Mum and I played Scrabble after dinner last night, then both headed for bed.
This morning I was on a tour again, this time to see the Columbus House museum. A short coach trip took us there, and we had a chance to have a look in the main cathedral before seeing the exhibits relating to Christopher Columbus's voyages. Lovely old house, and nice to see something of an old city centre as well.
Then it was back in the bus, and a drive to the middle of the island where we had fabulous views of the whole island, and into a deep caldera made by a volcano about 2000 years ago. It was 1 km across and about 200 metres deep!
Next stop was the pretty village of Santa Brigida, before going to a wine house to have tapas and a wine tasting. The vines here were never hit by the disease that devastated most of Europe vines, and there are several ancient varieties of grapes growing here on the volcanic soil. Tapas was a local cheese (bit bland), olives, a red sauce (tasty but not hot despite warnings from our guide) and Grand Canary potatoes, which were delicious. Small potatos with skins, boiled in sea water. I did the classic, bought the white wine we had tasted, and a red wine I had not. The red I tasted was a bit thin to my mind, and the very helpful waiter suggested I buy a different one which he assured me I would like. Of course, I won't find out until we get back to the UK as they remove all your wine purchases from you when you return to the ship, and only give them back just before you land!
Our guide talked a lot about the fruits and vegetables that grow well here, including sugar cane, which was then exported to the Carribean. The traditional drink of the island is rum and they have a longer tradition of making it here than in Cuba. I shall attempt to find and buy a bottle this afternoon. Another surprising fact was that many plants that we consider small grow to a huge size here as there is no dormant winter season. This includes the dandelions I had already seen, and the poinsettias which grow into trees!
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment