IRONMAN 2018 BEHIND THE SCENES

IRONMAN 2018 BEHIND THE SCENES

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote Events, Lanzarote News

IRONMAN 2018 BEHIND THE SCENES

This year was no different from any other year. IRONMAN is, and will always be, a huge event on LANZAROTE. The most important of the year actually. We get participants from nearly every corner of the world coming to our Island to participate in the IRONMAN event!

I find it amazing that every single year, while I’m standing on the street looking at the participants what us humans are capable of doing to our bodies.

IRONMAN 2018 is all about Discipline, Strength and Mental focus!

 

It`s absolutely admirable. Behind the scenes of every participant,  there is a tremendous sacrifice of many months and years of training every single day, with no excuses.

The IRONMAN 2018 Participants starting point is on the beach of “Playa Grande” in Puerto del Carmen at 7:00 AM.

“THE MENU OF THE DAY” is 3.80 km of Swimming. 180.20 km of Bike and finally 42.20 km of Run. BON APPETIT.

The entire day of IRONMAN 2018 LANZAROTE is on OFF mode. Most excursions are cancelled due to the tremendous traffic and the huge amount of people standing on nearly every single corner of the streets cheering the participants or family and friends involved in that important day.

The local police has a challenging job that day. Turning the traffic in different direction all day long.

I myself was standing in the street the entire day. The atmosphere was fantastic and at the same time quite tense. The music was good and loud and played by a professionel DJ with a nice smile on his face. Happy day, A lot of the people in the street, where family and friends to the participants or people like me, curious and wanting to cheer and give support.

Some of the participants demonstrated more pain on their faces than others, when passing either running or on their bikes. I noticed when I was there, that all of us had a camera in our hands. I wondered how many photos were taken that day? We all wanted to shoot some fabulous ones.

In the early afternoon the first participant and WINNER of IRONMAN 2018 crossed the line. Italian Alessandro de Gasperi. His time was 8 hrs 52 min and 16 sec.
The first woman to cross the winner line was Lucy Gossage from Wales. Her time was 9 hrs 49 min and 27 sec.
CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH !!!

I met one of the VIP participants from IRONMAN 2018, John Davies from Wales, and had the pleasure to speak with him shortly. He told me that he did feel a bit sick at times. That the Bike run was tough and when running he had a hard time, because of the temperatures. But having his family there waiting for him and cheering made a huge difference. His time was 13 hrs and 18 min. WELL DONE John Davies.

Before I went back home I made some shopping in the IRONMAN shop. I must admit that I fell in LOVE with this baby Body. I bought it for my niece, who is due to be born in middle of June. You never know if one day…

 

 

 

Love Is In The Air

Love Is In The Air

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote To Do, Lanzarote Trekking & Picnic Places

Love Is In The Air

It’s the most wonderful thing to see, when people are in love. Especially elderly people. I find it so romantic to see them sitting arm in arm or just holding hands.

The other day I went for a walk with a small group of friends taking off at The Flamingo Beach in Playa Blanca heading towards the “Faro Pechiguera” (The Pechiguera Light House) It’s the absolute Southern point of the Island.

This walk is EASY and very relaxing too. Its a 5 kilometers long walk, and it’s straight forward all along the beautiful “avenida” and coastline.

During the walk that day we saw people holding hands and sitting arm in arm on EVERY single bench.

That was amazing to see. This is why I decided to call this post “Love is in the air!

There is also a kind of “Viewpoint” right on the Avenida with chains hanging on railing poles. People from all over the world have put a HEART padlock on the chains. Many of them have written a little message. Some have written their name on it only. Possibly to return one day to see if their heart is still there..

During the walk you can sit on the benches available to the public or you can lay down on the sand and rocks and enjoy the shade of the bambu umbrellas, the sea smell and listening to the sounds of the Atlantic ocean.

When you are half through the walk you will automatically pass by a lovely Beach Bar. The dominant colours of the Bar is Ocean Blue and so are the chairs and tables and all around they have planted banana trees.

The ambiance is marvellous as the overall effect of all the impressions and view incredible as you also have The Lobos virgin Island just out there in the blue sea just in front of. This feels so like PARADISE. Oh yes, and I enjoyed my refreshment at the bar…

 

The Mountains Of Femes

The Mountains Of Femes

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote Eating Out, Lanzarote To Do, Lanzarote Trekking & Picnic Places

The walk in the Mountains of Femes in the Southern part of the island, has without any doubt been the hardest walk I have done so far here in Lanzarote.

It`s a 9.5 km long walk. But it`s absolutely wonderful. When you return back home you should be amazed and proud of yourself –  you were actually able to go through with it!

 

Especially when we have days with high temperatures it’s quite an accomplishment

 

So , what we did was parking our car behind the Church in the small village of Femes, which is placed in a valley between the high hills on the Southern part of Lanzarote.

We stepped out of the car and literally walked straight up the hill passing a house where the restaurant “Casa Emilio” is located. Casa Emilio is a tipical and beautiful Canarian house that has been transformed into a restaurant.

While walking up to the very top of the hill you probably pass by a Goats farm. When you do that you are on the right path.

The smell of Goat, and there are hundreds of them, can be unbearable for most, but I am sure you will forget all about the smell when you see their cute little bearded faces looking straight at you and posibly they are wondering what you are doing at THEIR farm!!

Once you have passed by the Goatfarm you will instantly see this amazingly stunning view. It`s amazing to stand there. Just you and the mountains. Silence. When standing there it’s difficult to calculate the real distance down to the sea because of the evenness of the brown colours of the mountains. Everything around looks like it goes into ONE piece and like one big brown carpet, with no points of reference.

We went straight up the mountain hills first and came direct out to a sort of cliff where we could see all the way to Playa Blanca. The south of the island.

It`s really a special feeling standing so high up on such a tiny walkway.

therefore, I have to warn those of you who suffer from vertigo, fear of heights. But don’t worry, it`s just about 10 minutes that path you have to walk through and you will be back on a normal, safe walking path again for the rest of the time!

While we continued our walk the only noise we heard was the sound of the Goats from the Mountains. Hundreds of them. I find it quite amazing how they can walk kilometres and kilometres on their tiny feet on the steep slopes o the mountain hills without falling down on my head!

After we had been walking for a few hours we passed by this homemade stone building that looked like a Tipical Canarian Bus stop. Right there in the middle of nowhere.

 

The funny thing here is that, while sitting there I realised that the only view was mountains and more mountains. Not the sea as I would have preferred.

 MWe took advantage of the “Busstop” and enjoyed our homemade sandwiches and had a little rest too on the bench before we continued towards the other side of the hills. We arrived to a small valley with very little grass. Hidden behind Femes’. So silent and peaceful.

After a while we returned straight up towards that mountain from where we came from aaaaand… Back to the Goats, those little cuties…

Enjoy your walk and don’t forget plenty of water. And really good walking shoes!

 

A great day at Volcan De La Corona

A great day at Volcan De La Corona

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote To Do, Lanzarote Trekking & Picnic Places

A great day at Volcan De La Corona

It’s almost the last chance to explore the green scenery of Lanzarote’s amazing landscape.

There is already such a difference in the colours up in the mountains and the volcanoes, from last month until now.

There is absolutely no comparison to how they looked one month ago – so green, so lush. All though the landscape is  still quite beautiful.

That is one of the reasons why you have to be really fast if you want to explore what’s left of the green and flowering beautiful scenery of Lanzarote.

It’s such a short pleasure, because as the sun takes over it “warms” out the greens and therefore Green Lanzarote Spring has to be enjoyed to the fullest as it normally lasts for one month only.  Volcan De La Corona

In a very short time everything will dry out because of the heat and wind and the island will be back to its normal black and brownish colours again.

I am Danish, and I grew up with the green grass and trees. I am often asked if I miss the green colours… I do indeed.

Especially, when I see it, the green. When going home to Denmark on holiday and the plane is about to land at Copenhagen airport I get this “over the moon” feeling of pure happiness, when seeing all the green fields and the flat landscape of my home country.

That is also one of the reasons I appreciate so much more the green scenery when “My Island” finally becomes GREEN! 

Last weekend we brought Sally with us. Sally is a beautiful brown labrador you see on my photos. She’s an absolute sweetie.  And we surely got the impression that she had a great day in the country too and she managed perfectly well the 5 hours walk with us.

The first we did was that we went up to the top of the Volcan De La Corona so we could enjoy the panoramic views over the country side and the view all the way over to the Island of La Graciosa and The virgin Island of Alegranza. Volcan De La Corona

We sat down on a plain rock. Chilling out and just breathing in the fresh air. I will never, ever get tired of resting like and taking in that breathtaking, amazing view.

When walking downhill again we walked towards the village Arrietta, which is a lovely small fishing village down by the coast. The path we chose is non existing walk way, which means no path to follow. And that’s really a challenge.

It’s very rocky, so we had to walk slowly and carefully to not tip over or fall.

The view is just beautiful from that path we took and of course , lots of photos were shot here as well.

Walking all the way round the slopes of the Volcan De La Corona we finally made it back to our car in the village Ye on the other side, where we left it on the parking lot by the Church

We walked straight over to the Restaurant 300 meters from Volcan De La Corona, where we enjoyed plenty of delicious, great tapas and lots and lots of water.

And Sally the dog enjoyed some Canarian potatoes and “croquetas” with us!

I Love Lanzarote Fridays!

I Love Lanzarote Fridays!

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote Eating Out, Lanzarote To Do

I Love Fridays.

Don’t you?

These days indicate that weekend is here before it has even started for real.

On most Friday early mornings I use to go for long walks with friends. It can be anywhere on the Island. I Love Fridays

We do pick different places for our walks all depending on the weather and the wind.

This walk I’m telling you about here has its starting point in the Old Town of Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote’s most famous tourist town. Puerto del carmen was originally a fishing village and The Old Town is also known as “El Muelle Varadero” (Dry Dock Harbour)

We park our car there, completely free of charge, and then we start out on our walk over the dusty hills along the coast. Up and down. All along the raw and fascinating coastline, where the changing landscape all along the way to the small marina Puerto Calero never ceases to amaze us.  I Love Fridays

I can promise you, at this time in the early morning hours fresh and cool air is guaranteed.

Around noon  it might be too hot for most people, especially in the Summer.

The walk is around 4.5 kilometer long , but laughs and “fixing the world”  talks make it seem much less and we manage to arrive at our destination, Puerto Calero, in less than an hour – to be more exact 45 minutes.

When we reach Puerto Calero marina, we always go for a well deserved English Breakfast and cafe latte at our favorite restaurant.

Oh yes. That’s an absolute must, because that Breakfast gives us the strength to return back to The Old Town of Puerto Del Carmen, where we left our car.

After enjoying our well deserved breakfast we are ready to move on and I must say, the walk back is as lovely as the walk out.

Back at the car park in Puerto del Carmen we realize that we have walked a total of 9 kilometers! And we haven’t hardly noticed.

Believe me, if you feel like taking this wonderful stroll one day your body and muscles will love it.  I Love Fridays

I definitely recommend it and also that you wear solid and comfortable walking shoes of course!

And most importantly, don’t forget to bring your swimming suit!

Along the way you’ll find some steps in the rocks leading down to the sea giving you the option to jump in and take a swim  –  it’s really refreshing. 

Happy Friday to you too!!

 

A Day At The Cheese & Goat Fair!

A Day At The Cheese & Goat Fair!

by | Bettinas World, Lanzarote Eating Out, Lanzarote Events, Lanzarote To Do

 This past weekend I went with some friends to the annual Cheese & Goat Fair in Playa Blanca in the Southern of part of the Island.

Over two days, every year in March, this small village celebrates the fair of cheese and goats.

Since Lanzarote was populated centuries ago, goats milk has been a crucial ingredient to the survival of the islanders, so not surprisingly, they celebrate it each year.

This fair is becoming a real hit and the idea I must say is absolutely marvelous. Cheese & Goat Fair

When you arrive to Playa Blanca’s main street great part of it is closed to traffic from the center and all the way up the small Church of the village.

Blue pavilions are placed one next to another on each side of the street stretching all the way along it. Cheese & Goat Fair

Each tent has its kind of “Own Story” that invites you to be explored, if you know what I mean. I’m talking about that arriving with a full stomach is a really bad idea. You must to arrive to the Fair of Cheese fairly hungry!

Cheese & Goat Fair

Because you see, you’ll not only find cheese, but all kinds of delicious delicacies from the Lanzarote cuisine.

Some tents have huge barbecue grills placed in front of them and on some of them fresh fish is sizzling and on others sausages roasting; you can tell from the smoky mouthwatering and spicy smell filling the air.

And certainly not to forget, among all the delicacies you’ll also find different sorts of local wines. Cheese & Goat Fair

You see, Lanzarote it not only famous for its vulcanos and the yearly sports event Ironman. We do have some fantastic wineries in the center of the Island and they are producing some great wines too each with their specific gusto!

Walking down the line of pavilions along Playa Blanca’s main street, you’ll find an incredible variety of all kinds of cheese each made carefully with it’s very special touch. There are homemade cakes and pastry, beautifully decorated delicious Canarian tapas spiced in different ways.

I have to say that this event has become so huge that the local television channel is covering it closely and has been blowing it up to a point, which is good, where leading restaurants on the island have started competing at the fair. Everybody are striving to be the best at making tasty and decorative tapas – which are the pride of Lanzarote cuisine.

Attending each year at the fair of Cheese & Goats, I noticed this year much more tourist than past years. That is great for me to see, because that tells me that it’s becoming more and more popular and I’m sure they all enjoyed it, at least as much as I did. I know that my palate and stomach certainly did!

I’m looking forward to next year’s Fair of Cheese & Goats 2019. See you there! Cheese & Goat Fair

 

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