I read the news today – oh boy.
That must be how Boris must feel today and every day. Whether of his own making or not everyone must agree the man has had a really rough 2 years. He must dread every morning at the moment for which new revelation is now in the press or what world crisis he has to try and deal with on the country’s behalf. I suspect the press and a large proportion of the country will get what they want, and he will not continue long term but sometimes we should be careful of what we wish for. At the moment there doesn’t seem too many other suitable people of any political persuasion who seem any better qualified for the job either. I do despair with politics in this country (and the USA) that we do not seem to have many if any really credible leaders in waiting.
Anyhow our first full day in Lanzarote, had us having breakfast in the sunshine on the balcony. It was lovely and we realised how much we had missed be able to do this.
Today our aim was a slow walk down to the old harbour stopping for coffee on route before having lunch at the harbour.
It started well. Our first intended stop was a coffee stop at Dos Mil which was an old favourite. Disappointingly it was full and had a queue of people waiting for a table. Karen was convinced that some of the tables had been removed to create more space which didn’t help. It is one of the few places that serves proper coffee to Karen’s satisfaction.
So, we walked on. I stopped to go into one of the dodgy electrical shops to try and get a cable to charge our Kindles as I had managed to forget to pack one. I was worried about getting one that didn’t work or a knockoff that would damage the Kindles themselves. The guy initially couldn’t find one and so just took one out of a new Kindle. I was happy with that but knew I was being ripped off when he wanted 5 Euros for it. Nevertheless, it was worth it to make sure we could continue to use the Kindles.
As we approached the old town there seemed to be a continuation of building work that had been happening for the past few years. The area was being dragged slowly much more upmarket. This included finally the completion of the 5-star Hotel Fariones overlooking the sea which looked rather swish.
We carried onto the harbour going past the restaurant that we always recall that David Cameron was pictured eating at when he was Prime Minister. The harbour area itself was however looking rather sad. Especially as the ‘other’ Pinocchio’s was gone and builders were busy doing extensive renovations to convert it into something else. The other places immediately around it also seem to have been closed down. Today we were not having much luck with our planned places to stop.
After wandering out to see the fish in the harbour, we thought about going to the fish restaurant Mardeleva which overlooks the harbour from above but then when we saw it, we realised that it was also closed on Mondays.
Feeling rather fed up we decided to head back. We hadn’t gone far when in a small outdoor shopping area, we had never explored before we found a ‘Tea Shop’ called La Galosa run by a hard-working English lady. All the cakes and scones were home made by her. We just had a very welcome cup of tea along with a toasted sandwich which only served to wet our appetites. There was not a lot in the complex, but the tea shop seemed to be doing a decent trade.
We then decided to be brave and explore the newly completed Hotel Fariones. We have found in the past that if you walk in confidently to these types of places then you don’t get questioned. The lobby and reception were impressive. We walked through the bar and into the gardens. They were lovely. There was an infinity pool and some Spa’s. The chairs and beds overlooking the private beach were very plush (and we thought very us!). We found a secluded area where we cheekily sat for a while. After my moans about the people, we saw the previous night, what a difference there was in here. We did feel rather out of place but in the other way. Karen decided this was the place she wanted to stay in future. I reminded her our budget may not even stretch to having lunch here alone having a room. Instead, we tried out the toilets which were as nice as we expected.
Reluctantly we continued our walk back. Despite our drink and snack stop earlier we decided to have another stop at the original Pinocchio’s again. We both had a Coke and then gave in to our hunger. Karen had a Tuna Sandwich whilst I decided to try their all-day breakfast. Both were cheap and tasty.
Finally, we made it back to the Apartment where we sat on the balcony for the rest of the afternoon enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine.
For dinner we decided to head to Pizzeria Napolenta which we had enjoyed several times before. Continuing our disappointment of going to places that were no longer open, this restaurant had a notice up saying that are closed for a two-week holiday. We ended up in another more upmarket Trattoria. We got a table outside and shared a starter of warm focaccia with a small bottle of Vino Sol. I then have some fresh Ravioli in a cream sauce whilst Karen has a spicy Salmon tagliatelle. All was delicious and we really enjoyed it.
After this we headed down to Café Del Sol for a drink. We had a couple of glasses of Cava each but in the end the temperature had dropped to about 17c and as we were overlooking the sea it actually felt quite chilly, so we returned back to the apartment about 10.15pm. After having a cuppa, we retired for the night.
