Lanzarote continued...

gAfter Cesar Manrique's House, we drove further north to the Jameos Del Agua - Water Caves.

Another of Manrique's creation

Once again, jaw dropping beauty. A series of walkways that wind in and out, up and down, through lakes and pools, bars and coffee parlours set at each end and a museum at the top...

Little white crabs that feed off the microorganisms in the water. They dot the bottom of the lake like stars twinkling in the night.

The pool. The amazing pool.

We spent a good few hours here snapping photos until my camera's battery began beeping in protest.

1 km away from the Jameos was the Cueva de los Verdes; the Green Caves.

Not green at all, the caves were formed by the flow off lava during the eruptions and is part of the Jameos del Agua caves. At 1200 degrees heat, everything melted in its path and thus formed the holes that is today's tourist attraction. A few decades later, people of the island used its many nooks n crannies to hide themselves from pirate attacks. The word 'Green' - Verde is taken from a family that use to live their for many years.
In the middle of the cave is an auditorium, where they host orchestras. I know, cave and music... echoes... don't really fit right? But according to the guide, the caves have excellent acoustics and it adds a WOW factor instead of a normal auditorium.

Sigh. So luxurious.

We were then brought up a flight of stairs where a huge gaping hole in the ground met our view. A lady was given a rock to throw into the hole.

"Listen for the echo", says the guide.

And listen I did with bated breath.

Ploop. The rock made ripples as it fell into the hole that was actually a pool.

"HUUUUH."

Everyone drew in their breath in magnificent wonder and a cacophony of whispering started out as I stood in horror, absolutely dumb struck by the fact that I missed the blasted echo. I strained yet again in hope that there was still a slight trace of it and finally burst out, "What echo?"

The uncle in front of me turned around with a light in his eyes that can power the Petronas Twin Towers and proceeded to explain in Spanish. Which clearly did Not help my problem.

Totally damned that I actually missed the phenomenal event, I slid off to look for the other 2 girly girls while thoughts of when the echo was heard (was it just as she threw the stone? was it the stone whistling through the air before it hit the water? was it the ploop sound that echoed? My hearing has died on me meh??I need an ENT doctor!!) ran through my head. Spotting Victoria, I grabbed her by the arm and demanded the evidence of THE ECHO.

She too had a manic look as if having just saw someone rise from the dead and said:

"It is the hole! It isn't a hole! It's a POOL!"

???? "What about the echo? I didn't hear no echo!"

"No echo, it's the pool, it's an optical illusion! I thought the stone was going to fall down into the caves below! The echo was just an excuse! But the hole is a pool! The reflection of the ceiling is fantastic!"

Holy Molly.

=__=

I knew it was a pool the moment I ascended the stairs and set eyes on it. How can it be a hole? It's a darned pool! U can see the reflection of the sides! How can you all think it's a hole?? IT'S A POOL RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING SO IT DID NOT SURPRISE ME WHEN THE ROCK FELL INTO IT!

Waste my 8 euros.

I was then told by Su Ping that I had no imagination at all.

So, after the disastrous optical illusion echo thing that Did Not Work For Me Whatsoever, we continued our journey to the most northern tip of the island.

Mirador Del Rio.

Another of Manrique's.

From this point, one could see the Isla Graciosa, stretched out taut like a leopard's skin down below.
The wind was so strong it would have been perfect for parachuting.
Or maybe not. You'll be blown upwards into the exosphere.

We drove home as the sun was setting and a good thing too cause we met Leng Chai No. 2 at the reception, this time blonde and blue eyed. He gave us an absolutely smashing recommendation to eat at this Malaysian Kopi Shop look alike restaurant.

Restaurant El Fondeadero.

All it needs is the Coca-Cola/Sprite adverts on either end and it can so pass as a shop in SS2.

All tapas were 2 euros: -

Spanish omelette.

Fried Morena (Moray Eel) - this was more expensive

Cold soup with vegetables and croutons which you put in yourself

Never ever forget dessert:

Flan (Creme caramel). Yes flan in Spanish means that.

Bienmesabe (Egg and coconut pudding)

After dinner, blonde hair blue eyed boy insisted that we go to Lagomar Bar, a neat little tucked away gem, built into a volcanic mountain side that is a museum by morning and bar by night. It was in Nazaret, a town about 10-15 mins drive from our hotel and since he was such a babe and so insistent, go we did.

Up a hill, into Lagomar, with one door open and one door closed (exact details from honey boy matched what we saw to the T) , down a tunnel of water with raised platforms, into a small bar with booming music where a pirate masquerading as a bartender filled half my glass with alcohol when I ordered a gin and tonic. (they don't use measures here I think)

UV lights are the main theme.

Just on a different note, we had Churros for breakfast the day before at a cafe randomly suggested by some guy on the street that we approached to ask directions from. He was so nice, he led us to the restaurant himself. And gave us his number to contact him should we require further assistance.
I know stuff like 'danger', 'rapist', 'robber' etc are probably running through your minds but we were on the main street the whole time and he pointed us to the restaurant from a distance.
And I think we are seasoned travellers enough to recognise danger when it comes.

So we entered and ordered the famous churros with hot chocolate.
It tasted like yau char kuey and made me think of having porridge with it instead. MmMmMmm..

* * *

The last and final day saw us going to Teguise for its famous Sunday Market. It was like Petaling Street, selling everything that is un-buyable, from cowboy cow hide stools to a full British Breakfast. Not that we needed either.

A folk performance in the middle of the Square.

We then stopped and lunched on Red Wine Rabbit and a pot of seafood:

Rabbit in Red Wine stew

before rushing off to our last stop - Puerto Del Carmen.
Playa Barilla in Puerto Del Carmen was meant to be the best spot for snorkelling and we did just that (with our goggles). Although the water was freezing cold (not as bad as Mykanos is Greece though) there were loads of fish (but I think Redang's fish selection and corals wins it hands down) and also lots of XY eye candy.

I even saw 2 divers at the bottom of the sea sporting Santa hats whom I waved to from the top. When they emerged from the water, they kindly obliged for a photo shoot:

Feliz Navidad meaning Merry Christmas

We then rushed back to the hotel for a shower before departing to the airport. A few minutes upon arrival into our room, we received a call from the reception saying that we were supposed to check out at 12pm and were therefore charged an extra 30 euros. To top it off, we had to leave the room in 5 minutes.

WTF

None of us thought of checking out. Nope, not one.

Seasoned travellers my ass.

I suppose travelling as a girly girl pack isn't the most ideal after all. Not very bright are we despite being medical students (who said medical students are supposed to be bright? We clearly aren't) and of course I felt down right silly and embarrassed by the whole event.

Still, like what I have said before, a problem is not a problem if it can be solved with money.
Although spent stupidly.

Feeling absolutely dejected, we made our way to the airport 10 euros poorer per person only to lose our way once again near Arrecife. Every time we enter this city, we get lost. 6 eyes (actually 10), 3 brains and a 4 previous encounters of the same problem made us NONE the wiser and yes, we got lost a total of 5 grand times(wasting 30 minutes each time) in and around the city centre, trying to either find our way out of the city, into the city or around it. Don't bother to ask why.

Girly girls sense of direction is close to non existence. No make that IS non existent.

Of course getting lost only fueled our sense of stupidity and then Su Ping and I decided to turn to the bottle.
After downing the remains of our bottle of wine, we felt much happier and the checking out nonsense became a thing of the past.

(Really alcoholic meh you think... we had half the bottle at dinner 2 nights before and since liquids are not allowed on board plus we could not bear to throw it away as it was lovely wine - we downed it all)

Arriving back to Edinburgh on Christmas Eve feeling satisfied with our short but luxurious trip made me crave for chinese food again. I went for a dim sum lunch that very day.

Lanzarote

The Christmas holidays were approaching and here I was, sad and lonely, stuck in Edinburgh with no holiday plans in the horizon to cheer me up.

Deciding that I am way too young to waste a good 2 weeks of holidays, I picked up the phone and dialed 2 numbers - placing a call to two friends, one who lived in a flat below me, and one above - to ask if they wanted to go on holiday.

Apparently, I am not the only sad and lonely soul and soon enough, we 3 girls got ourselves booked onto a flight to Lanzarote.

Wait.

Lanzarote WHERE?

Yes, Lanzarote is part of the Canary Islands, situated south of Spain and next to Morocco.
Maybe Tenerife will sound more familiar, but hey, we went to Lanzarote alright.

So, 3 girly girls set off.

4 hours later the 3 girly girls touched down in Arrecife International Airport, roaring to go, anticipating our arrival at our 4 star hotel called 'Sands Beach Resort'.

Before I start accounting on our amazing fantabulous trip, I have to say that LonelyPlanet for once had let me down. Considerably. Everything the writer wrote about the place was unenthusiastic, and hardly any good tips nor history was given about this island. You are much better off with Globetrotter and Rough Guide.

So back to the airport, we hunted about for the bus that will bring us to Costa Teguise(our 4 star hotel is there) which is about 12 km away. Much to our chagrin, no one really knows about the service and suggested we took a taxi. Late and tired, we joined the 100 mile long Q that formed at the taxi stand and finally reached our hotel about 2 hours later.

3 cheers to Liwan in London who told me about this hotel.

It was beautiful.
And only for 10 euros or so per night, with a proper kitchen and utensils -That's freaking cheap!!

Dawn came soon enough and at the reception, we were served by this incredibly cute guy with an American accent. Yes, Spanish guys are hot. Phew. *fans myself*

Rent a car was the advice because apparently the public transport is rubbish and can not get you to any place at all. Apprehensive about driving in a foreign country not to mention it being a left hand drive, we rented the only auto car available from the car rental company(lucky got ok, if not we all can just take the next flight home - the public transport is THAT bad) and took off with a lousy road map at hand onto our girly girl road trip.

I drove the first day but ended up puncturing the tyre.
Lucky got a nice guy help us to change it

We made our way to the first tourist attraction: Timanfaya National Park.
Greenery, shrubs, climbing plants, the sweet scent of flowers, the sun filtering through the canopy of leaves, a waterfall at the end of it all, a river meandering down the plains with its tinkling sound...

Not.

We arrived to the site of Armageddon.

Not the movie. As in literally.

Lanzarote being in the volcanic belt, had some pretty nasty eruptions in the last century or so, leaving the landscape barren and filled with craters. Of course, the site is a hell of an interesting spot for geologists and rock/stone hippies.
Medical students obviously were not so turned on by the sight of rocks and dust though I've gotta say, I was pretty impressed with the hardened lava that looked like it froze (they call it 'petrified' lava) just as it was flowing down destroying everything in its path.

When we alighted from the tour bus that brought us on a tour of the site (with an audio guide in English and Spanish), we were shown the power of the volcano and its fearsome nature.

A dried bush is placed into a hole in the ground...

And it lights up immediately.

You fall in and become roast chicken ASAP.

A few well looking like holes in the ground, and a bucket of water is poured in...
Out shoots a geyser a la real life volcano eruption style.

You step into the hole and immediately qualify for the Handicap Triathlon.

We were then given some dirt off the ground and it was HOT. Painfully hot.

Lunch was at El Diablo, a restaurant at the peak of the mountain that cooks its food with the heat from the sleeping volcano.
We had chicken, meat on skewers and a pork steak.

* * *

After eating, we drove along the scenic coast and stopped to cam whore.
A lake that is green in colour due to the crystals in it.


The coast looking as good as it gets.

Of course, we lost a few precious hours due to the tyre puncture though we managed to finish almost everything we wanted to see. The roads were amazingly smooth and new; apparently they host the Ironman competition there yearly so everything is in tip top condition.

The next day came soon enough and this time...
I navigated. See ghost d still not scared meh.

Victoria drove and we went up to the north of the island this time in search of the famous Cesar Manrique Foundation (aka his house) which was found easily enough.
Cesar (the e with an apostrophe on top - sorry can't be bothered to find out how to insert it) is the architect of the island. He spent a good few years of his life creating models, pictures, murals etc, basically beautifying Lanzarote as he sees it as a budding tourist attraction.

And boy, was he right.

So, thanks to Mr. Manrique (in UK he would've been knighted), you see weird mobile like things on the many roundabouts that dominate the landscape of the island.


A few examples. There are much more.

So being D architect who built up the place, Cesar Manrique's house is the ultimate. In my personal opinion, all the million-dollar Beverly Hills mansions lose out. Flat. MTV Cribs should do an episode on his house instead of Snoop Dog's house or whoever.


Imagine walking into your driveway and being greeted with:
your private vineyard. Yes, all those curvy looking things are for cultivating grapes to make wine.

Then a few more steps brings you to your garden that looks like this:
Your individual fountain with your own hand drawn mural tastefully decorated with plants:
Next, you enter into the main hall of your house, of which leads out to a balcony that overlooks the most mind blowing scenery.That is real proper lava/magma/whatever you want to call it that was laid down and 'frozen' over time.

Then you look over the balcony at your pool down below .

Water feeds into the crystal blue water through a pipe that runs just below the balcony platform.

OH, HEAVENLY.

When you descend the stairs, you come across a series of passageways all leading to different living/dining rooms.

Of course, the living rooms cannot lose out. Not only are they all in individual caves of their own, they are in fact all colour coordinated:
White as snow with marble table tops;


Devil red with sculptures and trees towering into the ceiling.

And the dining table outside next to the pool with a barbecue set built into the wall next to it.

Even the plants are different from normal. They are all supersized.
Supersized flowers.
Supersized cactuses.

Supersized palm tree. Well, not quite, but that's the top of the palm tree peeking out of the ceiling where its roots run down into the ground below in the middle of one of the living rooms.



I really think I should write into MTV Cribs to ask them to feature this home. I mean, Cesar Manrique can pass as a celebrity here. Why not his home?