Have you ever been on holiday and not known whether you are allowed to take something back home with you?

This was the problem facing us last year in a Lanzarote supermarket where there were cacti for sale.  The cacti were packaged almost as presents, so it was an enticing thought to take one or more of them back to Germany with us.

Except, of course, being in the middle of a supermarket on the outskirts of Arrecife is not the best place to get information on whether you are even allowed to take them off the island, let alone import them back into mainland Europe.

In these days of Europe “without borders”, it is easy to forget that customs laws still exist for certain products, and I was pretty sure that cacti would be something that needed looking into.

On the other hand, why would they sell them on an island packaged to go, unless you could take them with you?

The German customs office website brought some answers.  Their general brochure warned about bringing plants back to Germany, noting that some cacti species were protected.

The protected species database indeed listed Spanish cacti as protected, but allowed for their sale within the EU – as long as you have proof of purchase.

The answer is therefore to buy from a reputable shop or at a supermarket, and to make sure that you get a decent receipt.  Buying from a street vendor at a market is probably not such a good idea.

But even then be warned: not every type of cactus is allowed, so if you see something exotic it might be worth checking with your country’s customs office first, or just not bother and leave the cactus on the island.  Take a photo instead!

After our doubts about whether we could even take the cacti off the island, one shop really did make it clear that it doesn’t seem to be a problem:

Cactus House, Arrecife Airport

The “Cactus House” is situated airside in Lanzarote Airport, ie. after you have checked-in your luggage and been through the security screening.

Here you can buy a wide range of cactus plants and accessories, and the only place to take them is onto the plane with you.

But hang on a moment, aren’t cacti sharp objects…?

Post boxes on Lanzarote seem to come in a variety of shapes and forms. There are official ones that you see on street corners – yellow and solid, much like in the UK. And then there are the plastic ones, often seen at the doors of supermarkets.

Since you can often buy stamps in shops selling postcards, the logical extension of this is for them to have their own post box as well. Although they rarely say on them how often they will be emptied.

Here are a selection of the models that we have seen:

The street corner version

In the entrance to a supermarket

The mini in-store version

Do you know of any others?

We first read about the aquarium in the magazine “50 things to do”, which we picked up by chance at the airport museum.

The aquarium is located in Costa Teguise and has an unspectacular entrance in a side road called Avenida de las Acacias (on some maps it is called “Calle de las Acacias”).

Compared to many other attractions on the island, the entrance fee is quite expensive – with 12EUR for adults and 8EUR for children. Over 65s pay 10EUR, and there are discounts for residents. For 30EUR extra there is the option of a guided tour.

The entrance

The entrance hall is also the shop, and after a brief introduction you descend into the dark depths down a flight of steps.

From here you follow the path along the 33 different aquaria – each containing different species of fish. The fish in each tank are described in English and Spanish on backlit panels. Larger panels telling the background story to the island’s development are in Spanish only.

There are not only fish to be seen, but also seahorses, sharks and even stingrays. Apparently there are 1 million litres of water in total, with the largest tank containing 400,000 litres. In several places there are seats where you can sit and watch the beauty of the scene in front of you, accompanied by background music.

Photography is encouraged, and with our daughter in full flow we ended up with over 400 photographs, however the use of flash photography is strictly prohibited.

One of the sharks

We took about 90 minutes to make our way from start to finish, and spent another 30 minutes sitting in front of the last tank watching the stingray and the sharks. During this time, the background music did get a bit repetitive! At the end you re-ascend into the shop via another flight of stairs.

What we liked: it was not very crowded, so we were able to get a good view of the fish and take our time. Toilets are located at the end of the passage near the big aquarium. For fans of “Finding Nemo” there are many of the fishes featured in the tanks for children to recognise. A small amount of free parking is available in front of the entrance, otherwise in the surrounding roads.

What could be better: although the staff speak German, none of the signs are in that language. Some of the windows to look into the tanks are too high up for smaller children.

Was it worth it? Going as a family can be expensive, and it is fairly obvious that most of the investment has been made in the fish and their tanks and less in the rest of the building. Given that a family of 4 is going to be paying about 40EUR just to get in, it would be nice if there was the option of joining a guided tour without paying extra for it.

For more information visit www.aquariumlanzarote.com