Airport

We did not plan any excursions for this holiday. It was meant to be a restful and relaxing holiday with lots of walking. When planning our trip, however, PY noticed that the airport had a museum. At one point, we thought we might visit it when we returned but were unsure about the timings. So, after much thought, we decided we'd go today. 

Yesterday, PY and I did a quick look for the bus stop that would get us to the airport, and we noted that the bus that stopped while we were reading the timetable was about five minutes early. Armed with this knowledge, we arrived at the stop with about ten minutes to spare on the timetable, and the bus duly arrived within a few minutes. It was a quick journey to the airport. Frustratingly, the bus passed right by the museum entrance without stopping, so we had to walk back from the terminal. I wonder how many people visit the museum on foot because it's a pretty strange trek as we walked away from the modern airport.

It's Maundy Thursday, and we could not find information on the holiday opening times. It was a gamble, but we found the place open and had it to ourselves for the entire visit. The museum is the (almost) original airport building where passengers would have waited for the small planes that started arriving in Lanzarote. The museum tells the story that the Zeppelin airships were the first aircraft to pass over the island, and they used to drop mail by parachute as they headed for America. The first regular flights between the islands and Madrid started in 1930 and this building from the 40s. There are a lot of rounded archways connecting various parts of the building; each room has a different display. The museum has a couple of audio-visual presentations, but neither ran while we were there.

The main attraction is the control room on the upper floor. The 'tower' is just one—and a bit—flights up a steep staircase with an impressive curved glass window that would have provided a wide view across the airport as it would have been. Now, most of the distance is covered by modern terminals. The equipment on show is quite basic, which reminds me of how different air travel must have been in the pioneering days.

It was great to see, and I'm glad we went. We walked back to the terminal where we found much confusion about the return bus becausse it's a public holiday and there's a reduced service. The driver of the one on the stand told us it was leaving at 12:30pm, while when we arrived back at the stop after filling the time with a coffee break, the digital sign suggested it would be 1:30pm. We split up; PY stood in the taxi queue while Mark and I waited in the bus queue, and we decided to see what arrived first. In the end, the taxi won.