was an amazing amount of things to do and see and really worthwhile.
Our first stop was El Golfo where we clambered down the cliffs to see this:
The Green Lagoon, a popular tourist destination.
The lagoon is situated in an old extinct volcanic crater and owes it's colour to the algae growing in it. At first I wasn't too impressed, after all we have Lake Louise in Alberta:
But the place gradually grew on me, it's an altogether different kind of beauty. I love the contrast in colours, totally unlike anything I've seen before and quite different from the chocolate-box appeal of Lake Louise. The beach where people are walking is composed entirely of black sand.
Lanzarote has been called 'The Island of 100 volcanoes.' It, and all the Canary Islands, were created by volcanic activity millions of years ago. The last greatest recorded activity was in the early 18th century with the last eruption being at the beginning of the 19th century, which really isn't that long ago in volcano years!
Our next stop was Timanfaya National Park. Oh, before I forget:
Carlos, our friendly tour guide. Hola Carlos!
We bonded instantly as he was getting a wee bit stressed out by one of the touristas and I recommended deep breathing!! It turned out he was also a yoga aficionado! Actually, privately, I called him Carlos The Jackal just because of the movie Day of the Jackal. He was nothing at all like THAT Carlos!!
But being a firm believer in this:
I got up on one!
Going up the slopes was OK but the coming down was a different story! They really are sure footed (at least I hoped) and really cling to the edge of the path. We were heading up and down extinct volcanoes:
No prizes for guessing which one is me!! At least Air Rescue would find me VERY quickly!
Back on terra firma, my Sis and I stood in a field of lava. This is what a lot of the terrain looks like, very rough and impossible to walk through. I told you my Sis came up to my nipple line - she's either very short or I have very pert bosoms!
We continued our trip on our a/c luxury coach:
Many of the rocks were covered in lichens. Apart from lichens, there's very little wildlife on the island, lizards and vultures and…...of course:
As we drove into the centre of the island, these fascinated me:
They were dotted all over the countryside. At first I thought it was the Canarian equivalent of Stonehenge or that some alien spaceship had landed and created these circles and rectangles!
I was amazed to find out that Lanzarote has a thriving wine industry! Who knew??
The vines are planted 2 to 3 metres deep in gently sloping pits to take advantage of the subsoil at that depth and also, to some extent, provide geothermal heat to the growing vine roots. The low lying walls are built with lava blocks to protect the delicate vines from the strong winds that Lanzarote is famous for. It totally makes sense.
Here's a pit with a live vine growing.
Of course we had to sample the wines but sorry, no photos!! The wine was surprisingly good.
Actually it is humbling to see how far and how hard man will work to overcome adversity.
Our last stop was to visit a natural cavern:
These are the caves of Jameos del Agua and are the result of volcanic activity.
They were developed by local artist and visionary, Ceasar Manrique. He had the foresight to stop developers from commercializing and bastardizing the island for the sake of the almighty $$ and he did a brilliant job. On this site there is also a museum and a concert hall for all to enjoy.
We had to walk down steps to reach this lagoon which is full of white albino crabs, the size of a thumbnail.
If you look really closely at the water it appears to have a milky haze, these are all zillions of crabs that live there.
The gardens were superb - hard to believe this was all planted in lava rock.
So inviting but ooooooh so cold!
Great day and maybe tomorrow the sun will come out!!
Talk soon
Zoe
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