Born out of water and fire (it is after all a volcano), Lanzarote in the Canary Islands is nothing less than a rocky paradise for outdoor lovers. The fourth largest island in the Canary archipelago showcases a rare mix of varied topography which stands out above the rest. From the breathtaking cliffs to the majestic peaks, the natural landscape of Lanzarote is food for the soul. There is something captivating in lava fields, deserts, glaciers etc. Maybe that is why I just love barren lands. They usually represent the power of nature.
“The birth of a volcanic island is an event marked by prolonged and violent travail; the forces of the earth striving to create, and all the forces of the sea opposing.” – Rachel Carson
One of the first things you notice in Lanzarote is the scarcity of man-made eyesores like colorful billboards, sprawling malls, and monstrous resorts. Such is the legacy of the late artist and architect Cesar Manrique, who railed relentlessly against speculators and developers to preserve the island’s geological integrity.
Manrique had seen Tenerife transform into a lucrative tourist hotspot and watched in dismay as high rise after high rise block was thrown up on the coastline. The fact that tourism didn’t start in Lanzarote until 1966 allowed Manrique the chance to spearhead a campaign to stop unsightly developments on the island. Manrique highlighted the pollution and destruction he began to see on his island and warned folks that his homeland was “dying,” but insisted “good and enthusiastic people can save what’s left.”
He lobbied for height restrictions on buildings and for traditional colors to be used on houses. He believed in sustainable tourism well before it became a buzz word and dedicated the latter part of his life to designing the island’s most fascinating tourist attractions, from the dream-like Jameos del Agua and the beautiful cactus garden to the “Route of the Volcanoes” in the Timanfaya National Park. He created all these attractions by embracing the volcanic destruction on the island and turning what would seem rubble to some into something spectacular.
Although Manrique died in 1992, to this day it is against the law in Lanzarote to paint your house anything other than white or beige and windows and doors must be green, blue, black or brown. The only building over a couple of stories high is the Grand Hotel in the island’s capital creating a beautiful unspoiled landscape wherever you look.
Known as the “island of 100 volcanoes”, Lanzarote in fact has more than three hundred, with some still active. The island owes its apocalyptic landscape entirely to volcanic activity. It doesn’t have a monumental peak but instead has the spectacular Timanfaya National Park.
Considered Lanzarote’s most spectacular sight, the eerie Parque Nacional de Timanfaya sprawls around the Montañas del Fuego (Mountains of Fire) formed by a calamitous six-year eruption that rocked the south of the island from 1730. Almost entirely bereft of life (apart from 200 species of lichen) this bare lavascape is an otherworldly vision in copper, black and grey, with fields of frozen-in-time lava and a boiling magma chamber a mere 4km beneath the surface.
The only way to explore Timanfaya (unless you’ve prebooked a hike which you have to do months in advance) is by the park bus along the “Route of the Volcanos”, this is to help protect the fragile landscape from the hordes of tourists. The 14km, 35 minute bus tour (included in your park-admission ticket) weaves through some of the most spectacular volcanic country you’ll ever see on a narrow winding road that at time seems almost too small for the park busses.
As you wait for a bus, tour guides entertain visitors by digging up hot stones, demonstrations of how the heat can burn brush and pouring water into holes where, seconds later, the water is dramatically expelled high into the air.
Continuing the volcanology theme, I also visited Los Jameos del Agua, a subterranean volcanic tube at the foot of the Monte de la Corona volcano, which erupted 3,000 years ago. Now a bar, restaurant and an 800-seat soundproofed auditorium it still retains its volcanic character all the way down to the tiny, blind albino crabs, otherwise only found in the deep ocean, that are scampering around the lagoon bottom.
The sea around Lanzarote is basically one huge, wet adventure playground and being a water lover I couldn’t resist spending the majority of my time on the island enjoying ocean sports. Conditions here create some of the best conditions in Europe for surfing so what better place for surfing lessons than here. After two exhausting days the instructors at Surf School Lanzarote had me riding a wave right into the beach.
A definite must for me on Lanzarote was the Museo Atlántico. The brainchild of Jason deCaires Taylor, an artist known for his politically charged exhibits. Inaugurated in 2017, this underwater museum (the only of its kind in Europe) opened more than two decades after Manrique’s death, and while this subaquatic park has no direct connection with the late artist, the ambitious concept behind it — blending the natural environment with sculpture to create a tourism attraction with a message — is arguably pure César Manrique. To best experience this museum you have to don scuba dive gear and descend 30-40’ below the surface. Not having had a dive certification in nearly 40 years it was time for a discover scuba class and an afternoon dive to see this exhibit of more than 300 thought-provoking forms including portrayals of refugees jammed into rickety boats and a wall stretching across the ocean floor complete with statues peering through its slatted form.
An unrelenting moonscape the mass of eerie black volcanic rubble and sand appears to just go on and on, a furious and completely infertile landscape that leaves you willing any cacti or palm trees to stand up and grow, even if the odds are stacked against them. So how then does this barren landscape support a wine region?
Well on Lanzarote you can forget everything you may know about growing and cultivating wine grapes because wine cultivation here is completely different. Imagine growing grapes on a volcano. Orderly vines are nowhere to be seen.
Instead there are row upon row of craters and volcanic stone semi-circles. Called Zocos, these have been built for each individual vine and provide much needed protection from the usually fierce winds.
The normal patchwork green vineyards are substituted by a sea of black picon (granules of volcanic rock) which serve as a type of porous mulch. The picon absorbs moisture from the air, releases it into the ground and prevents evaporation. This method of dry cultivation completely unique to Lanzarote allows farmers to sidestep the problem of Lanzarote’s extremely low rainfall, which is obviously a major hurdle for any kind of crop cultivation.
This manual form of making wine is rarely seen, yet on Lanzarote it’s a real feature of the landscape, breaking up the intense volcanic blackness with little spots of green. It’s not beautiful in a typical sense, but there is something totally and utterly mesmerizing about it, a beautiful addition to the otherwise barren landscape.
“[T]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have from those unfathomable regions are by means of volcanoes, those burning mountains that seem to discharge their materials from the lowest abysses of the earth.” – Oliver Goldsmith
You could say Lanzarote’s arid and strangely beautiful lunar terrain with its 300 strong army of ruddy, slightly threatening volcanic cones and unique vineyards is an ‘out of this world’ backdrop for any activity, probably why this was my favorite of the three Islands that I visited in the Canaries.
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