Fuerteventura, part five - Betancuria.

One of the only things that can survive wild here (without man's assistance) is the goat. They seem to be OK with the lack of water and greenery to eat.

These 'wall' type signs were at the edge of each municipality. The villages had nice, small signs. These, for the municipality, seemed a bit OTT (although good to look at). We thought it was a house when we saw our first one. This is the one for Betancuria, our next port of call. It was formerly the capital of Fuerteventura, but that role is now taken by Puerto del Rosario, on the coast.

You can see why it's difficult to walk off the beaten track - the ground underfoot is often loose, and always hard and sharp.

A very rare sight - a small reservoir tucked away in the hills.

These two huge statues are of Ayose and Guiza, who were the rulers of both Northern and Southern kingdoms.

You can read all about Betancuria by clicking HERE

Approaching Betancuria.

The arid interior of Fuerteventura.

You can see the road we took, threading along the hillside on the opposite side of the valley.

We stopped at another viewpoint and started the climb up to a volcanic promontory.

A tinted view - taken through my sunglasses lens.

Almost at the top, on this lovely, clear day, the views were great.

Some rocks - now I've just GOT to stand on them :-)

With all the fantastic panorama around, we didn't forget to look down where we saw this beautiful plant, scratching a living among the rocks.

The NEW Betancuria sign

The OLD one - no comparison really. New = ugly, old = classy!

Coffee and cake at Betancuria. Home made lemon cake (in the shape of a crescent moon??). 

We had a quiet walk around a deserted centre of Betancuria. It is old and classy, but had a really bad 'touristy' feel about it. Even the loos charged a euro to 'go'. It looked and felt like one of those places that was there solely to milk the tourists.

Betancuria church.

The main street with this lovely window balcony.

Then, it was time to set off into the wild, blue yonder again,.

We made for home, intending to go to a music night at 'El Captan', one of our favourite bars, only a few minutes from our hotel. Today had been great, and we'd seen a pair of Hoopoes too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe