Day trip to La Graciosa

[smokie]

Don't worry Flash.  They'll be what we used to call "the Ladies from the Jam factory" - Women of a certain age doing an indeterminate morris-type dance, each wearing about three hundredweight of skirts, blouses, waistcoats, bonnets and boots, whilst their husbands play guitars with a scowl, and the occasional smile when they remember they're in show biz. The same outfit performs from Tenerife to Moscow with minute costume changes!

They have quirky hats in Madeira.
They look like TellyTubbies.

[John B]

Josie, forget the dancing girls, it was just Flash getting excited.  What about the Eastern end of Graciosa?

[Josie]

So the next thing that happened was that we drove east to a lovely white beach with a view of Alegranza and got out of the car to go for a walk with our tour guide.  I can let you have the contact details from his card.  He told us he turned up at the island in a yacht 15 years ago and ended up marrying a local girl and settling down on the island.  I worried about leaving my bag with money and credit card in it in the unlocked Landrover but I was told not to worry.  There were of course virtually no people around.  We walked to a spot where there is a natural bridge over the water.  Unfortunately the pic has come out grey rather than jet black but you will get the general idea. Note Mr J's tasteful Zara for Men blue polo shirt in the last photo - cost peanuts in Arrecife.

[Josie]

We then drove west across the island in the general direction of Playa de las Conchas, the most beautiful, though remote beach on the island.  We saw a few cyclists and walkers and learnt about the flora and fauna and shells.

[Josie]

The island in the distance is I think Roque del Oeste - another of the Chinijo(sp?) archipelago.

Back to Caleta del Sebo and several more stories later we said thank you to our guide and took a bunch of his cards for future use.  I'm sure you could negotiate a cheaper price per head for a group and on a nice day fit in a swim. picnic etc as part of the tour.  The phone number on the Landie is probably legible on one of the earlier photos.  

The rain was coming so we thought we might get an earlier ferry back as we didn't want to get soaked but there was still time for a beer! First we walked round the backstreets imagining how fabulous it will be when the building work is finished so long as the island is not completely spoilt.  We then heard some loud music and went to find out where it was coming from.  At the west end of the town beach (close your eyes and imagine this is what Playa Blanca must have looked like 40 years ago) was one of those typical Canarian buildings with a high wall around it.  Round the corner a large door was ajar and we (and others) peered round to find a group of young girls partying inside the compound.  It will make a fabulous nightclub when the island is discovered!

At a bar just in front and towards the port a father was dancing to the music coming from the compound with his two young kids on the beach and a solitary beer drinker (who turned out to be a Brit) was sitting at a table drinking a bottle of Tropical.  We sat down but no-one came so went into the bar and ordered two beers.  The kids outside seemed to belong to the girl behind the bar.  The lady standing at the door dancing was I think her mother.  As with lunch the price was much lower than the Lanzarote resorts - I think €3 for two 33cl bottles.  In better weather we could have stayed there all afternoon.

But the ferry beckoned and just before we finished our beers the heavens opened so we dashed indoors.  We could have stayed to bond with the locals and the Brit who had just been joined by a mate but we were on a mission.

 Running through the rain we saw that the ferry looked a bit busier than on the way out and it turned out that it was full of Spanish "seniors" on a tour who had just been eating paella and drinking at a remote beach (one we didn't go to thankfully).  Anyway the rain was pouring down, the boat was steamed up but that wasn't stopping the OAPs who were being led in a singsong by a tour leader out of tune through a microphone turned up to full volume.  The noise was deafening!  Eventually we made it back to Orzola having found a tiny bit of deckspace which we shared with other tourists away from the group on the outing.  Coming into harbout we saw a yacht on its side which had hit the reef 3 days earlier.  Our guide had told us that no-one knew the nationality of the sailors who despite having GPS radar etc had not bothered to look at the chart!

All in all a really good relaxed day out.

[Madstock]

A fantastic read Josie and I enjoyed it so much.

Thank you. 

[Ethans-dad]

As Keith says, a great read Josie. Thanks.

[Jimgallaher]

excellent Josie, thoroughly enjoyable. I'd love to get to La Graciosa, hopefully I'll do it this summer.

[Flash]

Nice one J - a day full of great memories.

[✈ Elle ☀]

Josie - could you please email me the contact details of the driver? I'll add it onto www.lanzarotebusiness.com for him.

Lovely pics and stories by the way!

Elle xx