After four nights in our Lanzarote home, we checked out Wednesday morning to make the 45-drive to Playa Blanca, where we were scheduled for a 2:00 ferry ride back to Fuerteventura. We took the final few pieces of laundry off of the drying rack, packed up our bags, cleaned up our home, and loaded into the car… all about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Our first stop was supposed to be at La Florita de Bodegas, which made the potato chips we’d so enjoyed the last two days. However, while it was listed on Google as being open, we didn’t see any signage on the building, and the only open door at the location appeared to be a home and not a potato chip factory or shop. Google Maps then took us on a questionable 2.5-km stretch of road to return to a paved highway to get to our next stop, a salt mine (and accompanying gift shop) called Salindas de Janubio.
Fortunately, this stop on our itinerary worked out as expected, as the shop was open, and we managed to pick up about a dozen containers of salt to take back to the states for ourselves and for gifts. Emmie managed to sample every available salt at least once, including some interesting combinations like salt with chocolate flakes and salt with orange flakes.
We had just a short drive to Playa Blanca, where we’d identified a fish and chips place near the port to eat lunch. We arrived just as it was opening, and surprisingly, we were greeted in English. The shop was one of a handful in the city that sold fish and chips and the neighborhood generally seem to be comprised of several restaurants aimed at residents from England and Germany who were traveling in the Canary Islands. I was a little disappointed in the lack of homemade tartar sauce but the fish and chips themselves were excellent.
Eilidh wanted in on the photo!
Noah opted for a bacon, sausage, and cheese sandwich instead of fish and chips.
The small portion of fish was a little smaller than Amanda hoped, but she still thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
My regular-sized order of fish and chips.
After Emmie finished her meal she made “interesting” faces into Snapchat on Amanda’s phone.
This was one result.
The kids constantly looked for ledges to walk on… or anything other than the plain sidewalk.
After the short ferry ride to Fuerteventura, we spent 45 minutes in the car driving south to the Sheraton Fuerteventura Resort, where we were spending the night. The check-in process seems a little more involved in Europe than in the states, and Emmie and I spent a chunk of time in the lobby waiting to receive our keys. Only one of our two rooms was ready, but we eventually were able to unload the car and get into the room.
Emmie and I tried some Spanish slushes on the ferry deck.
Leaving Lanzarote.
Emmie was reluctant to try the fresh orange juice offered upon hotel check-in… but then proceeded to drink all of it.
A cheese plate was delivered to our room not long after check-in.
We had planned to spend some of our time at the resort swimming but the combination of temperatures in the low 70s and a steady wind kept us away from the pools. We did take time to walk around the facility, which included everything from a miniature golf course to basketball and tennis courts. Amanda and I were bummed the drop-off kids club was nearing closing time, but we did get to hang out and chat a bit while the kids played on the adjacent playground.
Walking through the resort property.
We had one final Fuerteventura attraction on our radar, and that was the Museum of Salt. It was located just a few minutes south of the resort, so we had saved it for our final stint on the island. Google said the museum was open until 6:00, but the staff informed us winter hours were in effect and they were closing at 5:30, a little more than 30 minutes after we arrived. We decided to go anyway, so they encouraged us to complete all of the indoor exhibits first and could stay outside near the salt mine itself after closing time if needed.
The visuals and videos within the museum were robust and provided a solid overview of the salt mining process. We bought even more souvenir salt before making our way to the outside portion fo the museum, where we had pretty close access to the salt mines. All was quiet when we visited, but the mines are functional and were the source of salt from our souvenirs. We snapped a few pictures and then returned to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.
Emmie later updated her entry in the Salt Museum guestbook to reflect that I and “we” (the entire family) love salt.
We’d planned on going back to our favorite pizza place for dinner, but upon check-in, we were given a voucher for a free meal at the Los Arcos buffet restaurant at the hotel. With a value of over 100 Euros, it was an easy decision to save the drive and eat in the hotel. Wednesday was Asian night at the restaurant, so the buffet had features like sushi and egg rolls. There was still plenty of kid-friendly food like spaghetti and a plethora of desserts.
Eilidh had mastered drinking from a wine glass earlier in our trip.
Emmie was a big fan of the chocolate fountain.
I snapped several photos of the spreads, which I thought were impressive. None of the food was over-the-top memorable, but the meal was solid and buffet-style eating efficient for our family. We were also thankful to find many other families and kids were dining in the room and it was not an overly formal environment.
Deviled eggs, wrapped with smoked salmon.
Even though it was windy, our room balconies offered peaceful evening views. I left our sliding door open all night.