The Canaries & Madeira
A Spanish archipelago off the North West coast of Africa plus Madeira
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Lanzarote
An Island with a lunar landscape
Lanzarote’s lunar landscape is characterised by 132, Volcanoes, 310 volcanic cones and blackened lava fields, where volcanic vineyards offer a completely unique experience of wine tourism. The last eruption was in 1824. Approximately, three qurters of the island is covered in volcanic rock ie 280 sq m. The famous Timanfaya National Park is the jewel in Lanzarote’s crown with its craters, calderas and cones. It’s renowned for its Montanas del Fuego or Mountains of Fire, a huge area of solidified lava dominated by 32 enormous, dormant volcanoes. Lanzarote are well on the way to net zero emissions as it built its first large desalination plant in 1964, which is based at the port. All houses and hotels are 2 floors only with white walls with green or blue woodwork (inatigated by the artist Cesar Manrique - see below). Black or red volcanic ash are used as top soil. Camels have been on the island since 300 years ago, to work in the fields (they are dromidary from Asia). The camels are now used to transport people in the Timanfaya National Park. Lanzarote is a dream destination for road cyclists due to its network of routes, while surf shacks line the coastline. We reached Timanfaya National Park and had a a brief stop at Restaurant El Diablo where local guides performed amazing volcanic experiments using all 4 elements. The guide shovelled up some hot rock from 10cm below the surface and gave us some to hold – it was hot at 80C and many people dropped it quickly! Next was placing some brushwood into a hole that soon caught fire. The ground below was 200C. Lastly, a pan of water was put into a hole and soon spat it out as a steaming geyser. 13m down the temperature is 610C. The restaurant cooks all the food over a hole in the ground. We drove through the barren landscape taking in the lunar-like scenery. It was breathtaking. Only registered coaches are allowed to do the drive through and we only saw a few in the distance to we enjoyed the peace and beauty of the park
Leaving Timanfaya we continued on to El Golfo, a small fishing village on the South Western edge of the Timanfaya National Park. It has been visited for almost
three centuries by curious people asking about the "Green Lake" that is situated behind the black beach.
Our final stop was the La Geria winery, where we tasted the famous Malvasia variety wines (rather sweet for my taste). There are several wineries and they all
grow their grapes inside a stone wall for protection against the wind.
As we returned to the ship we passed by a large sculpture by Cesar Manrique. The island’s legacy of the 20th-century is lanzaroteño artist, architect and visionary
César Manrique, whose spectacular constructions are dotted across the land and include a cavernous underground music venue and nightclub, a Bond villain-
esque lighthouse and a space-age cactus garden. The Cesar Manrique Foundation is based in the artist’s former home. Built around five cave-like lava bubbles the
interior looks like something straight out of Austin Powers.
Landscapes
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Lanzarote
An Island with a lunar landscape
Lanzarote’s lunar landscape is characterised by 132, Volcanoes, 310 volcanic cones and blackened lava fields, where volcanic vineyards offer a completely unique experience of wine tourism. The last eruption was in 1824. Approximately, three qurters of the island is covered in volcanic rock ie 280 sq m. The famous Timanfaya National Park is the jewel in Lanzarote’s crown with its craters, calderas and cones. It’s renowned for its Montanas del Fuego or Mountains of Fire, a huge area of solidified lava dominated by 32 enormous, dormant volcanoes. Lanzarote are well on the way to net zero emissions as it built its first large desalination plant in 1964, which is based at the port. All houses and hotels are 2 floors only with white walls with green or blue woodwork (inatigated by the artist Cesar Manrique - see below). Black or red volcanic ash are used as top soil. Camels have been on the island since 300 years ago, to work in the fields (they are dromidary from Asia). The camels are now used to transport people in the Timanfaya National Park. Lanzarote is a dream destination for road cyclists due to its network of routes, while surf shacks line the coastline. We reached Timanfaya National Park and had a a brief stop at Restaurant El Diablo where local guides performed amazing volcanic experiments using all 4 elements. The guide shovelled up some hot rock from 10cm below the surface and gave us some to hold – it was hot at 80C and many people dropped it quickly! Next was placing some brushwood into a hole that soon caught fire. The ground below was 200C. Lastly, a pan of water was put into a hole and soon spat it out as a steaming geyser. 13m down the temperature is 610C. The restaurant cooks all the food over a hole in the ground. We drove through the barren landscape taking in the lunar-like scenery. It was breathtaking. Only registered coaches are allowed to do the drive through and we only saw a few in the distance to we enjoyed the peace and beauty of the park
