Wednesday 15 April 2020

Gran Canaria Adventure - Day 7

South towards the Camel Park

It was another beautiful day in paradise and we started it with breakfast at Restaurante Albaricoque. Over a coffee we decided that today we would walk South along the G60 where we'd passed an aboriginal cemetary and camel park on the bus journey to Fataga.


We couldn't resist ordering some more of the delicious cheese and tomato on toast. I'm pretty sure the bread  used here was made at the local bakery.


Ella took the opportunity to get her sketch book out and I updated my Instagram Stories.


The walk South was fairly easy as it was downhill nearly all the way. Mountains, palm trees and blue skies made for the perfect backdrop.


The uneven surfaces made it easy to loose your footing though as Ella found out. The graze was pretty bad but we carried on regardless.


As luck would have it just around the next bend in the road we spotted this aloe vera farm. The shop was open to the public so we went inside to take a look.


The staff welcomed us and gave us a short talk on aloe vera and it's many uses. Ella was offered to rub a large chunk of it over the graze on her leg which seemed to help.


As we made our way further down the G60 it was clear to see why this area was referred to as "Valley of the thousand palms".


This morning we'd bought some fresh bread from the bakery and used up the cheese and tomatoes we'd bought for the pasta a couple of days back. We'd figured there would be nowhere to eat on this walk which turned out to be correct. We sat on a rock to eat lunch in the sunshine at Artara Necropolis, the largest aboriginal cemetary on the island.


Afterwards we explored a series of trails around Arteara Necropolis. It occupies an area of 137,570 m2 and houses 809 tomb structures, with both individual and collective burial mounds. Not many other visitors were about as it was due to close for the day fairly soon. Entrance to site is €4 and there are toilets as well as a small shop selling ice creams.



The perfect opportunity to buy a Magnum!


Right next to the main entrance of Arteara Necropolis there's a tiny village. Just a few houses and nobody else seemed to be about, a beautiful place though.


As we walked through the village we were greeted by this stunning cat.


We started heading back North along the G60 until we arrived at the camel safari park.


La Baranda Camel Safari Park is not just about camels, it's also home to many other animals and has some gardens to explore too. We didn't want to go for a camel ride so just paid €3 each to have a look around instead.


There's a tropical garden here with a variety of fruit trees such as papaya, mango, guava etc. On the ground below we spotted a peacock scurrying around determined not to be photographed.


As we admired the gardens we remembered the almond cookies we'd bought at the bakery this morning. I'm pretty sure we'd bought these everyday in Fataga, they were so delicious!


The camels could be found at the far end of the park. We didn't feel comfortable with the idea of riding on the camels but enjoyed seeing them close up.


These mules were adorable and loved being stroked.


Just to the right of the palm tree you can see an incredibly tall cactus. The Camel Park are very proud of this but it took us quite a long time to track it down.


The different fruits grown at the park are made into mixed fruit smoothies. These cost €3 each and they tasted incredible!


After leaving the camel park we made our way back up the steep G60 to Fataga. A well deserved rest and a glass of wine was definitely needed!


Later in the evening we returned to Fataga Grill as we'd enjoyed the food here last night. Tony greeted us and we ordered some beers and a vegetable paella to share.


Tony kindly sent out a starter on the house whilst we waited for the paella to cook. Some cheesy garlic bread and a plate with bread, croquettes, tomato, cheese and olives. 


The paella looked amazing and there was so much of it too! All made using local ingredients and the flavours were amazing, we both thoroughly enjoyed this.


Before we left Tony sent out some cocktails on the house. I have no idea what was in this cocktail but damn it was strong!  We returned to the cottage after drinking this hoping Lucy the cat had returned, still no sign of her though.

Click here for
Day 8 - Final day in Fataga

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