In fact, we visited them so often, they even started asking where other members of our group were if we didn’t all go there together!

Dulcería Hernández in Puerto del Carmen

The garden was designed by César Manrique and opened in 1990 (according to the official Spanish guidebook. Many sources quote 1991) and as such was the last of Manrique’s “centres” to open.  Inside there are over 1,000 different species of cacti.  Some of them are indigenous to the island, but many come from as far away as South America.

Once inside the main entrance, a network of paths takes the visitors round the sides of the circular garden on different levels, and just getting around all of them and seeing all of the cacti can take a good hour.  The levels actually go down below the level of the entrance building and car park, so it is like being in a hidden – almost secret – garden.

And the plants are not the only cacti present.  Many of the features such as the doorhandles also have a ‘cactus’ design.

At the far end of the garden there is a small lake and a café, behind which a flight of steps goes up onto the outer wall of the garden and to a restored windmill.

From here there are breathtaking views across the cactus fields towards Arrieta and Costa Teguise, as well as out into the Atlantic.

It is also possible to go into the windmill and climb up even further inside that too.

Finally there is a gift shop selling cacti, seeds to grow them from, and various associated products.

But as tempting as it may be to take a souvenir of your visit to the cactus garden back home with you, you might like to check up with your local customs office before you go on holiday to ask if you are allowed to bring cacti back with you.

Of you might just like to be on the safe side as I did and buy a book instead.

The café is under new management and is offering a Full English Breakfast for just €3, consisting of bacon, sausage, egg, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, chips or hash brown, and toast with butter and jam.

Unfortunately we had already eaten, otherwise I would have probably been tempted to try it and would have written a full review about it. As it was, we settled for fruit juice and took a closer look at the cocktail menu.

For those staying in Fariones the café comes with the advantage of being within reach of the hotel’s WiFi.

Lanzarote Guidebook was first launched on-line in 2004 by long term island resident Nick Ball, with the intention of offering comprehensive on-line information for British and Irish holidaymakers for the first time.

“Back then there really weren’t any websites out there providing accurate details and inside local knowledge about Lanzarote for visiting tourists. Independent travel to the island was starting to really take off so we decided to change all that and start our own. Over the years this labour of love blossomed into an enormous website with many thousands of pages, attracting over 110,000 visitors per month. But increasingly our design and layout became dated, whilst the site itself became increasingly difficult for visitors to use due to the sheer quantity of data on there” he explained.

The all new Lanzarote Guidebook website addresses and overcomes these issues thanks to a stylish new redesign and a much simpler to use format. In doing so it provides more holiday inspiration and greatly improves the overall experience for visitors – who can also use the site to book a wide array of unique accommodation options, from yurts and fishermen’s cottages through to luxury villas and hotels. Whilst flights, car hire and excursions are all bookable direct on-line too.

The new site also boasts an array of new features and additions, including information about all of the latest island news and events, fully interactive maps and a site wide button that allows visitors to download a copy of Lanzarote Guidebook (a 108 page island guide that is printed every quarter) entirely free of charge. Visitors to the site can now also interact more with Lanzarote Guidebook via on site topic discussions and new social media pages.

Whilst some overseas destinations have struggled in recent years Lanzarote continues to thrive and despite the recession the island has just enjoyed its busiest year since 2004 – welcoming over 900,000 arrivals from the UK and 180,000 arrivals from Eire during the course of 2011 (Source: Centro de Datos Lanzarote) and overall foreign visitor numbers up by 18% versus 2010.

Lanzarote Guidebook can be found at www.lanzaroteguidebook.com

But while much of the reporting has focused on the lack of funds that Spanair had, I think it’s worth asking why they got into that situation in the first place.

Over the past four years when I have flown with them, I freely admit it was because I wanted to get from A to B and they were usually the cheapest, and sometimes the most convenient option.  I was even impressed by the fact, that in-flight refreshments were still included in the price of the flight between Frankfurt and Madrid.

But on the other hand, almost every time there was a problem of some sort when I flew with them.  Booking on-line with a credit card was complicated if the whole family was flying on holiday.  Flights were often delayed, which sometimes meant rushing through Madrid’s terminals to catch a connecting flight.

On the one occasion that I was delayed by over an hour, they refused the compensation that I believe I was due.

Then finally, last year, they stopped flying daily to Lanzarote and re-booked our flight.  At least, they re-booked the flight from Arrecife, and only changed the connecting flight to Frankfurt when I rang them to make sure it had been done.

And yet they sold price increases for the in-flight refreshments as an “improvement”.

I can’t help feeling that they should have worked more on “improving” their customer service and punctuality, rather than on marketing gimmicks like Christmas presents for their passengers, and that at some point they entered a download spiral of less people flying with them because, at the end of the day, they were offering less flights.

One simple example of a lack of investment were the cue cards that the cabin crew used for making announcements.  It became obvious, even over the space of only four years, that the Spanish card was updated more often than the English one, and far more often than the German one.

Before departure, the Spanish card reminded passengers that electronic devices must not be used during take-off and landing, but non-wireless devices may be used otherwise during the flight.  The English card had the same initial reminder, but said that passengers should ask once airborne before turning electronic devices on, to see if their device is permitted.  The German card simply said that electronic devices may not be used for the duration of the flight!  (Imagine at this point the faces of some German passengers, when the Spanish speakers suddenly turned on their laptops…)

And when my flight got diverted due to thunderstorms one evening, I don’t think they even had a card in German to deal with that.  The information in Spanish was quite useful, but for those who didn’t understand it, “Welcome to Stuttgart” wasn’t exactly the first words they wanted to hear when we landed at the wrong airport.

Anyway, I guess the next time I fly to Spain I shall consider the last piece of advice that Spanair’s call centre gave me, the last time I spoke to them: “Next time, fly Lufthansa”.

Considering my recent good experience with their customer service, I might do just that!