Fuerteventura - The last part :-(

THIS IS THE FINAL PART - TO GO

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FINAL PART

FUERTEVENTURA.

Our stay on this barren, but somehow beautiful island draws towards the end. Some people who have looked at these pictures say it's so barren and desolate. Yes, it IS a lot more barren than say Gran Canaria or Madeira, but it has a lot going for it, and it's beautiful in a different way.

We decided we really wanted to go right up to the viewpoint beyond Las Salinas and, as it was a nice day, we 'creamed up', packed plenty of water and set off.

Looking back from the road up.

When we reached the top, we could see over Pozo Negro bay.

It was hot now, VERY hot, so we made our way back to Caleta for a well-earned coffee. Some friends had told us where to get a very good latte, and here we were - nice decoration!

Later in the evening, we returned to one of our favourite restaurant bars, the Los Corocolitos at Las Salinas. I was desperate to try their fresh seafood paella.
As usual, it came in its own (huge) pan.

 After a plateful each, there was hardly a dent in it - this was a meal fit for a VERY hungry couple, and cost less than fifteen euros.

This guy prepared the fish. Fresh as fresh can be, like most of the fish on this island, they pride themselves in sea to plate in as little time as possible.

Los Corocolitos in the hot sunshine, our own little slice of paradise.

A few hardy flowers grew close to the shoreline.

Seabirds called and flew as we sat enjoying the bay at full tide.

We even saw a curlew. I was more used to enjoying this bird's call at home in Derbyshire on the moors in spring.

We then walked all the way back to Caleta for another evening in 'El Capitan'.
We LOVE these balmy evening walks, and we always felt Caleta was a safe, pleasant place. It really is so good to do this in the wintertime. It seems so wrong, and yet so right! I'd never been used to winter sun holidays until I met Sue. Now - I am addicted to them!

The last three days were spent just beach-bumming and lying in the sun, topping up our tans. Of course, we couldn't stay out of the warm, safe waters of the bay. I did lots of snorkelling, & I even got to try out my waterproof camera bag!

There was a bunch of about five local lads on the beach. They buried what looked like an oversize beach ball halfway deep in the sand, then proceeded to use it as a sort of springboard and did lots of impressive gymnastic moves to the delight of their 'audience'. They weren't busking or begging - just lads having fun and showing off.

You can see a short video of one of the moves HERE

Back to the hotel room, and another night a fire in the sky, courtesy of mother nature.

What an awesome end to a perfect holiday on Fuerteventura.

The next day, we returned to the small airport to leave for home.

We'd had perfect weather, and loved the place so much, we vowed to return.

A few puffs of cloud in a super-blue sky.

More cloud over the north of the island and Corralejo.

A big reservoir we flew over - WELL down.

Not many views on the way back, due to cloud, but over the Pyrenees was fantastic. The snow-covered tops looked terrific with their mantle of snow.

I just LOVE looking down on mountains like this. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Then, it was back to heavy cloud, which remained until we landed in Manchester.

A great holiday, on a great island - thanks Fuerteventura :-)

Fuerteventura part three.

DAY THREE

Today, we wanted to explore further and wider, so we did what we often do on our island holidays - we hired bikes. You can get MUCH further, with little effort (unless the place is very hilly, which the coastline of Caleta isn't) than you can on foot. We like the sedate biking thing, it's relaxing. I took up the rear position (better views), and let Sue lead on. 

We headed North, towards Puerto del Rosario, the main town of Fuerte'. Not that we intended to go that far (we aren't really into big towns), but we wanted to get a good view of it and the airport. 

You can see a video of her riding by clicking; HERE

 

Another fisherman trying his luck.

This was also our first encounter with what I thought were chipmunks, at first. I found out they were actually called ground squirrels, and were quite a pest on the island. they were cheeky, and approached you quite brazenly if you stopped. Obviously, people would feed these cute things, but there were notices asking you not to.

You can see how cheeky these little animals are by clicking HERE

These white posts were all along the coast, even in the remotest places. The more I saw them, the more I thought what a MAMMOTH job it must have been to set them all and paint them. What did they mean? What were they for?? As far as I can make out, they mark the boundary between marine and land, but I'm not absolutely sure of why.

 

You can see them dotted along the coastline everywhere.

We reached the village of Nuevo Horizonte. Here, in prime position on the seafront, were LOADS of apartments, some finished, some (like the one on the right here) unfinished. NONE were lived in, and even the stainless steel handrails etc were showing rust stains. It was all very sad, they were lovely (or, could be), but looked very unloved and 'dead'. We never did find out just why this was, and why they were unsold, but again, the best I could find out was it was something akin to not having planning permission, or a 'licence'?

 Anyway, at Nuevo, we turned around, as the surfaced track turned into a dirt road, and we didn't want punctures! Now we decided to ride as far as we could to the south, towards a place called Las Salinas (the saltworks).

The first thing you see as you approach is unexpected, to say the least! This massive whale skeleton. Why they chose this at a salt works is anyone's guess?

Quite dramatic, though.

There is a salt museum here. We didn't realise that salt was as important as it is, in fact, it is not only a basic commodity, but essential to life. We decided to have a trip around the museum (five euros), and to be honest, found it very interesting and informative. This place (Las Salinas) had something special, a 'foam pool'. Where the waves bashed into a hole in the rocks, foam was created, and this was super rich with salt. The foam and water were caught, and then channeled down this, built by man, to settling ponds. 

Whoever first realised that salt could be produced in this way? It's just like the mushroom thing - who found out which were OK to eat, and which killed you?

Anyway, through a simple (but also somehow complicated) process, water 

is moved from pond to pond, this process all to do with the temperature of the water, which increases the salinity somehow.

Anyway, after three or so moves, it gets to these really small ponds, and it evaporates and the salt can be raked onto the sides and collected. It's left in little conical piles to dry out.

This is the end result, a special and expensive (in the early days) commodity. People were paid in salt, have died for salt, and traded in salt. In fact, the word 'salary' comes from the Roman name for salt, salarium, as Roman soldiers were partly paid in salt. Read more fascinating facts about salt here; http://wordinfo.info/unit/3602/ip:1/il:S

It was getting past lunchtime, and we'd seen this sign, so we saddled up and made for the bar.

Sitting on the patio of Los Corocolitos, looking out over the bay

First, a  little aperitif........

Then a nice, fresh salad and some Canarian potatoes.

 I know, it looks a little 'tacky', but looks deceive - it was a lovely place. Romantic, relaxing and great food and drink. It came to be one of our favourite places, even though it was a couple of miles from our hotel. They did a free bus in the evenings, which would fetch people from Caleta, then return them later on. 

 Time to burn a few more calories to make way for dinner.

Later on after returning the bikes, we strolled to the little harbour, another of our favourite places, a little beach bar overlooking the harbour. While we sat, the chef  got some freshly landed sea bass, prepared them by slashing the skin and squeezing lemon over them, then skewered them over some hot coals. 

We wondered if any of them were the fish that Sue hand-fed earlier on in the day - see her doing that CLICK HERE

The smell of them cooking was incredible, and we just couldn't resist ordering one between us, complete with salad, bread and Canarian potatoes, 17 euros!

Lovely!

The end result - two very satisfied customers, and empty plates

(To add a bit of romance, note the 'candle app' on my phone) :-)

A steady relaxed stroll home, hand in hand in the warmth of the evening completed another perfect day