Betancuria, Fuerteventura

Betancuria is a small village on the island of Fuerteventura that I visited a while back. It was part of a day tour that I took around the island. It’s a really pretty town with only a population of 811 and was founded in 1404, so it’s very historical. Before visiting Fuerteventura I hadn’t heard of this town.

Street with ceramic artwork on the walls

Iglesia de Santa Maria

Betancuria is definitely worth a visit, the scenery on the drive is amazing.

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Biarritz, France

Biarritz was just an overnight stop before we started our road trip in Spain, it was the easiest place to fly into from the UK to pick up our bus the next day to San Sebastian. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this place. It had a very old fashioned sea-side feel about it, plus the food was amazing. We stayed in a small quaint hotel near the sea front and had just enough time to explore next day.

In the restaurant conveniently located opposite our hotel

The street on which our hotel was

Georges Vl Hotel

Brave bathers!

Through the window

Statue of the Virgin Mary

Biaritz Sea Front

Waterproof Jacket by Next!

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Budva, Montenegro

Budva, situated on the Adriatic coast, was a place we spent an afternoon at during our stay in Montenegro. It’s a very old settlement over 2,500 years old and has a very well preserved medieval walled city. We were actually staying at a place called Rafailovici but after seeing Budva I wish we had stayed there.

The Holy Trinity Church inside the walled city

St. Ivan’s Church

Cute ivy clad stone house inside the walled city

Narrow alleyway

Narrow street inside the walled city

Stone alleyway

Exploring the many alleyways inside the walled city

Streets and alleyways

That finishes B – next up is C!

I think the best way to see anywhere new is to go on an organised excursion. I did just that when I visited Fuerteventura with the excellent Pie de Caracol tours, with driver and guide Luca. It was a long day from 9.00 am until 8pm so we really packed a whole lot in. Normally it’s not so long but because one of the major roads was closed because of a bike race, Luca had to devise some other way to drive around the island.

We started at Corralejo and drove down to La Oliva, bypassing the capital Puerto del Rosario due to road closure, to Betancuria, Ajuy, Costa Calma and back to Corralejo with so many stops along the way. Luca was so informative and had a wealth of knowledge about the island.

Amazingly we saw a rainbow, a miracle when you think there is hardly any rain on this island.

Some of the hundreds of terraces that you see dotted around the island.

Our first stop was the Colonel’s House in La Oliva. There is not much historical information that exists about the house but it is believed to have been built in 1740, for Colonel Melchor de Cabrera Bethencour.

One of the old structures surrounding the house

A few minutes walk away was the old church of Our Lady of Candelaria, where you could wander inside and have a look at the beautiful ceiling. It dates back to the 16th Century and its dark tower is made of volcanic stone.

On the journey towards our next stop of Betancuria we stopped at the famous lookout, where the Morro Velosa warriors are located. Even though this island is quite barren when the sun shines the colours on the volcanoes are amazing.

This tiny house is the one you can see in the far distance in the above photo My canon powershot did a fantastic job

Onwards then to Betancuria, an old colonial and picturesque village once the capital of this island. Founded in 1404 this was once a fertile valley due to the fresh water streams nearby, sadly these have long since dried up and the only plants that grow are aloe vera and agave.

BETANCURIA

After a quick bite in Betancuria we headed over to Ajuy, an old fishing village on the West coast. This is where we had lunch and then a cliff top walk along to the caves below.

AJUY

Blue rowing boat just perched on the black sand

Ajuy village overlooking the black sand beach

COSTA CALMA

The furthest south we drove was to Costa Calma, a resort area with a natural lagoon. The lagoon fills up in the afternoon creating a shallow area for paddling in contrast to the wild sea beyond.

Standing in the lagoon looking out towards the Jandia Natural Park

Driving back we stopped at a windmill, salt flats and sand dunes. There is so much to see and do on Fuerteventura but I’m pretty sure we came close to seeing nearly everything with the wonderful tour from Piedecaracol.com.

Lastly some more from my gallery