Escape to the Canary Islands

Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time to keep blogging on a regular basis.  I think this is the longest I have gone between posts since I first created my blog in 2011.  Hopefully, I can post with more regularity, but no promises. :) My family went on a trip to the Canary Islands for the Christmas and New Year Holidays and it was our first time getting away from Finland for a warm weather winter trip since we moved here almost four years ago.

I had heard about the Canary Islands from various people and they had always been high on my curiosity list.  They are a chain of 7 Islands which are owned by Spain and just 100km from the coast of Northern Africa.  The Canary Islands get approximately 12 million tourists per year. They are specially popular amongst Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans who want to get away from their cold winter climates.  We had many choices among the 5-6 main Islands that you can travel too. It seems the most popular destinations are The Gran Canaria and Tenerife Islands.  We decided to get off the beaten path a bit and picked both Lanzarote and Fuertaventura.  Most people tend to book these trips directly through a travel agent and usually have their travel plans already laid out for them.  In our case we decided to be a bit more adventuresome, so we agreed to book everything on our own.  We thought we would save some money and have some added flexibility doing it this way.  This might be the case, but all the extra hassles of travel (shuttles, buses, ferries, airplanes) hardly made it worth our time for the little savings.

Camels of Lanzarote

We ended up flying directly into Madrid, Spain and then spending one night there before flying to Lanzarote.  We didn't really have time to enjoy Madrid, so the first night consisted of just a nice dinner near the hotel.  We would get 2 more nights in Madrid en route back to Helsinki.  Even though our flight was directly into Lanzarote, we needed to journey down to Fuertaventura via the Ferry for our first 3 nights.  So, after a shuttle, ferry ride, bus and taxi we finally arrived to our hotel.  Fuertaventura is one of the larger islands and is most famous for it's long white sand beaches, sand dunes and goats.  We made sure to visit one of the more popular beaches on the island.  During that excursion we noticed that many people were hanging (literally) at the beach Au-natural.  :)  I guess it was a clothing optional beach much to the children's shocked look on their faces.   We also really enjoyed visiting the Sand Dunes which are supposedly very similar to those in the Sahara Desert of Africa which is just 100km away.

Volcanic park in Lanzarote

Our final stop was the volcanic island of Lanzarote.  It is famous for it's varied volcanic architecture and has been compared to a mini version of Hawaii's big Island.  It also features an annual Iron Man triathlon.  We saw many cyclists riding all over the Island and perhaps they were training for the coming Iron Man event. We had a bit more time to tour around this Island and the highlights of the visit were seeing the main volcanic craters and participating in a camel ride.  The kids really enjoyed both of those activities.  This Island has it's own beauty but is definitely not as sandy beach oriented as Fuertaventura.

Having been to the Hawaiian Islands several times in my life, I wasn't sure the Canary Islands could live up to my high expectations.  We did enjoy our trip and the varied landscapes though I would have to give the edge to Hawaii if you are looking for more lush, waterfall filled landscapes.  I still think the Islands are worth visiting and would definitely go back and see the more popular Islands of Tenerife or Gran Canarias. These islands are welcoming during the dark, cold days of winter in Finland.  Speaking of old man winter, Finland enjoyed one of the warmest Februaries in a long time and Spring came early as the beginning of March saw the end of the snow pack. 

Fuertaventura

Winter break week has arrived in Finland

Where has all the time gone?  It seems like it was just Christmas and now suddenly the ski week also known as the "winter break" has arrived.  Every school in Finland has one week off in February and that week changes depending on what part of the country you live in.  The goal is that that everyone doesn't take the week off at the same time.  Seems like a reasonable plan and then one would expect that every ski resort or vacation spot is not surrounded with millions of screaming children.  :)

What does the typical Finnish family do for a winter break?  That really depends on the family's budget and its interests.  It seems that there are two distinct types of vacations that people take during the Finnish winter holiday.  There are the sun seekers who just need a break from the long Finnish winter and there are the snow lovers, who enjoy skiing, sledding, ice skating and other outdoor winter sports.  There might even be a lucky few families who manage to do a little of both during the week long break.  The sun seekers from Finland have a few favorite destination spots.  The most popular by far seems to be the Canary Islands.  The folks from the United States might have no clue about this small cluster of Islands off the coast of Northern Africa owned by Spain.  I haven't been there myself, but it seems the Canary Islands have taken over as the Hawaiian Islands alternative for Europeans.  There are a few other sunny options in February, but none quite as popular as the Canary Islands.  Other prominent destinations for sun seeking Finns include Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in Northern Africa.  For those more adventurous with additional time on their hands, some might even venture all the way to Thailand.   There are direct flights from Helsinki to Thailand and those are growing more popular with Finns. The southern European countries of Spain, Greece and Italy are beautiful and pleasant in the winter, but also might be a bit cool this time a year so they are not as popular.

Then there is the snow sports seeking crowd. There are a multitude of options for these folks.  Many loyal to their country decide to fly or drive up to Lapland for a pseudo downhill ski vacation.  I say pseudo because if you aren't really that familiar with Finland, it is a very flat country.  The northern part of the country (Lapland, etc.) gets a bit steeper, but I think the largest mountain is Halti at only 1,324 meters.  I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and we have a 1,024 meter mountain alongside my little home town.  Suffice to say there are many 1 kilometer mountains in California and we even see mountains in the 2 and 3+ kilometer range.  Others may choose to go exploring the Alps and other wonderful ski places throughout Europe.   There are many choices scattered throughout Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria and other countries.   The budget minded stay home and hit the local cross country trails, sledding hills and some small downhill resorts.  For example, within 5 to 10 minutes from my home there are hundreds of kilometers of cross country ski trails, sledding hills and natural ice rinks.  Our kids should have plenty of activities to choose from if we stay local.  I prefer to cross country ski when I have the time because it is such a great overall exercise and it is a great way to get out to the nature at the same time.  My kids enjoy skating, sledding and building snowmen.

Winter is cold, winter is long, winter is horrible.... Yea, you have already heard it all from many Finnish blogs, and I have been guilty myself of repeating similar thoughts.  In spite of everything, winter is also a joyous time of the year and the snow scenery can be captivating and magical.  Make the most of it and then take the pleasure to know that once old man winter decides to crawl back into his cave there will be bright days ahead for many months.