
ReplyDelete...And we often kept old postcards. They were hard to throw away but social media announcements will be gone before the month is out - buried under the avalanche of stuff we process.
DeleteHow nice to find Arrecife much nicer than you had expected - I love it when something, someone, some place or a situation does not meet our expectations in that way! I had a similar experience at work today. What was presented to me as a potentially difficult situation proved to be a very pleasant and constructive meeting, finished in half the time allocated.
ReplyDeleteBetter than expected - in all spheres of life - is a very nice discovery.
DeleteThat sounds much more your sort of place YP...and had the drunks played up on the bus I hope you would have escorted them off!
ReplyDeleteTwo of them were Spanish and the other was English. It is so sad to see what alcohol can do to people when they lose control. I would have sprayed them with Lynx if I had had some on me.
DeleteIt's always great to tag along on vacation with you, though I'm glad I didn't personally have to experience the drunk guys on the bus. I guess these days we create our own postcards in the form of blog posts!
ReplyDelete