Fataga just after sunrise

One of the many alleys in Fataga

On our first day we went hiking – either we didn’t find the proper trails or the hiking is not for the beginners. The views were great but the hiking was exhausting.

Fataga from above

View towards the East

View towards the South

Back in town we had lunch and then set out in our Volkswagen Polo to explore the center of the island. The first stop was the town of San Bartolomé de Tirajana with its beautiful church.

Iglesia de San Bartolomé

San Bartolomé de Tirajana

Our journey continued towards Tejeda. On our way there, we stopped near Gran Canaria’s most famous landmark, the Roque Nublo. It is a 67m tall volcanic rock, reaching about 1800 meters above sea level.

Roque Nublo

Roque Nublo

From there it was about another half an hour to reach the town of Tejeda, probably one of our highlights of the trip. The town is very well preserved and just beautiful with its white buildings.

Tejeda

Tejeda

Tejeda

There is also an outstanding bakery on the main road, the Dulceria Nublo which shouldn’t be missed!

After walking around for a while, we started to make our way back to Fataga which took a bit over an hour. While the roads are narrow and there are a number of switchbacks, all roads in Gran Canaria are of exceptionally good quality.

While we did of course see tourists wherever we went, it was mostly individual travelers. All the three towns we visited are really charming and in their own way unique. So already on the first day, I thought it was worth coming to the island.

Downtown Arslanbob

The village is predominantly of Uzbek ethnicity and probably the most conservative I have seen in the region.

About 16 years ago with the help of Helvetas, the organization Community Based Tourism (CBT) was set up in Kyrgyzstan with the aim of linking up tourists with locals. The office in Arslanbob is particularly active and has managed to go from 32 tourists a year to 3’000. Still low numbers but they are getting there. As of lately they have also been trying to develop rock climbing as well as winter sports.

Getting to Arslanbob was fairly straight forward. I took a bus from Osh to Kyrgyzstan’s third largest city, Jalal-Abad and from there another bus to nearby Bazaar-Korgon. From there another bus finally to Arslanbob. It was probably just pure luck but transfers lined up nicely and I didn’t have to wait for more than five minutes in either city.

Arriving in Arslanbob, I went to the CBT office to book accomodation. They have nearly 20 guest houses and a quick call later I was booked into “Guest House Nazira”. A short walk from town, I was welcomed by Nazira (a grandmother) and her daughters and granddaughters (no men around as around 30% of Arslanbob’s male population works in Russia… side note: the Russian Ruble has lost significant value to the Kyrgyzstani Som recently). It was a simple but charming guest house with two rooms. I met another traveler there and we went back to the CBT office to organize horseback riding for the following day.

Bazaar in Arslanbob

Bazaar in Arslanbob

I had read in the guide book that the CBT office tends to over-staff the trips slightly, so I wasn’t surprised to be greeted by a tour guide and two “fixers” taking care of the horses (we were a group of four tourists). Later we were joined by a lunch cooking team of four. But I’m not complaining as the tour was still very good value at KGS1’900 per person (SGD38).

Breakfast at Guest House Nazira

We rode around the region to a small waterfall, a panorama lookout point, the world’s largest walnut forest and the big waterfall.

Small waterfall

Horseback riding

Panorama point

View towards Arslanbob

Panorama point

Riding inside the world’s largest walnut forest

Walnuts – not quiet ready yet. The harvesting season is in late September/early October

Our group

My ride. It was a bit underpowered. I think it had less than 1HP.

Crossing a bridge on the way to the big waterfall

Crossing a bridge on the way to the big waterfall

Big waterfall (83m)

View down the valley from the big waterfall

Slightly overloaded truck on the way back to Arslanbob

We were back in town after nice trip at around 4pm. The first night dinner at Nazira’s was not that exciting so we wanted to grab so food in town the second night. Epic fail. Everything was closed. We ended up eating raw tomatoes and cucumbers in our guest house.

After two relaxing days in Arslanbob I made my way back to Osh for a last day before flying back.