Picnic with a View

We got up a bit earlier and went down to the supermarket where we bought some bread, cheese, and sliced chorizo for a picnic lunch. We went to see about taking a boat ride to Los Organos, but found we were too late, plus it cost quite a bit more than we expected. We thought about trying the next day, but ended up passing. (I've seen similar formations in Ireland and California.)

We decided to take a drive through the park toward some towns known for their traditional lifestyles, so we headed into the mountains. Before going too far, we stopped where we had a great view of el Hiero and ate lunch. We bought some palm honey and tried that with bread, deciding that it tasted like a cross between maple sugar and molasses. The chorizo tasted great, too!

We drove around and around, finding it a bit misty and chilly in the mountains. Unlike the previous day, the visibility turned out to be only 100 to 1000 yards at altitude. We took some photos of flowers and drove through the small towns, but didn't find anywhere enticing to stop. Jeanette was not feeling well that day, so we decided to head back.

On the return, we stopped at the restaurant/bar next to the Viño Tinto place in Arure where we had purchased the wines two days before. We had cafés con leite and tried some leite asada. The coffee perked J up a bit, so I asked if she would mind a quick walk down the road to an aqueduct and church. She said sure, the coffee kicked in, it was sunny and warm... so we went.

The short walk turned into a 4-5 mile hike. I was ambivalent about continuing at several points, but Jeanette wanted to press on. We saw great views of La Palma and the northern part of La Gomera as we were hiking out on a spit of elevated land. We could see the entire road that we drove to descend to the beach. We could also see El Cercado and the fortaleza in the background. The views were great, plus we had the company of dozens of goats in the rocks whose bells were a pleasant accompaniment to the walk. There was a ton of exposed rock, including one basalt columnar layer that was probably related to Los Organos.

After the hike, we returned down Valle Grand Rey, first stopping to buy a beach towel and a wrap for Jeanette. We finally went to the beach. The water was great and we saw a fizzle of a sunset through clouds on the horizon.

After swimming, we showered and headed down to the other part of the beach near the port. We wandered around for a bit before settling on a more-or-less German restaurant called "Restaurante Azul" or "Blau Bar" depending on which sign you saw first. The food turned out to be quite good, though in unexpected ways. We started with an order of fried smoked cheeses with good sauces for dipping. Jeanette tried fish with green peppercorns that was supposed to be "caliente," but which turned out to be sweet. I had shrimp that were thrown in a hot cassole (small clay bowl) with chillies, lots of fresh garlic, and very hot oil. The shrimp essentially cooked as I ate. It was all delicious.

Finally, we wandered around near the apartment (Apartamentos Vista Mar) where we checked out a potential pizza place for lunch the next day.