The Many Faces of Lanzarote

 On Tuesday we arrived at Arrecife, Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. We have never visited these islands before, and were looking forward to seeing some spectacular scenery. The good thing about researching shore excursions as far ahead as I do, is that I forget what we're going to see in certain places, so I am just as awed as everyone else. That definitely happened here.

We were going on the 8 hour all over the island tour, which was apparently an amalgamation of 3 different tours with lunch included. The Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, are very old geologically, up to 11 million years, but are still volcanically active. You might recall only last year the eruption on La Palma that went on for 3 months. Lanzarote is not as volatile, although the first place we visited on the tour, Timanfaya National Park, is technically still an active volcanic site.

A good part of the north and western part of Lanzarote is a sea of lava, much of which was belched up during the eruption of 1730-1736. Yes, it lasted 6 whole years, and destroyed a number of villages, but apparently no lives were lost because of the warnings it gave beforehand.

Camels were used as pack animals as they had no 
difficulty walking over the volcanic 'sand'. Now
they take tourists on rides just outside the park.

 We were given three demonstrations of the heat that is still being generated from the Timanfaya volcano:

This pit is only about 2 metres or 6 feet deep. There was some dried grass sitting on a ledge about halfway down, and when the guide dropped some of it to the bottom of the pit, it smouldered and ignited within 5 seconds.

The second demonstration was one that I only have video for, and can't upload at sea. I'll try later. One of the park staff poured a bucket of water down a 6" diametre pipe, and 2 seconds later it literally erupted into a geyser and sprayed out about 20 feet in the air!

The last demonstration was how the restaurant, where we were at the time, uses the volcanic heat to barbecue meat for its menus. In this case, chicken is roasting over a deep pit.

This is the inside of the restaurant and the view over the lava field and remnants of the volcano cones. The views at sunset, particularly in the winter months, are apparently quite spectacular. Remember that the Canary Islands are among the very best places in the world for stargazing, and La Palma has its share of the world's best and largest telescopes.

Some of the views from our drive around the park. In order to maintain public safety, as the volcanic stone is always quite hot, around 80 degrees Celsius, private cars are not allowed on the roads that go through the park. Only park tour buses and private tour buses are authorized to travel around as we did. The lineup of cars waiting to get into the parking lot at the restaurant, where the park tours begin, was quite long.

This was the remnant of a blown-out lava
tube

There once was a small village where this crater is now

Timanfaya is almost a moonscape. For that reason,
lots of movies, ads, and special events have
been filmed here.

During our stop at the Visitors' Centre, we were able to walk out over the lava sea on a raised walkway and take a close-up look at it.

The next stop on the tour was at a small Bodega in the area of La Geria for a wine tasting. Yes, even in this soil, they grow grapes and make enough wine to satisfy the local population. The main white grape is the Malvasia, and, as you can see, the cultivation method is quite unique. Most of the vines are actually placed in round depressions in the rocky soil, with small walls built up around them as wind breaks.

We tasted a dry white wine and a sweet one. Most of the people on the tour thought the dry one was too dry (I didn't; it was much like an Italian Pinot Grigio), and the sweet one was too sweet. Again, it tasted like a German dessert wine to me. The bodega was apparently all out of red wine for tastings.

Our next stop was at the Casa-Museo del Campesino for lunch. We had been hearing from our guide about the importance of one man, Cesar Manrique, in the contemporary history of the island. He was an artist and architect, born in Arrecife in 1919. He spent many years in the USA, as an artist and then, when he returned home in the 1940s, he designed and helped build some of the sites that are now among the island's most visited attractions. We had already visited one ourselves - he helped the park service design the roadway through Timanfaya National Park.

The Casa-Museo del Campesino was another of his interesting designs. He seemed to know how to work with the lava caves to get the best use of them. Here, he had designed an underground restaurant and banquet facility.

This is apparently a very good and well-known event venue, and our lunch bore that out. We started

with a salad of tomato and local feta cheese, which was delicious.

The main course was pork medallions with potato gratin and a vegetable stack, also great.

And dessert was a local specialty Torrijas Conejeras, dessert fritters. They had a bit of an almond, honey and cinnamon taste to them.

 

Some of the decoration around the interior of the restaurant:

And around the outside, the area is set up like a small village with tables and chairs dotted around. The sculpture is one of Cesar Manrique's pieces. It was too bad that we didn't have enough time to take a few more photos after lunch, but we had to be on our way to the next stop.

All of the houses on the whole island of Lanzarote are painted white, and those inland have green trim on the windows, doors and stairs while those near the ocean have blue trim. This was another result of Manrique's vision of the island. He was all for keeping everything in harmony with nature, and convinced the citizens that painting their homes white would also keep them cooler by reflecting much of the heat. It seemed to have worked well, as this style has been adopted across the entire island. The temperatures on Lanzarote hover between 22C and 30C pretty much all year, and the island doesn't get very much rain. Here are some of the houses we passed on our drive:

We made a brief stop at Mirador del Rio, which is a panoramic overlook on a large bay called Bateria del Rio. The views are spectacular from here. Our guide told us that in January and February, when there is a little more rain, the northern and eastern parts of the island turn green from brown and there are actually some flowers blooming. He showed us a satellite image of August and February, and the difference is very clear to see. No wonder a lot of northern Europeans like to come here to escape the damp cold in winter.

By the way, the overlook entrance and terrace were also designed by Cesar Manrique.

This holiday village doesn't allow cars inside and is
quite a popular getaway spot. You can rent a car to 
drive to the beaches on the other side of the peninsula.

Our final stop on the tour was at Jameos del Agua, caves that originated when the lava flowing from the volcanic eruptions made its way to the sea. Another product of Cesar Manrique's skill at making use of the natural caves, this is one of the prime tourist attractions on the island. The logo of Jameos del Agua is a small crayfish, because there is an albino version that normally live deep in the ocean, but live at sea level only here in the subterranean pool.

Again, a very popular spot. There are bars on multiple levels inside the caves, with some spectacular ambience.

This is the pool where the crayfish live. I couldn't see any, but we didn't have a lot of time to look.

There is also a large amphitheatre here, with amazing acoustics. Someone was setting up a presentation on the stage, and we had no trouble hearing everything very clearly from the entrance at the top. Apparently the acoustics are due to the lack of echo since the sound is absorbed in the small pores of the volcanic rock.

And outside is this beautiful pool.

Overall, we had a fantastic overview of all of Lanzarote in one day. It looks like an amazing place to vacation if you want to lay back and relax. The beaches are apparently also quite lovely, but, we suspect, usually fairly busy. Our guide mentioned that there is no real high or low tourist season, just people coming from different parts of Europe at different times of the year. In summer southern Europeans want to get away from the heat, and in winter those from Scandinavia and Germany want to escape the cold. Either way, the island is worth another visit.

We were so tired, and still full from the big late lunch, that dinner was a salad at the Pool Grill. So far all the food we have tried, and there are multiple venues open most of the time, has been great. We were early to bed since we had an 8:15 start for our tour in Tenerife on Wednesday.

First Impressions of a New Ship

 Hello at last! We're in the midst of some technical difficulty in sending photos taken on my iPhone to my Google account so we can add them to the blog. Once we get that resolved, we'll add the photos to the blog posts. Late update: I finally got the photos transferred, but then it was almost impossible to get connected to the blog to update. I'm finishing this up at 11 p.m. after a time change...hopefully everyone has gone to bed so the internet is available!

We arrived in Barcelona early on Friday afternoon and fortunately were able to check in to our room immediately. The forecast was calling for possible showers in the afternoon and it would be getting dark at 5:30, the same as at home, and Park Guell was at least a 20 minute taxi ride away. All of these things conspired to keep us in the hotel for the evening instead of visiting the park. We heard from fellow guests on the ship that you need at least 3 or 4 hours to see it properly, so we're planning a full day there on our next visit in Barcelona.

The Sofia Hotel was very nice, obviously new, and quite modern. All the furnishings in the room were very sleek and minimalist, and quite comfortable, even if only for one night.

The next morning we transferred to the ship along with about15 other couples. It was quite a surprise to see one of these couples, as we had been sitting beside them in the Air France/KLM Lounge at Pearson Airport on Thursday afternoon. They left the lounge before we did, on a different flight, and we thought no more of it. Then to see them waiting to board the bus was a bit of a shock. Of course, we've seen them all over the ship since then, but have never spoken to them. They probably don't remember us anyway.

Regent Seven Seas Splendor is quite a beautiful ship. The public areas are all spacious and bright, and decorated in neutral colours. Everything seems wide open and there's lots of space between table in the lounges. The ship carries about 700 guests, and even though this transatlantic sailing is full, we so far haven't felt crowded anywhere except at the elevators after a show. So we've been using the stairs quite a bit!

Our suite is on Deck 8, not one of the fancier ones, but spacious enough with lots of drawer space and a large closet. Here are a couple of photos:

Everyone we heard from before we came for the cruise raved about the quality of the food on board. Just the design of the specialty restaurants is impressive!

Pacific Rim, the Asian restaurant

the entrance to Pacific Rim

One of the lounges. There's lots of live music
around the ship every night

The main dining room, Compass Rose

Chartreuse, the French restaurant

Steakhouse, Prime 7

We met one of Larry's Cruise Critic acquaintances on Sunday. It had been arranged that we would get together sometime and we happened to find each other in the Observation Lounge. They had space in their dinner reservation at Chartreuse on Sunday evening and asked us if we'd like to join them. So we had a first example of specialty dining almost immediately.

We had a great meal with Laraine, her husband Bob, and their friends Laura and Dave. The star of the show was, of course, the food!

Larry's Steak Tartare appetizer

Cheese Souffle appetizer

Duck Breast with marinated rutabaga...
it's amazing how they can make boring
food taste delicious!

Opera Cake for dessert

Sunday night we also passed out of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic Ocean. The captain had been asked when we would see the Rock of Gibraltar - around 11:00 - and we sailed by right on time! Surprisingly there was enough light around that with the help of Night Mode on the camera, I was able to get a fairly good shot of it.

We were in for one more sea day before arriving in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands on Tuesday morning. The weather turned out to be not so warm, and we spent much of the day 'vegetating' in the lounge. 

The social hostess, Annabel, also hosts crafting get-togethers on sea days. For the transatlantic sailing she's created a Needlepoint Challenge. Those of us who are interested have received a needlepoint kit that is really for a frame where the blank centre section is cut out after the outside frame area has been stitched. But the challenge is to design and stitch something for that centre part of the frame. We have until almost the end of the cruise to complete the work. All the challenge pieces will be displayed and our fellow guests will get to vote for their favourite one. Whoever gets the most votes will win a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne and a bag full of small needlepoint kits. Just something to add to my knitting project and blog writing.....

Our tour in Lanzarote is all day, so we're gearing up for that. Laraine has told us that it is well worth seeing the whole island, so we're looking forward to it.

Off We Go Again!

Now that winter has made its first appearance, we're heading off for another couple of weeks away. This time we will be on board the Regent Seven Seas Splendor. We were last on a Regent ship in Alaska in 2009, so we're expecting quite a few changes. Larry has some Cruise Critic acquaintances who are already onboard, and will be staying for our 14-night Transatlantic voyage, and they have already been posting lots of information and photos.

We will only have three port stops on this cruise that starts in Barcelona on Saturday. We'll be in the Canary Islands for two days, and then in San Juan before leaving the ship in Miami. We'll have to leave her in good condition as our friends Mary Ellen and Ed will be boarding when we disembark.

As usual, we'll be posting our impressions and photos around the ship, as well as the food, which from reports is fantastic, and our few ports. Never having been to the Canary Islands before, we're looking forward to our excursions there.

We hope you enjoy following along!

The Little Town of Gaspe

 We had been to Gaspe before, and had taken the hour's bus ride to Perce to take a boat ride around the rock, so we decided to take the tender into town and wander around a bit on our own.

Gaspe is a very small town, but it was one of the earliest French settlements on the St. Lawrence. It is the main hub of the Acadian Peninsula, and boasts, among other things, a VIA Rail Station, a liquor store, and McDonalds, and, of course, a Tim Horton's (this being the first one we've seen since Montreal!). The local branch of TD Canada Trust has been there since 1902!!

It was a lovely day, and, once we were away from the harbour, not very windy.

The Cathedral of Gaspe. It is the only
timber church in North America, unfortunately
closed for visitors.

There are a couple of very nice looking B&Bs in
town

A wildlife sighting!!

St. Paul's Anglican Church

Along the waterfront promenade there are
replicas of historical homes and plaques
telling of the town's history

Seabourn Quest at anchor with the autumn colours
in the background

Yes, we bought some Timbits! Just because
it was the first Tim's we'd seen since Montreal

We left Gaspe at 3:00 in the afternoon for our day and a half at sea directly back to Montreal. The wind certainly hadn't gone down any as we sailed back out to the Gulf.

This is a little community of cottages up in the hills
across from Gaspe

 We rounded this point, 
Cap Gaspe, to get back into
the Gulf of St. Lawrence

In the evening we had been invited to dine with Tiffany and Callum and a few other guests. We had a great time and learned that this group of singers and dancers would be ending their current contract in the middle of October, after the next cruise. Tiffany and Kimberley will be back on one of the other ships, and Callum, from London, is leaving the ships to do something completely different. We really enjoyed their performances (one more tomorrow) and the fact that they spent time interacting with the guests and getting to know them.

The show in the evening was by a group called Citizen West, a 'boy band' trio of singers who were quite talented and entertaining.

The Mingan Archipelago

The what?? Although we usually associate archipelagos with warm water regions, we do have one on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and it is a National Park.

Our port stop yesterday was the small town of Havre-Saint-Pierre, another industrial town originally settled because of timber and fish. Now there's apparently a good amount of the ore that produces titanium also to be found in the area, and this has become a major industry in the area.

We had to be in the Grand Salon at 7:50 a.m. to meet our tour, so we had a light room service breakfast and got our things together. It was already windy as we boarded the tender, so we were wondering what the boat trip to Ile Niapiskau would be like, and what kind of boat we would be on!

A few minutes after stepping off the tender in the town's harbour, we were already on board the vessel that would take us to the island. Fortunately it was a nice, large boat with inside seating and an upper outside deck. We were a fairly small group, so we could all sit inside on the trip out. But as we sailed slowly by one of the other islands, some of us had to get outside with our cameras.

About 10 minutes after leaving there, we arrived at Ile Niapiskau and met our Parks Canada ranger guide. The islands of the St. Lawrence are limestone, and our guide explained the formation of the material, the compression from the ice layer during the Ice Age, and how over thousands of years, the earth's crust is bouncing back very slowly since the ice melted. It is during the process of rising through the surface of the water and being eroded by wave action that these pillars and outcroppings have been sculpted into their current shapes, which haven't changed since they rose completely onto land.

Many of the stone pillars have been given names. Niapiskau itself means 'pointy rock' in Innu, the language of the local first nations. They may have had their names, but the early area settlers, when they explored, gave them others that have probably evolved somewhat over time.

This is 'La Grande Dame' or The Lady. 

This one is Wedding Cake

And this one is, depending on your age and aversion
to all things political, either Cyrano de Bergerac
or Richard Nixon!

The views around just the small part of the island we visited were quite spectacular.

Yes, she was actually here!

We had a walk around one of the trails for about an hour, and then time to wander around the pillars and along the beach on our own.

Once the boat came back to pick us up, we were rather happy that we had to get up early to be in the first group out. There were at least twice as many people in the next landing group, needing two guides, and some had to face the wind on the top deck on the way over. Our trip back was rather nice as the wind was behind us, so we sat up top.

Once back at Havre-Saint-Pierre, we thought we'd take a short walk around town. But the wind was blowing so strong that we literally had grit from the road blowing into our faces as soon as we left the shelter of the harbour building. So much for that idea! While waiting for the tender, the local security guard told us, when we asked it was always this windy, that yesterday they'd had no wind at all!

Oh well, at least we managed to get a couple of days' blog posting done and spend a leisurely afternoon on the ship. Our Assistant Cruise Director, Nick, did a pre-dinner show that was excellent. He was recently part of the international tour of 'Jersey Boys' and sang a wide variety of music, including one of Michael Buble's hits. He even sounds a bit like him. And the evening presentation was Jo Rochell, a British singer/pianist. She'd already done one show in the cruise, and she was just as great the second time.

Because the wind never let up before we left port, the overnight started out with quite a bit of movement from the ship. We didn't have huge waves, but to get to our next stop at Gaspe, we would have to cross the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Acadian Peninsula, running across the wind. As the captain said when explaining why we had to change our itinerary because of Hurricane Fiona, this ship 'doesn't do waves very well'. She's stable enough, but because Quest is a relatively small ship, she gets buffetted around more by wind and seas.