Lanzarote, a nice island in Spain

in #hive-1637723 years ago

After a near disaster visit to Fuerteventura, the next stop on my cruise holiday was Lanzarote. The two islands are very close, less than 20km tip to tip, I reckon a strong swimmer could swim across.
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We docked by the marina at Arrecife, the capital city on the island. The marina was one of those new buildings with shops and restaurant, probably hoping to create a vibrant new area away from the old part of city. In reality, many of the units were vacant, and the few that were occupied looked so desolute. There were a few market stalls en route selling handbags, not the type the yatch owners would buy. I thought it made the place look a tad trashy probably not the image the building management had in mind for cruise tourists to see upon their arrival to the island. That said, if you look past the market stalls, the view of yachts docked here, with our cruise liner in the background was a pretty view.
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We walked from the marina into town. That probably took no more than 10 - 15 minutes. But if you didn't feel like walking, you can catch a shuttle bus which cost Euro 4 (!!!!) for the 3 minute ride. I think that is a massive rip off especially since the route is wheelchair friendly. That said, the shuttle buses were full. Maybe it's me being stingy...

Anwyay, back to Lanzarote. I found Lanzarote definitely a lot nicer than our previous stop at Fuerteventura. The walk along the seafront was very pleasant - palm trees, clean promenade, clear sky, crystal jade colour sea and pretty white wash buildings dotted around the city.
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I followed some people into town walking around some sort of lake that had a lot of little boats bobbling inside. The whole place was still pretty quiet, being a Sunday morning. I walked from one side round to the other and realised it wasn't actually a lake. More like another marina with access to the sea.
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Iglesia de San Ginés

One of the popular locations in the city is the Iglesia de San Ginés, or the Church of Saint Genesius in English. It was first built in the 16th century and today is the main focal point of the annual fiesta held on the island in August every year. I did a quick wizz inside the church. It was quite different from the British churches I normally go to (to visit not pray). The white wash exterior could be seen inside and it was a sharp contrast to the dark volcano stone that supported the arches. The ceiling was constructed of dark wood and I felt it gave the church a more homely feel rather than place of worship.

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Castillo de San Gabriel

My final stop in Lanzorote during my short stop was the Castillo de San Gabriel. I'm actually really happy that I found this little gem, as I was already quite content with Lanzorote (it doesn't take much to make me happy). I was actually intrigued with the sign first. It took me a while to stand at the correct spot to figure out what it said. Then I saw the pair of impressive pillars behind it. I didn't know at that time, they are the entrance for the draw bridge to the island, for which the castle is located. If you look closely, there's a ball on top of each of the pillars, they are cannon balls.
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It's just a short walk to the island, and there are two paths to it. There's one you see in the image below, I went this way over to the island. And the other one with the draw bridge, which is on the left. I came back via this route.
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And here's the castle, it doesn't look very big from the outside, but it is a bit bigger than it looks. The castle was originally a wooden fortress, built in 1573 to defend Arrecife from pirates and attacks from North Africa, unfortunately it was destroyed by fire a few years later by the pirate – Morato Arráez. Source
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Entry to the museum is free but we had to wait a little while so it didn't too crowded inside. Once it, we were directed up to the rooftop first. There was a very nice view looking back to the city. And to give you an idea of the size of the castle, this is probably around half of the rooftop.
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One thing I found a bit odd, was the positioning of the cannon. Why does it point towards the city and not out to the sea where invaders would be coming? Can't work that one out.....
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Next we went back down into the castle. There were a series of rooms and they looked like they were filled with interesting information about the history of the castle, and the city. I say looked like, as unfortunately a lot of the exhibits were in Spanish only, no English. Anyway, it was interesting to see the interior of the castle.
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The whole place was pretty compact and we only spent about twenty minutes here. We left via the other path going over the draw bridge.
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The pillars looks a little gloomy here, partly because it was starting to get cloudy, and partly due to the colour of the stone work. However, you can get an idea of the size of height of the pillars. Pretty impressive for a 500 year old structure.
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Another tick off the list for my travels. Next stop is back to UK but not in UK - Gibraltar. See you soon.





You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below

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Great to hear this visit was better than your last stop @livinguktaiwan 😁
It does look pretty and the castle is cute. Never been there.

You visited Gib. Did you like it?
My husband works there and commutes everyday… 1 hour 15 minutes one way… it’s an interesting place. I got married there in March this year.
Good night 👋🏻

I actually quite like Gib though of course I only spent a few hours there and only walked around the main center which I guess isn't really representative of the area. I didn't even go up to the Rock.

Interesting to hear you got married there. One coz it was still the peak of Covid then, and second from Spain to a British territory. I'm sure that would make a great story if it's not too personal for you (Sorry, I'm being very nosey 😃)

That’s pretty cool to hear @livinguktaiwan 😁
In a few hours you can’t see it all, and you didn’t miss anything by not going up the rock. In my view it is so overrated. And the monkeys are scary, they are aggressive towards the visitors. I did it once years ago… but not again.

We live very close to Gib. About 1 hour drive 😁 and my husband works there for the last 16 years… but he always lived in Spain, where I met him almost 6 years ago.
Because of the virus we couldn’t marry before, so it was delayed and Gibraltar did give us that option what Spain couldn’t. My husband being British and working there did help too 😉

You ask… we have, of course I wrote all about it with photographs. It is a follow u of me creating my own wedding bouquet.
Here In this post you find our trip to Gib and marriage!
If you want to read it 😎

Interesting to know that it's easier to get married in Gib than Spain, and luckily the option was available to you guys. Gonna hop over to your post now

Thanks so much @livinguktaiwan 😁

It is apparently the easiest country to get married in. I found out later.

It's amazing to see these places through your camera lens. The gloomy color of the sky kind of added some nostalgia which is really cool considering those areas you've gone to are centuries old!

Looking back at the photos, it does seem quite overcast doesn't it? I actually didn't notice it that much when I was there, but now thinking back, I don't think I saw the sun much that day compared to the other Canary Islands we went to.

Yes, overcast in a beautiful way :) And I think it is great to walk around in such an atmosphere as opposed to a clear sky with scorching heat.


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Lanzarote is a beautiful place with amazing views
Love the views and ancients buildings you visited

I wish I had time to visit more of the island. Many people have said how much they love the place. Maybe another trip.... hopefully

How great it must be to go on a cruise visiting great places like this. I wouldn't have paid for the 4 euro bus either, well I'll be very stingy but it's absolutely not worth it if you can walk in the same route... with how beautiful (and free) the outdoors is 😂.

And the cannon pointing at the city... it's weird. Perhaps 500 years ago there was no city there... or they just changed it from the original place to fool tourists 😅.

ha ha!! And get the tourists to continue talk about it afterwards,that's a great marketing tactic!!

That is pretty awesome. It looks like this was a really great trip! I remember @slobberchops visited Lanzarote a while ago and he did some posts about it. That castle is pretty awesome.

I remember his posts. He went all over the island and even managed to do a bit of urbex, wouldn't expect anything less from him!! Sadly, I didn't get to see anything as much as he did,but I guess it was still a fruitful day for myself

Very Beautiful place!!!!

It was in deed

I remember when you had the cruise trip it was pretty cloudy, all those weeks the weather was not the best (though I suppose as you were cruising around, maybe there were places that were sunny)

The ceiling made of dark wood in that church looks gorgeous. A more intimate atmosphere for the church, indeed.

I also like to visit museums when travelling. Things to learn about the place :))

There were some other smaller displays in the castle that had English, something about a local plant that was used to make soap, one of the three main local products... can't remember what the other two are now 😀

It was the end of Feb when I went, probably not the best weather, but still miles better than UK, that's why Spain is so popular for the Brits (apologies for the invasion, Spaniards must be sick of us 😁)

but still miles better than UK, that's why Spain is so popular for the Brits (apologies for the invasion, Spaniards must be sick of us 😁)

Hahaha, I laughed a lot on this when I read it 😂

No problem, Spain is invaded by Dutch and Norwegians too ( at least in the town where I live) 😁

Well, I also invaded Spain a decade ago hahaha.

5 years this has been happening to me, it started here, around people that are still here. Homeland security has done nothing at all, they are not here to protect us. Dont we pay them to stop shit like this? The NSA, CIA, FBI, Police and our Government has done nothing. Just like they did with the Havana Syndrome, nothing. Patriot Act my ass. The American government is completely incompetent. The NSA should be taken over by the military and contained Immediately for investigation. I bet we can get to the sources of V2K and RNM then. https://peakd.com/gangstalking/@acousticpulses/electronic-terrorism-and-gaslighting--if-you-downvote-this-post-you-are-part-of-the-problem