La Dolce Vita

Although specialised on Italian food, the restaurant also offers a selection of non-Italian dishes. The children’s menu has a variety of items on it, and the children’s pizza is a particularly good choice as it allows them to choose any pizza of the normal menu and have it in a slightly smaller size for a set price.

The food itself was good, and the pizza was even accompanied by a proper pizza cutter! The wine selection was similar to in Puerto Viejo below, but actually slightly cheaper. The house wine, whilst not bad, was from the mainland, although local wines were also available.

Instead of ordering a starter, we took the bread rolls and butter which were brought to the table anyway. These turned out to be fresh and warm.

The restaurant has friendly staff, although sometimes it did take a moment to attract their attention. As we left there was a whole round of “good byes” to do, including the kitchen staff and the pizza baker!

La Dolce Vita is closed on Thursdays.

Having walked from Puerto del Carmen to Puerto Calero, we decided to take the waterbus for the return journey and see where we had been from the sea.

The Waterbus (Ana Segundo) in Puerto del Carmen

The trip cost 6EUR for adults and 4EUR (as of October 2011) for children and even included a drink of Ronmiel for the adults on board! It should, however, be noted that there are no discounts for groups or for senior citizens.

As we had read online that it was not advisable to buy tickets in advance, we headed to the pier about 15 minutes before sailing and bought ours before boarding the boat. This was obviously a good idea, as we heard a rep complain later that the times on the brochure didn’t always match up with the actual sailing times.

Barranco del Quíquere viewed from the sea

The ride was quite choppy as first, but it was interesting to see the cliffs from a different angle, and Puerto del Carmen from the sea for the first time. We arrived in the harbour there after about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dolphins.

The steps at the end of Calle Teide

After going up the zig-zag path to the top of the cliffs, we continued along the first part of the path which was paved and with a wall between us and the rockface.

The first part of the path is paved...

There are some nice areas to sit on this part of the path, with plants providing shade. But eventually, the path becomes a dirt track and for most of it the wall is missing. There are only wooden posts marking the right-hand side of the path. At this point we kept a close eye on our daughter, although the path is not so narrow that we needed to hold her hand all of the time.

... before it becomes a dirt track

Even this part of the path has seats every few metres to rest on, and spectacular views across the sea to either Puerto del Carmen or Puerto Calero, and across the land to the volcanoes in the distance.

In some parts there is no wall

There are also a number of houses along the route, including one right on the cliff’s edge that looked as if it had been abandoned and was going to fall into the sea at some point.

Barranco del Quíquere

At first we ignored the steps that led down to the sea at several places, but on reaching the Barranco del Quíquere we had no choice and took the steps downwards into the cove. Here we found families under sunshades who were enjoying the solitude of the cove (apart from the walkers, obviously), and whose children were even swimming out to a pontoon moored some way out in the sea.

Puerto Calero is in the distance

After climbing back up to the cliff-tops again the dusty track continued with just the wooden bollards until we reached Puerto Calero. Here we were surprised to find a pair of gates across the road that had been locked, and so rather than just walking into the marina we had to go back up the other side of the road and walk to another road, from where we were able to walk back on a lower level to get to the waterfront.

The locked gates at the marina

The walk took us just over an hour and although we enjoyed doing it and taking in the views – this was, after all, the first time that we had walked anywhere on Lanzarote beyond the boundaries of one of the towns – we decided to take the waterbus back again and see where we had been from the sea.

Unlike the “Chili con Carne” which is made of minced beef, Chili Rojo uses chunks of beef in a sauce with garlic, chili, cumin, red peppers and red wine. It is served on a bed of mexican rice with frijoles (re-fried beans) and corn-on-the-cob.

It looked so delicious when it arrived, that I took a photo of it:

And it was hot. The menu apologises that the dish cannot be made less spicy and I was offered a taster in advance, but there was no need. It was not only very tasty but sufficiently spicy as to put it on a par with Pique a lo Macho in Mainz. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Having only visited the Playa Grande previously, we found that it had some definite advantages.

Playa Los Pocillos

For a start it is easier to park the car there! But as the beach itself is on a corner, it means that children can go out quite a way into the sea without getting out of their depth.

At one side of the beach there are showers and even toilets, whereas on the other side of the road there are a couple of shops selling the usual beach supplies and some small supermarkets so that you can even get snacks and drink for reasonable prices.

Playa Los Pocillos

For a day at the beach with the family we now prefer this to Playa Grande and are prepared to drive the extra distance to get there. It is quieter than being next to “the strip” and in our opinion the facilities are better as well.