12 Days in Lanzarote - Part I

The last time I left you, I had just had a relaxing bath before a long trip to Gatwick and an even longer trip to Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, for this year's family summer holiday. We spent twelve days on this beautiful island, exploring it's alien landscapes, gorgeous beaches and lots of sunbathing.  

It all started on the 28th July, when we traveled down to my Nanny and Grandad's house before heading to Gatwick airport in London. After queuing for a long time, we arrived in Duty Free heaven, where I bought the original Chloe scented body lotion. I've decided its my holiday fragrance. It's a very floral smell with peony, lychee, and freesia being the main elements. I used it after every shower on the holiday and it left my skin smelling and feeling lovely. The scent will forever remind me of this holiday. The flight itself was four hours long. As soon as we landed, we had views of glistening, clear blue sea and we knew we were in for a treat. 

Clear blue sea

We stayed in a villa, Villa Feliz, for the 12 days we spent in Playa Blanca. The housekeeper collected us from the airport and took us on the scenic route to our villa. On that trip, we caught the first glimpses of the incredible volcanic landscape. We were so happy with the villa - it had a terrace overlooking our pool and Flamingo Beach (which, disappointingly, had no flamingos) as well as tidy, modern interior. At the back of the villa you could see the giant Montana Roja, a huge volcano. That evening, we went out for dinner down by Flamingo Beach in the International Steak House. In true Eleanor fashion, I ordered the prosciutto pizza. No regrets. Before arriving in Lanzarote, Mum had told me that it was going to be very British, as it was an area full of tourist attractions. Because of this, I found it so much more chilled. Not only was I more certain of what I was ordering from the menus, but it just felt comforting to hear so many people speaking your language. We were able to have chats with other holiday makers and get a lot more out of the places we visited.

Flamingo Beach

Our first full day in Lanzarote was spent by the pool. A lot of the time we either sunbathed or experimented with the box of water guns and lilos. The next day, we traveled down to Flamingo Beach and hired a sun lounger for each of us. There was a lot of tanning done that day, so much so I'm still peeling from it, as well as watching the fish swim about your feet in the sea. The water was just like we had seen it when landing - a clear, deep blue. We treated ourselves to ice creams and I had a non-alcoholic Pina Colada too, which was soooo good. We went out for dinner again that night at another restaurant on the sea front called La Bahia. I, of course, had another prosciutto pizza, but this one had the addition of pineapple on it, so it was different!

The next day was another pool day - we tended to alternate between the pool and trips out. However, that evening, we walked up the Montana Roja volcano that we could see from the back of our villa. I had a cold from the start of the holiday, so hiking for what felt like forever up a giant mountain wasn't top of my list, but its not every day you can say 'tonight I ate a ham and cheese baguette sitting on top of a volcano and watching a spectacular sunset.' It was beautiful. You had the incredible sunset over the beach to your left and the Timanfaya Volcanic National Park to your right. It was one of my favourite experiences of the holiday. There were also little statues people had made with rocks on top of the volcano, and people had written their names or made shapes with them in the crater as well. As we walked down, we saw an orange moon rise as all the lights of the town switched on for the night. 

Heart made out rocks 

The stunning sunset

On the 1st August, we took a ferry over to Fuerteventura, the closest Canary Island to Lanzarote. As soon as we got there, we sat in a cafe eating cheese and bacon toasties. I was very tempted to also order the Belgian waffles and pancakes. Instead, we explored the sea front of the island, mostly sat on a bench just talking and watching the fisherman. Later on in the day, I had what could only be the world's biggest ice cream cone. It had chunks of pineapple in it so technically it was probably one of my five-a-day. Or not. The journey back over to Lanzarote was a bit too choppy for my liking, but we saw lots of flying fish. The next day was another day spent by our lovely pool, but in the evening we went to a restaurant by the Natura Beach (luckily not a naturist beach, which is what we thought it meant) called El Argentino. It had friendly staff, who called me princess and my brother champion, and even nicer food. I had battered chicken with tomato, mozzeralla and pineapple. My first dessert of the holiday came in the form of delicious honey and banana pancakes - another addition to my five-a-day. 

World's unofficial
biggest ice cream!

I think we'll leave it there for today - six days gone, six days left. We got up to some exciting adventures in the second half of our holiday, so make sure you stay tuned for that post coming up soon!

Hope you're all well. 

From, 

Eleanor