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Originally Posted by Matthew King  I also love the Canary Islands, especially Lanzarote. Being small islands they have a completely different feel to them from Mainland Spain. Haven't lived there though, just 3-4 holidays.
Would be interesting to hear from someone who has a good knowledge of the areas there. |
We live in Fuerteventura and have done for nearly 4 years now. We visit the other islands as it is so cheap and easy to do and each island is completely different to each other.
Fuerteventura is considered by the Spanish Peninsular people to be the last area in Spain that needs to be brought into the 21st century and to a certain extent that is true.
However, the advantages are that a lot of growth and building mistakes have been made and we have managed to avoid them. Of course it is still Spanish and the laws are pretty much the same, though there are local Canarian laws that differ slightly, like no legal buildings over 2 levels for houses and 4 for hotels, so we have no high rises on Fuerteventura, which is nice.
The land though barren (the trees and lushness disappeared about 200 years ago, the English were to blame of course!) is pretty natural and more and more of the island is going over to National park. Goats are in abundance which explains a lot of the lack of foliage and therefore rain, as well as our mountains are actually only high hills and unlike Lanzarote we have no active volcanoes as ours finished about 4000 years ago.
It hasnt rained here now since March, we get a few drops but thatīs all, the best time to catch a few drops is February and March, however we have local plants that manage to still take over your garden without water!!
The wind thing is a bit of an over exaggeration as the wind is mainly North Easterly and so it is really the northern islands that are windy, ie Lanzarote, but they compete for tourism with us so it is a good story.
Corralejo is windier than us down in Caleta de Fuste (about 40 mins by car south, in the middle of the island) as we are very sheltered and as you go further south to the windsurfing beaches it gets hotter and hotter.
Fuerteventura is famous for its long white sandy beaches. The golden sand is from the Sahara and comes over on the wind, when ever there is a storm from the south (known as a Calima), so over the Centuries we have developed our own sand dunes which are spectacular.
The sea is crystal clear and warm all year round and fantastic for divers as there is all sorts of fishes down there, including dolphins which you see most times you go out on a boat and at certain times of the year whales. We have our local turtles that hang around too.
Its funny as you often see young children running out the sea because they are being chased by a shoal of tiny fishes looking for bread?
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So Fuerte is old-fashioned and has a way to go to catch up but people love it here for the climate, all year round warmth and sunshine and the lack of a need to hurry.
Presently Fuerteventura is very popular in Ireland as we have the cheap Ryan Air flights from Dublin, Shannon and now Liverpool, East Mids, and Birmingham airports. Liz Okane is a popular property advisor on the media in Ireland and she has described Fuerteventura as a jewel in the Spanish property market.
I hope that gives you some idea of our local paradise.
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