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!

Having deactivated the card and ordered a replacement, I was still curious to know if I really had lost it in the airport at Arrecife, so I tried to call the lost property office.

I started by looking for a number to call on the airport’s website.  Just calling a number in Spain can be a linguistic nightmare.  I’m usually quite happy to talk to the person on the other end in Spanish, but they see an incoming call from Germany and detect a British accent in my Spanish into the bargain.  So they usually attempt to answer in German, only to move to English a couple of sentences in, resorting to Spanish only when they don’t know a particular word.

To add insult to injury, the number of the website couldn’t even be called using my Skype flatrate!

The first person that I spoke to gave me a different number to call.  That at least had a Lanzarote STD code for a normal landline.  However when I called it, the number diverted to the mainland.  After going through the voice-controlled computer system I actually spoke to someone who tried to put me through to the airport, but failed.  So they gave me a different number to called.

The next number took me to the same computer system, and again I answered the questions and ended up with someone who was at least in Arrecife.  They took down my details and wanted to ask if the SIM card had been found.  Then the line went dead.

So I called again, went through the computer, only to discover that they were not actually in the lost property office, but were going to ask there for me.  Except that they couldn’t reach anyone.

Guess what?  They gave me another number to call that would go straight to the lost property office.  Only they told me that there is usually no-one there, because they are out around the airport, and I should just keep trying.

And try I did.  Eventually I managed to speak to someone.

No, they hadn’t had a SIM card handed in on my day of departure.  Oh well, it was good Spanish practise!

La Dolce Vita

Although specialised on Italian food, the restaurant also offers a selection of non-Italian dishes. The children’s menu has a variety of items on it, and the children’s pizza is a particularly good choice as it allows them to choose any pizza of the normal menu and have it in a slightly smaller size for a set price.

The food itself was good, and the pizza was even accompanied by a proper pizza cutter! The wine selection was similar to in Puerto Viejo below, but actually slightly cheaper. The house wine, whilst not bad, was from the mainland, although local wines were also available.

Instead of ordering a starter, we took the bread rolls and butter which were brought to the table anyway. These turned out to be fresh and warm.

The restaurant has friendly staff, although sometimes it did take a moment to attract their attention. As we left there was a whole round of “good byes” to do, including the kitchen staff and the pizza baker!

La Dolce Vita is closed on Thursdays.