Fuerteventura 2007

Let's gooooooo

Bologna airport, we spend the night on the armchairs waiting for the flight that leaves at 8 in the morning for Fuerteventura, we are emotional and excited. After a careful study of guides and photos of the Canaries, we can't wait to be there. We already have our itineraries ready and the fact that down there it's an hour behind Italy means we gain precious time...one week is a bit little...but we'll get busy. Fuerte is the wildest island and at the same time the most equipped for tourism, it's easy to get around by car and it has breathtaking landscapes. We'll go all around it and more....accompanied by the constant wind and sun...

Travel and Village

We leave on time and after 4:30 hours of travel we arrive and land at the only airport in Puerto del Rosario, the capital of the island. The runways are right next to the ocean, impressive to fly over the island at low altitude during the landing operations... We arrive and the wind makes itself felt right away, the tour operator is organized and present, after an hour we are at the Oasis Dunas village in Corralejo at the extreme north of the island. The village is welcoming, beautiful, equipped with everything, very large with 3 pools, sunbeds, tennis courts, a supermarket, a large reception and common areas. They assign us our apartment which is clean, tidy and very welcoming. After a quick lunch we decide to spend the day at the pool and in the village to recover from the trip.

The pools are salt water, there's a poolside bar, the day is beautiful and we laze around until late afternoon. For the following day a nice stop is already planned: the island of Lobos. In the evening we go out to explore the town of Corralejo, large, welcoming, lively. Venues, lots of people, music...the port is a focal point of the town, full of shops and venues, boats and people. It's equipped with everything, supermarket, car rentals, souvenir shops, internet point..... At night it swarms with life but a week awaits us that is anything but restful so we go back to the village and have a good sleep.

Isla de Lobos

We board at 11:00 from the port of Corralejo and after 20 minutes we are at Lobos. A very small volcanic island born from an eruption. The island has a suggestive and lunar landscape, the vegetation is almost non-existent, there is only a very rustic restaurant and some buildings, there are no shops. We set off to explore the island which has a rocky landscape of volcanic stones and a strong wind blows constantly. After an hour of walking along the well-defined paths we find a sandy beach where we take a break and swim in the oceanic and crystal-clear waters. We resume the walk and arrive at the Montana la Caldera, that is the volcano that can be visited and climbed to the summit. Going further we find a salt lake that is drying up, all around a lush vegetation. we walk undeterred all day going all around the island entirely, taking magnificent photos and getting quite tired.

The following day we intend to rent a car to go all around the island of Fuerte. Meanwhile on our return to the village we book ourselves for the excursion to Lanzarote scheduled for Wednesday.

Traveling free

We rent a powerful Ford Fiesta for 3 days and immediately make a stop at the national park of the dunes of Corralejo, an extension of the Sahara desert, large dunes of almost white sand that plunge into the blue ocean. A beautiful and suggestive spectacle 6 km long. The landscape suddenly changes transforming into hills and now-inactive volcanoes. We head to the town of La Oliva, small but welcoming. From here we arrive at the beautiful historic town of Betancuria which is undoubtedly worth a visit. Typical Canarian town with white houses, cacti and Aloe Vera, it was the old capital of the island. It's a lively and ancient town, it's inland and has no beaches. A road with a lunar landscape takes us to Ajuy, on the west coast of the island on the side of the ocean open towards America. Here beaches of black volcanic sand and a belvedere perched over the ocean capture the attention.

A long walk along the rocky coast provides us with photo-worthy landscapes and the ocean pounds violently against the gray and white rock. A large inlet with wide natural caves captures us, the water is blue and at times green, the wind continues to accompany us always. The beauties of the rocky ocean coast give way to the large white sand beach of El Cotillo when we arrive at the tower and the fortress of El Cotillo. A perfect place and crowded with tourists, the high cliff and then the sand and the cold sea. We spend the day at the beach among enormous waves and a place worthy of note. In the evening we go along unpaved little roads in search of a restaurant for dinner and getting lost beside the ocean we take photos of the beautiful sunset. We'll end up in a venue on the port of Corralejo eating Paella.

The Jandia Peninsula

We set off early to reach as our final destination the Jandia peninsula at the extreme south of the island. Along the way, however, we make some stops, first of all we stop at Caleta de Fuste, a very lively and colorful tourist village. We then make a quick stop at Tarajalejo, with a long desolate beach and a seafront promenade. Heading to the Sotavento beach we go into the hills until we reach a very large lagoon of crystal-clear water. A pre-ocean area with shallow water and islets emerging from the water, palm trees, vegetation and sand. Many water sports are practiced in this stretch of sea....Windsurfing, surfing, kitesurfing... We spot, however, further ahead another very attractive beach and so we head towards a paradise on earth. Very large dunes of very fine yellow sand, blue and light blue sea, wind and waves....at the edge of the sand a dense vegetation and then...rocky hills.

The tide phenomenon creates a play of pools of water here and there and so sand dunes come out of the sea...the beach is kilometers long and the place is packed with tourists. many are nudists but also non-nudists and to shelter from the wind there are niches of rocks in the sand. We spend the rest of the afternoon bathing in those crystal-clear and cool waters, the sun is high in the sky and it's warm anyway. It's hard to leave and so we decide not to go back to Corralejo right away but to try to get to the extreme south, as far as the paved road ends...so we reach Morro Jable, the Jandia lighthouse and some stupefying landscapes. The return trip will last more than two hours... passing among cultivations, hills, centuries-old lava flows and farms of the famous Fuerteventura goat.

From the salt flats to the American Star

On the last day that we have the car available we visit the capital which is a classic big seaside city with monuments and the large port. Right after we stop to visit the Salina del Carmen which is very interesting and can be visited for only 5 euros. Continuing we stop at Gran Tarajal which is a nice tourist town. From here we reach the sea...at the rocky coast of La Pared. Dark rock, coast beaten by the strong wind, a very angry ocean unleashes furious waves on the high coasts and on the small beach. The landscape is very beautiful. It's a bit cold and it's not a day for the sea so while we head back, determined to go to the village, we come across a wooden sign saying: Playa de la Solapa and Playa de Garcey....

Playa de Garcey is famous because since 1994 a ship has been stranded there and it has been a destination for tourists, I knew that it had sunk recently but curiosity is a woman's trait so up dusty hills and an embarrassing little road we launch ourselves in search of the American Star. We will first find Playa de la Solapa and then the other, stopping for half an hour to admire both the high and rocky coast and the wreck that can barely be seen. It emerges from the water but by now it's collapsed on its side, we take some photos and go back. That evening we are tired and satisfied, the next day Lanzarote awaits us!

The island of Lanzarote

Almost an hour by ferry from the port of Corralejo and we land at Playa Blanca on the island of Lanzarote, an island full of landscape beauties worthy of note. We get on the bus and with the Italian-speaking guide we head immediately to the mountains of fire, a natural park declared a biosphere reserve and a world heritage site. The largest lava flow in the world, volcanoes and volcanoes that erupted for 6 consecutive years and covered everything with lava for km and km....the landscape is indescribable, it feels like being on another planet, lava and lava, black, red, yellow and orange are the predominant colors in the volcanic rock that dominates the ground. Only lava in front of us and our bus. The Timanfaya park is famous and a very well-known tourist destination, we witness some geological experiments and visit the whole valley covered in lava that is now millennia old.

Meanwhile the whole history of the eruptions that increased the surface of Lanzarote considerably is narrated to us. 365 volcanoes in Lanzarote and some still active, it's an unreal and stupefying landscape made of hills and volcanoes, little vegetation and expanses of lava flow covered with lichens. Little by little the lunar landscape gives way to the valley of tranquility with rounded shapes and cultivated hills. We stop at a typical winery where we taste the typical local wine and do some shopping. Another stop before arriving at Jameos de Agua. Along the way the black fields of ash and gravel cultivated by the local population with particular and singular methods.

Jameos de Agua essentially is nothing other than a part of the lava tunnel that descended towards the sea which now emptied of the incandescent lava has recreated a particular habitat with darkness and coolness and a natural little pond where there are little blind albino crabs. Here, given the peculiarity of the place, a restaurant was later built, a pool and a botanical garden. Here is the seat of the house of the volcanoes, a structure from which the entire volcanic activity of the Canaries is monitored through instrumentation and studies. A very singular place....truly spectacular. Our outing ends here and we reboard for Fuerteventura on the ferry that by the way is very beautiful and welcoming. In the evening we have dinner with pizza taken from the pizzeria of the village....no comment!!

Last Day

The last day... how sad... we rent two bicycles and go to the dune park where the famous and beautiful Flag Beach awaits us. The surfers' beach, very long and sandy, stretches for km and the sea is between blue and green. In the morning the tide is low and the sea is very far from the few umbrellas that are rented for 9 euros. Little by little the sea rises by meters and meters, first creating pools of crystal-clear water and then reaching the sunbeds on the sand. Very clean water, yellow sand, at times some volcanic rocks make the landscape spicy and curious. behind us only sand dunes... It's windy today too but we spend a pleasant day of sea and sun. One photo after another, one swim after another and the end of a beautiful day arrives. With sorrow in our hearts we return to our village knowing that the next day we leave.

Goodbye Fuerte

at 12:00 the flight to Bologna departs and we are at the airport with a bitter taste in our mouths, we would like to stay who knows how much longer and we feel that if only we had had a few more days we could have seen something else or gone to the sea or relived breathtaking landscapes. We leave taking off right on time and from the window I see the island moving away... Goodbye Fuerte but thanks for everything you have known how to give us.