Impressive as national parks go and this one is pretty unique, to me anyway…read more
Firstly we took in the obligatory camel ride. A bit of a gimmick, but it was a lot cheaper than we thought it would be. 12 EUR for the two of us. The guy leading the line of camels you are on will take photos of you and your camel with your camera, if you want. Which is nice. The whole camel walk lasts about 15 mins, if even that.
Now to the parque itself. We turned in, paid our 16 EUR and then waited patiently in a queue of cars. We could see glimpses of cars tootling along roads higher up and further away. The anticipation was building. After about a 30 mins we were allowed up to the car park. Here we were met by a nice official who showed us where to park and informed us of the free bus tours that took you further around the parque. As with all the government run the main tourist attractions, its all very well organised and run.
We queued for a while for the bus tour, but gave up after ten mins and opt to go for some lunch instead.
Lunch was nice. Again the novelty of having your food cooked on a volcano, but it was actually quite good. Not a complete tourist trap. I had the goats cheese, which was nothing like the goats cheese I am used to at home. A bit disappointing, I ate as much as I could.
Outside the restaurant there are more tricks on show: the burning of the straw in the volcano and the feeding of water to the volcano. All interesting and good fun. Excellent for kids to see. There was lots of whoops and shrieks for the water trick.
We tried again to queue for a bus tour, but it just didn't appeal to us. So we left for the day.
Well worth a look. Get there early, when the gates open. Otherwise you will have to wait in a queue of colourful hire cars to get to the car park inside.