lanzarote view from mirador del rio
My second visit to Lanzarote – July 2008
(You can also see more details about this trip, including restaurants and photos, or book accommodation for Lanzarote on my blog for Spain HERE – www.simplyspainandbeyond.com/hola )
We were so impressed with our first trip to Lanzarote in April, we went back in July for another week – this time a more relaxing week than the last time. We did all our touring and photographing then, so we could now just relax and go back to places and restaurants that we really liked.We stayed in the same villa in Faro Park, Playa Blanca, as we loved it and the pool and Jacuzzi were going to be used more this time!
We had another fantastic meal at the salt cellar (‘Almacen de la Sal’) in Playa Blanca. We had to have the Paella again, as it is so good there, but it was even better the second time round. It was topped with Lobster, Prawns, mussels, large red prawns (really sweet) langoustine, and pieces of squid – all juicy and well cooked. We had the same wine as last time (Marques de Vargas Rioja) and it was very relaxing. We finished off with profiteroles with white and dark chocolate sauces and the flambed strawberries in liqueur and ice cream. Yum!
We had a relax down at Playa Blanca, at Natura Beach, and a good walk, and we went for dinner in our favourite restaurant in El Golfo in the evening – the ‘Restaurante El Golfo’. Grilled sardines and calamari in batter to start made a perfect starter. A bottle of white wine (Torres Fransola) was recommended by the waiter, and it was lovely. We followed this with grilled white fish (must try to find the name of it), shell on prawns, Canarian potatoes and salad, accompanied by green and red Mojo sauce (Mojo verde y Mojo Rojo) The chocolate mousse dessert was not very good, but everything else was lovely.
The next day, we took a walk the other side of Playa Blanca, and found some really nice beaches that we had never seen before. They were fairly busy and had some restaurants and bars, so we were pleased to find it for next time, if we fancy the beach.
We then went back to Puerto del Carmen to see the beaches in the daytime and had lunch overlooking the Playa Grande at the ‘Terraza El Mirador’. We had a lovely tuna sandwich and tuna salad.
The restaurant chain in Puerto del Carmen, Lani’s have a general restaurant there that does a huge range of ice cream dishes, so we had two really yummy ice-cream sundaes in there, with fruits, bananas, nuts and sauces.
We also tried the Italian at Natura Beach, and it was not bad, I would say. They are very friendly and the kitchen is open, and there is a lovely terrace overlooking the sea and the promenade, if you prefer to sit outside. We ate there twice. We had Tomato soup, minestone soup, prawn cocktail and parmagiana starters which were ok. The minestrone soup was the best one, as the prawn cocktail had far too much mayonnaise. The ham pizza and spicy prawn spaghetti were pretty good though and the tiramisu delicious so we would go back again.
The Tapas bar at Natura beach is really good. We had not been in before as it didn’t look much from the outside, and the menu does not make it look that good, but inside it is really comfortable and rustic, with views over the sea. We had a gorgeous plate of shell on grilled prawns, a tapas consisting of a mini fried egg (????), with tuna and courguette on toast, and a prawn, tomato and pepper tapas on toast. They are only small, but really tasty. Then we had their scrambled egg with prawns, which is traditional apparently, but so much nicer than it sounds. It is more like a scrambled omelette, with big juicy prawns, courguette, onion and mushroom. Delicious! Their ice-cream was lovely too and they had one of our favourite Spanish red wines – Protos.
We tried out a different restaurant in Playa Blanca – ‘Terraza Restaurante Brisas Marina’. We had a bottle of ‘El Grifo’ Lanzarote white wine – very nice. Mussels to start, and a grilled Halibut fish for main, which was huge, juicy and delicious. The Canarian potatoes were really good, as were the Mojo sauces. Good service and a lovely position right on the seafront, with indoor and outdoor seating.
We also went back to ‘Restaurante El Golfo’ for a Paella and tried the Red Rioja as recommended by the waiter – ‘Heras Cordon Reserva 2001 Rioja’ – absolutely beautiful flavour! The Paella was as good as ever, but had the bonus of having red prawns as well, so it was fabulous. Mussels, prawns, lobster and other shellfish I cannot remember!
We finished our holiday this time with a last day in Arrecife, before heading back to the airport. This City is big and bustling, with lots of shops, a good promenade and seafront, and lots of restaurants. We had a good look round, and then had lunch at one of the restaurants there. We had a salad with green olives and a prawn spaghetti which was pretty good. It is a smart restaurant with good service but nothing to write home about.
Local arts and crafts include pottery, leather and clothes.
Popular foods of the Canaries are:
- Churros – fried donut style dessert dipped in hot chocolate
- Paella – a rich rice dish with the addition of either chorizo, chicken or a range of seafood
- Canarian potatoes – Small new waxy potatoes cooked in a huge amount of salt, in their skins, so they are coated in salt.
- Seafood – shelled and shell on range of seafood such as fish, prawns, lobster, clams, mussels and much more
- Mixed salad – generally this has tuna, egg, olives, tomatoes, onion, carrot and green salad – virtually a meal in itself
- Green Olives – absolutely delicious!
- Olive oil
• Sangria – although popular and available all over Spain, this wonderful wine and fruit based drink is delicious.
Aloe Vera – taken from the plant, this can be used in cosmetic products, but also drunk for vitality and health