Teguise, Lanzarote

Cafe La Ola, Lanzarote

The other Canary Island I've visited, apart from Tenerife, is Lanzarote. The island had such an impact on me, even though I read a lot about it before visiting. It's one of those places that just has to be seen to believe.

The camera I had with me was the Olympus 35 RD. I opted for this camera because of it's size and versatility. There was going to be a lot of cycling and walking, so I needed something light and portable, while having a nice sharp lens that renders colours well. The photo below was shot wide open (f/1.7) indoors. Who can resist a mirror selfie?

Lanzarote is a volcanic island in the Atlantic ocean off the western coast of Africa, and an autonomous territory of Spain. It's such a unique place that one can't help being carried away at times with it's beauty.

The first thing I noticed about Lanzarote from the air as we approached on the plane was the wind. It is one of the windiest places on earth - evident by the thousands of wind mills visible from the sky and the turbulence we experienced coming in for the landing. Seriously, I thought we were going to crash, especially since most of the descent is over water - the runway just misses the beach. Scary stuff. Once landed though, the chill out vibe began. Everywhere and everything was calm and relaxed even though there was a big sporting event happening that weekend.

The second thing I noticed was the architecture. You'd struggle to find any building on the island that's higher than one storey, and they're all virtually white. Both are apparently a result of regulations to keep the island attractive to tourists.

Lanzarote is an arid, almost totally barren volcanic island. It's so dry there that only some plants such as Aloe Vera or various types of Cactus can survive there. Even though it often gets quite cloudy, it hardly ever rains there. It's proximity to the African continent [it's basically an African island] means it is constantly receiving tons of sand deposits from the mighty Sahara. This means Lanzarote is blessed with stunning golden sand beaches formed by the Sahara sand deposited on volcanic magma-rock formations. It's a real wonder to behold.

It does feel like north/north-west Africa there. The weather, the sand, the palm trees, the food. It's north Africa with a Spanish flavour. Life moves at a much slower pace than in mainland Europe. Also the signs of economic troubles in southern Europe is very visible here. There are a lot of empty residential buildings on Lanzarote that were built during the property market boom in Europe before everyone ran out of money.

The first day was spent walking around lazily on the beach, having cool drinks, taking in the ambience, and of course taking photos.

Teguise

There are many places to see on Lanzarote, including Timanfaya and various national parks. Let me tell you about Teguise. It's a tranquil, charming little town in the middle of Lanzarote. Six days of the week the town is a peaceful and extremely quiet place. On Sunday it becomes one of the busiest market towns in Europe. Thousands of traders, tens of thousands of visitors and a few animals descend on Teguise from around 9 am to 2 pm - The Tequise Sunday Market.

I learnt that in fact Teguise was the old capital of Lanzarote. It made sense to me as it has some of the oldest buildings on the island. Apparently it is also referred to as "la Villa". The architecture is also really beautiful. Intricate carvings can be seen around the doors and windows of many buildings dating back to the 17th century.

Another thing that happens on Sundays is the town becomes extremely colourful. Like everywhere else on Lanzarote, most of the buildings are whitewashed with either blue, green or unpainted wooden doors and windows. On market day however, you get pink, red, lilac, indigo, violet, purple, lime, yellow, grey, maroon, e.t.c,.

I really enjoyed walking around the main market square, but there were so many picturesque little corners on the side roads and paths. Some of them were a little narrow, so I often found I couldn't stand back far enough to get the entire scene into the photo - one of the downsides of a fixed lens camera like the Olympus 35 RD. Another issue with photographing towns on Lanzarote is the intense sunlight. It's always sunny there, and the whitewashed walls really wash out the colours. One would have to pray for an overcast, or head out just before sunrise or sunset to get the best photos. On the plus side, the dynamic range of film helped - my iPhone couldn't cope.

In the middle of Tequise is a church that towers over everything and can be seen from virtually everywhere. This is the best way to orient oneself in the market, lest one gets lost. I had a quick look in the church itself. It's a catholic church called Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, and more beautiful inside than it looks from the outside.

There were all the other classics; bars, cafes, restaurants, e.t.c. I attempted to have coffee in one of the most charming cafes I found, but my coffee never came. At least I enjoyed listening to a local street band play while a flamenco dancer danced to their music. I had my portrait done by a local artist - that was cool. It was my first time having my portrait done. I'm usually the one capturing other people. It was quite strange to have people standing around looking at me being recorded on the artist's medium.

The best part of Tequise market for me though was the 'animals guy'. Apparently he's there every week with his animals - usually ones that can't be found normally on the island. The money he makes from tourists donations is used for the upkeep of the little beasts. He is clearly doing a great job. All the animals were clean, healthy looking and appeared to be happy. Heck, some of them straight-up posed and performed for tourists if you ask me.

When you're having so much fun in a place like Teguise market, before you know it, the day is over. I had gone with a tour bus, and was there for three hours, but it seemed like a lot less.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Lanzarote as a holiday destination - especially in the off-peak seasons when the weather is still quite nice there compared to mainland Europe or most parts of North America. Being in the Atlantic ocean, it is just a few hours flight from most parts of Europe, North America and West or North Africa.