Let the Rheinfall!

The Rheinfall waterfall gallops along with two stunning medieval castles poised over it. An array of boat trips circle the lake or you can get-up-close-and-personal to the fall. The ducks are rather lovely, too.

 Get in the middle of the Rheinfall

There’s a rock right in the middle of the waterfall which you can ride up to on boat and then climb up (there are steps). It’s very cosy and the top viewing deck is about as big as my little finger.

Time: 30 minutes. Very much recommended. 
Price: Sfr8 adult, Sfr4 Children.

 Go around the Rheinfall

A tour around the Rhein is an easy-going way of viewing the angles of the fall and at times feeling the aftermath spray.

Time: 20 minutes. Price: Sfr6 adult, Sfr3 Children.

 Note: When it rains the boats do have closed roof tops. 

 The Orange Train

 The main reason for taking this little orange number was the rain chucking it down, but it’s worth a little go anyway at Sfr 1.90 it can take you right back to where you began (the car park).

Very leisurely!

You’d like more information?

 See: http://www.rheinfall.ch/

Take Me There: Sri Lanka

Pass India and South East Asia, go Sri Lanka

An itinerary for Gran Canaria with wheels

If you find yourself on the island of Gran Canaria and have convinced yourself THAT driving alongside the Spaniards is something you´re prepared to do, then hiring a car for the day can take you much further in no time at all.

Here´s an itinerary for a day out with the car:

Kick off at 9am and drive over to San Mateo enduring the windy roads that take over as you go further into the mainland. San Mateo is a small town that requires a whistle stop-over but saves itself with the infamous market.

Here you can sample local Canarian cheese, fat olives and Tunos India – a messy cactus fruit that apparently tastes very good with orange juice. The fruit has a habit of staining everything it touches a deep red colour, so you’ll be leaving with very red lips.

hiring a car for the day can take you much further in no time at all.

Around 11am have a Spanish Desayuno in the little café next door. This often consists of a light sandwich and coffee; giving you just enough fuel to prep for the next stop.

From here it takes 25 minutes to get to Roque Nublo where you can park up and get ready for a 30 minute hike up to some great mid-day views.

Before lunch take a quick glance at the vista point Pozo de las Nieves. Hopefully you can get there while the clouds have shifted and get a decent picture of the region Tejeda.

You can´t get here by bus, so this is a real treat and very much advised if you hire a car – Barranco de Guayadeque. You will pass through a small village of caves that people still live in and then continue up to a restaurant for lunch that will blow you away and it’s very reasonably priced, too.

Just as you thought the day was over, there’s one more stop to be had. 5 minutes away is the sleepy village Aguimes. Pay a visit here for a short walk and some delicious tea and cake.

 - One of the many odd statues in Aguimes! 

Home and tucked into bed by 9pm! Honestly, you can fit a lot into one day when you have wheels to take you places.

Take Me There: South African Inspiration

Elephants!

South Africa as a whole has always scared me. It’s never been on my immediate list of places to visit, in fact, it’s not on there at all.

Perhaps it’s the ongoing political difficulty that gravitates there, or it’s that heated question of safety that’s stopped me pining for this visit; we’re not just talking about taking good old common sense to this country. This is somewhat out of my league, and I’ve been to Brazil!

South Africa invites a certain kind of adventurer and it usually begins with something like ‘are you an animal lover?’ then safaris and sleeping in open cabins while panthers crawl around you is perfect. A minor issue – animals (pigeons, in fact) make me jumpy. But would I go to the Galapagos Islands? Yes, tomorrow, let’s go! There’s a difference. The animals are faster in South Africa… right?

The other incentive is to do some voluntary work, to connect with human nature again. Like building new schools or really getting into photography to capture the eyes of humanity. Well, there’s a school down my road that could do with some renovating – go volunteer there, it’ll save you a couple of grand - hmmm, not the same, not even close. For a start the weather sucks here and the worst thing you’ll come across is a pikey.

So what could convince me to get rid of these excuses? I give you author Lawrence Anthony and his novel The Elephant Whisperer detailing his game reserve Thula Thula, say it again its lovely: Thula Thula.

 

So what’s it all about?

Lawrence bought a game reserve in Zululand, South Africa, only to be given a herd of wild, restless elephants to contend with. The challenges he meets with these weighty beasts is so exciting and makes for a rather toe-curling read. You fall totally in love with these elephants. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I know from a sneaky peek at the middle section of photos that the reserve offers safari tours…and the website to the gorgeous reserve is here: http://www.thulathula.com/index.aspx

I’d like to go visit the reserve and these magnificent, terrifying creatures who now have names and personalities.

A South African writer and a herd of mad elephants, that’s all I needed. Fancy joining me?

Lawrence and baby elephant

Barranco de Guayadeque

Barranco de Guayadeque completely blew me away, mostly because I never thought I´d make it there and now I´ve been twice, funny how things turn out.

As with most places in Gran Canaria, the very best places can only be reached by driving. A kind couple from work took me there, after asking constantly how to reach this remote cave dwelling.

The drive takes you through a beautiful and impressive mountainous landscape making you feel rather small in comparison. Half way up you will come across a (sort-of) village on the side of a dusty mountain where people still live in mini-houses and caves.

The gardens are really pretty with burst of colour and cactuses. I wish I ´d had the courage to ask one of the residents if I could look around their casa. Perhaps a bit too touristy though.

We were saying we wouldn’t want to be teenagers living there, its quiet remote and I´m baffled as to how their day-to-day lives run with being so far from anyone or anything except tourists and great big mountains – very much worth seeing.

Once you’ve reached the top you will be greeted by a unique restaurant: Cueva Tagoror.

If you go on a Sunday they cater more for specific Canaria food such as sancocho and papas arrugadas.

Sancocho *Please note image is taken from Google.

The food is very reasonably priced and you´re eating in a cave, an experience made comfortable with modern day lighting and fitted bars. There’s a gift shop and terrace there, too.

Terrace at the Caves

Dizzy San Juan

- Laura marking the event with a jelly fish sting and a big grin!

Waking up with every fibre of your body feeling dizzy is a sure sign that you’ve just experienced the festivities of San Juan (not pronounced San Jose…) in Las Palmas. An annual event where it is believed if you run into the sea at midnight you cleanse all your sins from the year before. You can also expect bonfires, fireworks and lots of alcohol on the beach of Las Canteras. I would recommend a trip to Gran Canaria just for this festival.

Often we’ve gone for evening walks along the beach and seen a few nutters swim in the dark, complete fools I thought, but last night was one of my favourite memories of being on the island. Holding hands with 3 other gems on the Leonardo Programme and legging it towards the waves as the midnight fireworks set off left, right and centre – such a buzz; until someone gets stung by a jellyfish. We hope this isn’t a sign for the next year!

every fibre of your body feeling dizzy is a sure sign that you’ve just experienced the festivities of  San Juan

A night of epic proportions followed by clubbing at bar Mojo by the auditorium, how has it taken almost 3 months to find this cluster of decent bars? And then a gradual walk home, making one final stop along the beach for the sun to rise and Las Palmas to wake up.

High on San Juan! (and bubbles)

Five Sunsets Around the World

La Serena, Chile: The rooftop balcony was the perfect location to enjoy a bottle of red and watch the sun fall asleep behind the Andes mountains.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria: Completely unexpected colours in the sky as me and the girls ate paella at La Marina restaurant.

Messanges, South of France: We ran to catch this one, a beach just off our campsite. Me, Dad and my little sister enjoyed this pink sky.

Plymouth, UK: At uni we got quiet a few pretty skies from the rooftop (which was totally authorised to go on) and this was one of them.

Santa Barbara, California: On a boat watching dolphins, although we saw more standing on the beach! The orange sunset in Santa B. made up for it.

North Isleta: Casas de las Coloradas

It turns out we´ve been living a mere minute away from a beautiful, arid coastal path. We found this while jogging ´´around the corner´´ to see what else there could be, expecting a dead end and maybe a cactus; instead Casa de las Coloradas emerged.

Described as an after-thought continuing North from Playa de las Canteras, the coastal path starts with a rustic bridge, develops into carefully laid decking and then at its edge becomes a wide expanse of rock that you can walk for miles and hours.

Most of the people who know about this (now not so) secret area are couples who risk a more advanced swim but enjoy the privacy Canteras lacks. Surfers and body-boarders like this area, too.

…expecting a dead end and maybe a cactus; instead Casas de Las Coloradas emerged.

There are a few runners along this path who I believe started with a similar outlook and soon felt the need to jump into the deep turquoise froth as they approach the edge of Coloradas.

A romantic off-road drive

Somewhere between the West coast and sunset we drove headfirst into a ditch. The secluded beach that sat just a few steps away had seemed like a romantic idea and now transpired into an impulsive wreck.

Luckily within the last ten minutes of kitting out the plastic, rather shoddy, triangles and ensuring we wore the glow-in the-dark-emergency jackets, six burley Spanish men were at our saviour.

People often talk about veering off this ´beaten track´ as though it´s some mystical whim for not doing the ´tourist´ route. I say not so much, as soon as I feel tired and lost (which can take a mere few seconds) the exciting pulse people write about just doesn’t come for me. Instead the track that has been trodden and can be relied on is the one for me. This will inevitably be different because it’s my experience, even if it’s been ´´done´´ before by many others – I feel there’s a reason for that.

Somewhere between the West coast and sunset we drove headfirst into a ditch.

When we went right into the downhill pit-hole and not straight forward onto the carefully laid tarmac we knew it was bad. But there was the romantic, secluded beach to get to, so no further thought about our situation just yet.

A 10 minute walk took us to a sign reading “Government Warning: no further entry beyond this point” and then a minor note detailing “landslides”. We continued our walk, thanking the government for their friendly guidance, and began climbing over large boulders – evidence of the landslides – realising this was going to take much longer than anticipated (and perhaps more dangerous?). Alas we settled in a secluded rock pool where we kissed as the sun warmed our skin and the sea life moved around us.

The West coast is a beautiful rugged colour and one I would suggest anyone take an afternoon to drive. West coast California wow’s you with varying hypnotic turquoises and whitewash, similarly Gran Canaria´s West coast details itself and I´m sad this hasn’t been spoken of much before. Despite its beauty, something about the place didn’t feel… how do we say in the UK? it didn’t feel ´right.´ The reason not being the landslide but our eventual discovery that the expression if you can get up, you can get back down likewise if you can get down, you can get back up - is a fictious belief when your journey up slams itself into a deep, unforgiving ditch.

Our triangles now placed themselves crumpled on the floor as we flagged down two curious Spaniards on there way home from a big food shop (frozen food melting every second). What we had flagged down were two of the most popular Spaniards on the island. Every car that now passed us slowed down to chat to the main man, while his wife smiled finding the whole disaster typical of tourist’s stupidity. We grimaced in silence holding each other. The fifth car that saddled up to our new companion stopped and parked. They were getting out. There were lots of them. They were men ready for a challenge and we offered them a car in a ditch, gladly.

varying hypnotic turquoises and whitewash

Our breakdown cover was on its way and would take an hour; it would also cost us more because this apparently wasn’t included in the insurance. A fairly essential element to any insurance, wouldn’t you say? It was with the appearance of these new friends that a rocky ramp was formed and each man found his moment in the dilemma, perhaps finding this more interesting than sitting at home. Either way, giving their time unquestionably for idiot strangers? What amazing men.

- realising this was going to take much longer than anticipated (and perhaps more dangerous?).

One nominated himself as designated driver, another negotiating the right degree to spin up or downhill, while the rest pushed and heaved the little car through spinning dust up and up. The main man’s wife advised me to stand back as dirt circulated our vision until after one final rev the car rallied itself out of the ditch and found its way back to the tourist track.

We only had a melon to offer them as thanks, but this apparently was unnecessary and just a bit shit in comparison. The men all stood proud of a days saving and sparked up, inhaling victory as we waved goodbye to our merry men and that seriously secluded beach.

Agúimes: the Sleepy Town of the East

Agúimes is something of a delicacy, there is a feeling that one should tip-toe in so not to wake the village; situated between Ingenio and Barranco de Guayeadeque its all about timing here – as it often is with Spain. If you arrive between the siesta hours of 3-5pm don´t expect much more than a chilled beer in the only bar (hopefully) open at this time. The tourist shop also allows itself to remain open for business, selling sweet local honey; postcards and the much anticipated Canarian mojo sauce.

You don´t need much time in this quaint, Spanish village, but it is worth a stop over as it is quiet beautiful and calming.

What To See, What To Do…

There´s an impressive and rather unexpected Cathedral named San Sebastian, which has been closed both times I´ve visited. Opening hours being far and few between.

Agúimes is something of a delicacy, there is a feeling that one should tip-toe in so not to wake the village

It sits almost un-noticed by the Plaza del Rosario which drapes itself in trees and benches, giving a secluded feel to the most central part of town.

One of the fun (and odd) points of Aguimes is the brass statues dotted around the streets. There are about 6 in total and detail anything from a camel – to a musician – to a donkey.

There are also poems inscribed on every other wall that make for a good test of your Spanish reading skills.

If you manage to visit during opening hours this is a perfect location for tea and cake, just before you head home to bed.