Lanzarote

14/11/16

Lanzarote is one of the most different and unusual places we have visited, environment wise. The soil is mainly black and the landscape is relatively barren.  There are about 300 volcanoes on the island, with the last eruptions in the 1800s, and it receives very little rain. Inspired by artist Cesar Manrique, most of the buildings are painted brilliant white, providing a stark contrast to the black soil. When there is a splash of colour, mainly red cactus flowers or a small bougainvillea plant, the impact is amazing.

After docking during the morning, we took the tour to Timanfaya National Park, where the latest eruptions occurred. There are some amazing lava formations, craters and volcanic cones in various shades of black, ochre, yellow and brown. White lichen is starting to grow on some of the rocks and there are small clumps of an introduced bush. Otherwise there is nothing but rock. It is still hot enough not too far below the surface to burn plant matter and for the café there to cook chicken over a hole dug into the ground. 

In spite of the interesting and amazing landscape, the park provides a rather disappointing visitor experience, mainly due to its popularity and conservation. Visitors are restricted to a very small area where they show “experiments” using the heat below the surface, and have a café and toilets. Then you must take a bus ride through the park and you cannot leave the bus. Also the windows are tinted which distorts the colours. Despite this, people often line up for hours to be able to park their car up there and take the bus tour.

After the park, we visited Los Hervideros to see where the lava flowed down to the sea, creating some interesting formations. The contrast between the blue Atlantic Ocean and the rock colours is beautiful.

Last stop was a bodega in the La Geria area to taste some of the local wine. Most interesting was the way they grow the vines. They grow in a black volcanic soil which absorbs moisture at night and releases it to the plants during the day. To protect the vines from the strong winds, each vine is planted in a cone shaped depression and surrounded on one side by a semicircular shaped wall of black volcanic stone. Very unusual looking vineyards! Consensus on the wines was that the semi-sweet white was the best.

In the evening we skipped the very noisy and crowded BBQ by the pool on the Lido Deck and opted for our first “fine dining” experience in the Marco Polo restaurant. Our usual haunt, the Terrace Café, was shut because of the BBQ and there are 5 km of port, major highway and not much else between where we are docked and Arrecife. It was a nice meal but backpackers don’t quite have the necessary attire to fit in!

Timanfaya National Park

(Thru bus window, hence odd colours.)

As above

True colours

Lava flow to the sea at Los Hervideros

Cactus, black soil and white houses

Vines

Vineyards, Lanzarote style.