Visiting Lanzarote is an interesting situation for me linguistically, as I speak all three of the main languages that you hear on the island: English, German and Spanish.

Which language do you speak as a tourist? My rule of thumb is to use Spanish as much as possible – in supermarkets, shops and restaurants. Of course the people serving could speak to me in my mother tongue, but I find it better that way.

It can often be to my advantage as well. Some locals are more welcoming if you make an effort to speak their language. At Teguise market you can often get a better bargain for making the effort and an even better one if you are fluent in Spanish. In restaurants the waiter’s English may only extend to taking your order and presenting you with the bill – it may not extend to sorting out complaints.

Obviously if I’m talking to an English or German national, then I will talk to them in their language. But it gets very interesting when sitting in a restaurant where I talk in Spanish to the waiter, English to my parents and German to my wife! It can confuse the staff as well!

But it can also be very funny, as being able to read all three versions of the menu I often find translations that have gone wrong.

I just haven’t got round to learning Swedish yet…

The website Calle Lanzarote now has a sister site publishing in German: www.calle-lanzarote.de

On the German site, my wife Michaela will be writing about her first visit to the island last year and covering many of the topics that I have written about on this site such as I.G.I.C, pan y mantequilla, as well as restaurants and places that we visited.

She will not, however, be just translating articles from this site, but writing from her viewpoint and adding her own opinions.

If you can read German, please visit the site and read what she has to say.

Simposio is a restaurant overlooking the harbour in the old part of Puerto del Carmen (Calle Teide).

Run by a German couple, it has 4 tables on the balcony and more inside, where there is also a bar.

The food is a mixture of canarian sea-food and German cuisine. Two noteworthy dishes are the fish platter (three pieces of freshly cooked fish) or the meat pan (chicken breast, pork medallions and a steak).

You are advised to book well in advance as on some nights all the tables have been reserved for several days! The telephone number to book is 928 515112.

The restaurant opens at 6pm and is closed on Mondays.

Photo: C. & L. Tappenden