lanzarote part 1

Where has summer gone?!  Apart from it being mid-August already, it seems this summer has really zoomed by.  Time is moving so quickly. I was looking at my photo books I've made so far this year, and realised I hadn't shared any of the actual Lanzarote photos with you the awesome folk of the Internet.  Many of these photos are in the Blurb book I spoke about in this post.  

The camera I had with me was the Olympus 35 RD. I opted for this camera because of it's size and versatility. There was going to be a lot of cycling and walking, so I needed something light and portable, while having a nice sharp lens that renders colours well. The photo below was shot wide open (f/1.7) indoors. Who can resist a mirror selfie? 

Lanzarote was one of my summer travels, and boy has it stuck with me. It's a volcanic Spanish island in the Atlantic ocean off the western coast of Africa. It's such a unique place that one can't help being carried away at times with it's beauty.

The first thing I noticed about Lanzarote from the air as we approached on the plane was the wind.  It is one of the windiest places on earth - evident by the thousands of wind mills visible from the sky and the turbulence we experienced coming in for the landing. Seriously, I thought we were going to crash, especially since most of the descent is over water - the runway just misses the beach.  Scary stuff. Once landed though, the chill out vibe began. Everywhere and everything was calm and relaxed even though there was a big sporting event happening that weekend.

The second thing I noticed was the architecture. You'd struggle to find any building on the island that's higher than one storey, and they're all virtually white. Both are apparently a result of regulations to keep the island attractive to tourists. 

Lanzarote is an arid, almost totally barren volcanic island. It's so dry there that only some plants such as Aloe Vera or various types of Cactus can survive there [ More about that in upcoming posts]. Even though it often gets quite cloudy, it hardly ever rains there. It's proximity to the African continent [it's basically an African island] means it is constantly receiving tons of sand deposits from the mighty Sahara. This means Lanzarote is blessed with stunning golden sand beaches formed by the Sahara sand deposited on volcanic magma-rock formations. It's a real wonder to behold.

It does feel like north/north-west Africa there. The weather, the sand, the palm trees, the food. It's north Africa with a Spanish flavour. Life moves at a much slower pace than in mainland Europe. Also the signs of economic troubles in southern Europe is very visible here. There are a lot of empty residential buildings on Lanzarote that were built during the property market boom in Europe before everyone ran out of money.

The first day was spent walking around lazily on the beach, having cool drinks, taking in the ambience, and of course taking photos. 

By the way, if you're interested in making a photo book, Blurb is running a promotion right now. See details below.  Remember I'm a Blurb affiliate so I may benefit if you buy a book from them after following my link below.

Offer: Get 25% off Blurb books
Valid: 8/11-8/20
Code: GATHER25
Details: Offer valid through from August 11 to August 20 2015 (11:59 p.m. local time). Valid for printed books only. Get 25% off (USD),25% off (EUR),25% off (GBP),10% off (AUD) discount is applied toward your product total with no minimum purchase required. Maximum discount is USD $100, CAD $100, AUD $100, EUR 100 € or GBP £100 off product total with minimum order of USD $1, CAD $1, AUD $1, EUR 1€ or GBP £1. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with volume discounts, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.