Well it has finally happened…. The quiet neighbourhood of Marina Rubicon has been disrupted by some new neighbours that really bring the tone of the marina down to a point where Karen and I are not sure we want to hang around much longer.

Yes that´s right our first mega-yacht neighbour “Lohengrin” docked on Thursday on the pontoon next to us and we sat nervously for Posh and Becs to come on board and all those children’s noises starting.

( Where II is the one on the left, Lohengren is on the right)
Just in case you were wondering Lohengrin is a 161ft yacht built in 2006 and is currently for sale at US$37,500,000 or if you want to try before you buy it will only set you back US$250,000 per week plus expenses. For more information go to http://www.moranyachts.net/Catalog/Yacht/?ID=504

Well as it turns out, no super celebrities were on the way, they were just stopping to do an oil change (2x44gallon drums) and refuel (55,000l), but our mind was made up – it was time to leave this wonderful island.
We have made arrangements for some work to be done on our boat back in France and whilst this is being carried out Karen and I are taking the opportunity to visit the UK and Ireland and learn a bit about our ancestry and answer some of those unanswered questions such as:
1. If Irish pubs are so good why did the family move over to Australia before Molly Blooms opened in South Melbourne?
2. Which is better – Irish or Scotch whisky?
3. After 6 months on the Canary Islands – can Karen and I tie our shoelaces anymore?
4. How long will Karen´s tan last in the cold of North West Scotland?

For answers to these and other mysteries of life – keep tuned to the blog.
So that´s right we are taking a well deserved holiday from our new jobs as cruisers and spend some time on land. We handed over our boat to a French crew (Germain and Stefan) and briefed them on the boat and then, after packing up what we needed to live on land in both the Canaries and Western Europe in Autumn, we headed to Las Breñas to stay at our new friend Frank´s friends´ apartment for 3 days.
Germain took 24 hours to familiarise himself with the boat before heading off back to France where he will deliver the boat back to Les Sables d’Olonne for completion of the work. We will meet our boat again towards the end of November to again cross the Bay of Biscay at the wrong time of the year. The difference will be that this time, I will be at the helm with my trusty first mate Gilligan possibly with a 3rd crew member.
Before we leave Lanzarote, there were a few unfinished pieces of business:
1. Lunch at Famara Beach. We took the time to visit Famara beach, the surfing centre of Lanzarote island.

The beach is nice, and being the romantic I am I even found a heart shaped puddle in the rock with which to impress Karen.

If I was going to buy a holiday house on Lanzarote this is the place I would look to buy. The weather was not so great but we did have a look at a few of the restaurants along the beach, pausing at Restaurant Sol that we later found out was Frank´s favourite restaurant before heading back to the main street and eating at Restaurante Casa Ramon in La Caleta de Famara. We settled on some tapas (queso de cabra frito y calamares de romana) some garlic bread and some sangria. All were fabulous.
Now you could be forgiven for thinking that you are on a Greek Island by some of the architecture here on Lanzarote – the colour schemes are not that far off – White with blues and greens and decaying doorways…

You even have the traditional nonna – the costume may be a bit different, but the behaviour was familiar, she wandered backwards and forwards across the street and then came over to the other diners’ table and closely checked what they were eating…

2. Visit César Manrique’s House: César is the favourite son of Lanzarote – he is a prolific artist, with paintings, sculptures and mosaics and is seen as the father of Lanzarote’s identity. Educated in Madrid and having lived and exhibited in Paris and New York he returned to the fledgling tourist industry of Lanzarote, his home. He proposed a sustainable model for the island that would protect the island´s natural and cultural history. The success of this model was one of the key factors in Lanzarote’s declaration as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1993. His influence is everywhere having played a major place in the design of most public spaces on Lanzarote such as Mirador del Rio so it was with great anticipation that Karen and I visited his home, now the home of the Fundación César Manrique since his death in 1992 at age 73.

When visiting the house you realise both his vision and ingenuity – whilst walking in the lava fields outside Arrecife in 1966, César stumbled across 5 very large lava bubbles upon which he decided to build his home. The bubbles which have been joined together with tunnelled walkways form the basement level of the home providing sitting areas, gardens, bathrooms, pool (complete with dancefloor).



 
One of the aspects of César’s architectural work was his desire and ability to integrate the natural and manmade environment, which his house is a stunning example of.

 
The final aspect of the house was the gardens, all combining the lava dust mulching with his work.

 
In this last photo you can see the semi-circular walls that are used to protect plants – often grapevines from the wind and assist in water capture on this dry island. This is typical of the unique farming techniques used broadly across the island, making for a stunning and entrancing landscape on the island.
3. Sunset at El Golfo: neither Karen nor I are big fish eaters, however we don’t mind trying some fish so long as it is accompanied by a good wine, good company and nice surroundings. Well we got all this on Monday evening when we joined Frank and his parents Eddie and Anja for dinner. Eddie and Anja had just arrived from Germany in the great escape from the Western European winter which occurs every year. Frank and his parents are big fans of Australia, having visited our homeland numerous times. They were easily able to shame us by their knowledge and experiences back home. There is obviously a lot we have to see when we get back home.
The food was divine at Restaurant Mar Azul on Terrazo Junto al Mar, El Golfo (ma-azul@aetur.es, www.mar-azul.info, tlf 928 173132). Karen and I had passed this restaurant in February and when we asked if there was a menu we could look at they did not have one so Karen and I moved on – not wanting to get ripped off or, not being able to understand the Spanish, ending up with something we did not want. But Frank and his family had been coming to this restaurant for over 14 years so we were able to sample the cuisine under Frank´s guidance.We had again traditional Canarian tapas for entrée (garlic prawns, canarian potatoes, bread, pulpo (octopus) and pimento pardon (fried peppers on salt), red and green mojo and garlic mayonnaise) and then when we thought we were done, Frank ordered the daily special fish steaks which we shared.
This was accompanied by the best Lanzarotean wine we have tasted in our 4 months on the island. To tell you the truth we avoided the local wines after our first experience as they were more expensive that the Rioja´s and nowhere near as good. Perhaps we made a mistake as the wine was superb (and made us a bit homesick dreaming of a nice Australian or NZ Sauvignon Blanc). It was Bermejo dry white, that unfortunately can only be bought at the Bodega (outside Tias), and since the boat had sailed and we only have our backpacks, we could not store any wine. If you come to the Canaries, look for it.
Son on to the scenery. Both Frank and Eddie told us of times that the waves of up to 5m crashed onto the rocks in front of the restaurant. Fortunately, given that Where II had just sailed north, there were no waves to be seen, however we were treated to one of the best sunsets we had seen on the island.

So now we are kicking back and waiting in Puerto del Carmen waiting to leave, it seems the best way to celebrate our decision to turn back north and revisit Les Sables d’Olonne is to knock the top off the bottle of bier blonde given to me by Christophe in The Galway in Les Sable and relax and enjoy being temporary landlubbers again.