My A-Z Travel Challenge – B is for Betancuria, Biarritz and Budva

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!

Day tripping around Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

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

Lazy cats in Betancuria

A typical local restaurant in the countryside

An old limestone house next to the windmill

Salt Flats and Sand Dunes

The Del Carmen Salt Works, the only salt works still in operation in Fuerteventura

An old whale skeleton amongst the salt pans

The sand dunes of Corralejo, now a national park and a favourite with wind and kite surfers

Standing at the top of the sand dunes which cover over 2000 hectares of golden rolling sand

Finally back to our starting point at 8pm. A fabulous and interesting day. Many thanks Luca.

Day tripping around Fuerteventura, Canary Islands – 5.4.2019 – 9.4.2019

Fabulous Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

One of my very dear friends lives on the island of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands. Whilst I was in the UK visiting my parents I decided to take a trip out to see her and also celebrate my birthday! I was there for four days, plenty of time to see the island and eat in the great fish restaurants that it’s known for.

Fuerteventura the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, sits in the Atlantic Ocean 100km off the north coast of Africa. It’s known mostly as a holiday destination due to its white-sand beaches and year-round warmth cooled by constant winds. It is the oldest island in the Canary Islands dating back 20 million years due to a volcanic eruption. It was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in May 2009.

As the first night was my birthday, Lorraine had booked a fabulous restaurant called La Playita overlooking the bay of Corralejo. What a fantastic night with the table decorated with balloons and banners and then the whole restaurant singing happy birthday to me.

Walking through the beautiful town of Corralejo

One of the many statues of fishermen’s wives looking out to sea, waiting for their husbands to come home

Waking up the next morning I wandered into the garden to take some photos. Lorraine lives at the end of a residential street overlooking the sand dunes. You can see Tenerife in the distance from the garden. I was hoping the sun would break through as it wasn’t as warm as I had thought!

Sun rise with the sand dunes in the far distance

The next day Lorraine took me into Corralejo again and have lunch. Fuerteventura is a very barren island due to the lack of rain and volcanic landscape. Nothing really grows here and most of the food is imported. There are many aloe vera plants scattered around and this is one plant that does grow well.

Enjoying the beautiful view with a glass of Spanish wine

Typical Canarian fish dish cooked in wine, tomatoes and olives

The car ferry to and from Lanzarote in the background

The next day I booked an excursion to go around the island – I will be writing another post separately about this.

Before we set out for my last day on the island we had to walk Rocky and Poppy her two little dogs. We walked just up the path from where she lives so I could feed the chipmunks, which run wild throughout the island.

Rocky surveying his domain

Rocky and Poppy in their favourite position on the couch

El Cotillo

After our walk Lorraine and I drove to El Cotillo, a small coastal town on the Northern side of the island. It has a lovely harbour and beautiful scenery with plenty of restaurants and bars. El Cotillo is home to El Toston Tower built in the 1700’s to defend the village from pirates. We had lunch in El Mirador overlooking the bay. I loved all the murals and paintings that you see dotted around and also the way they use old rowing boats as decorations.

Lunch at El Mirador

Speciality salad with the local delicacy of fish pate

Exploring the town after lunch

Some of the murals and mosaics found around the town

Resting in the shade

For our last night we ended up eating in the beautiful El Marquesina and of course because it’s a speciality seafood restaurant I had the fish of the day.