Article by:
Andrew Eames
The fourth largest of the Canary Islands (twice the size of the Isle of Wight), Lanzarote’s benign climate and unique appearance see it attract a disproportionately high number of visitors. Its volcanic landscapes are the colour of elephant hide, with villages like spilt white paint nestling in folds of this pachydermic skin. And yet, amid all that sombre aridity, stuff grows, creating stark contrasts of fresh green on black, in what is one of Unesco’s foremost biosphere reserves. But there are other more touristic reasons for coming, too. Beaches are plentiful, resorts are cheerful, and prices are competitive. Sporting facilities, particularly for cyclists and watersports enthusiasts, are excellent.
Although the last actual eruption was back in 1824, there is still plenty of heat just beneath Lanzarote’s rictus sea of jagged lava. The heart of the action is in Timanfaya National Park, a fiercely hostile landscape that covers a quarter of the island. Visitors to Timanfaya’s Montañas del Fuego (Fire Mountains) Centre are driven around a circuit specially designed for maximum drama, while back at base, rangers demonstrate the heat that lies below the surface by dropping straw or buckets of water into holes: the straw turns to flame, the water to hissing pillars of steam. Even the restaurant, El Diablo, grills using volcanic heat. Read the full travel article here.
Google