World Rover TRAVEL MAGAZINE

Lanzarote: 'A hot time in The Bad Lands'
by Allan Rogers

Although 'island hopping' is widely accepted as a great way to see the Greek islands, thanks to their many and frequent ferry services. I had never really thought it was possible in the Canary Islands but it was the way that I arrived in Lanzarote.

The Fred Olsen Line car ferry sparkled white in early morning sun as we pulled away from The island of Fuerteventura for the 35 minute journey. Seated in the forward lounge with a coffee and morning roll generously filled with cheese and ham I could have wished that the voyage had been longer. The Isle de Lobos (the island of the wolves - of 'wolf seals' to be precise) slipped quickly by and we began to watch out for the flying fish that leaped ahead of our bow wave.

On arrival at the little harbour of Playa Blanca we found that all the travel options seemed to be covered, a small queue of folk waited to fix up car hire, (cost about £15 to £20 a day,) a bus ran north to Puerto Del Carmen and the other tourist resorts and a three masted sail boat offered tempting trips round to beautiful Papagayo Bay. As we came off the ship, bent upon sampling the delights of Lanzarote, the quayside was full with day-trippers waiting to board the ship to visit Fuerteventura. Funny how we all believe that the grass is greener somewhere else (except that in that neck of the woods' there was certainly no grass, green or otherwise.)

The southwest of Lanzarote was definitely 'volcano land.' It is the result of the eruption of over 300 volcanoes in centuries past. Much of it is called 'Malpais'or 'The Bad Lands' by the locals because nothing will grow there. In the middle of the extinct volcanoes is Mt Timanfaya, the fire mountain.

Two million visitors a year are attracted to The National Park of Timanfaya. Within it's 52 square kilometres a hundred volcanoes have been active. Its pretty hot in some parts of it even today, particularly up near the top where the tour coaches stop. There's a temprature of 630 degrees just 13 metres below the lava strewn surface. The heat rise through natural tubes and fissures in the rock. Just how hot it really is is demonstrated. at a visitor centre high up in the park. Water is poured into the ground and three seconds later a steaming geyser shoots skywards then some scrub bushes are pitch-forked into a hole and burst into flame. There is a more practical application at the restaurant, where you can watch a pig being roasted on a grill above a well of heat rising from within the mountain. The heat rises through tubes and fractures in the rock.

The last really dramatic eruptions were back in 1736. The landscape that remains is very special and the only way to explore it properly is to park the car and use the bus on a road that is closed to all other vehicles. We followed 'The Lunar Route.' experiencing views unlike anything else on this earth. The 'Valley of Tranquility' sweeps down towards the sea and we marvelled at the sheer scale of the 'Raven's Crater.' Buzz Aldren trained there in 1964 before the Moon Landing.
In the days when the volcanoes exploded and threw out lava at high altitude. they recreated what looks like the mountains of the moon.

Movie makers have long been attracted to the unique location, films include; 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', 'Planet of Apes' and 'Captain Nemo's Island.' There are always cameras around and many calendars and fashion shoots have taken advantage of the imposing backgrounds and light which is consistently good for photography. You might even recognise the location of TV commercial for a car that was filmed recently.

Most people who visit Lanzarote on package holidays stay at Peurto Del Carmen which was once a sleepy little fishing village but is now a well developed resort. It is pleasant to wander through the old part of the town and relax at the bars. It's beach, Playa Grande, slopes to a calm blue sea.

If you can hire a car it is certainly worth visiting Papagayo beach, on the east of the island, it is one of the best in the Canaries. (four beaches are connected) If you go, take a picnic and water, there are no restaurants.

During our tour of Lanzarote we stopped high on the mountain where we could look across towards Africa and a distant line of sand clouds rising from the Sahara desert but not all is dry and brown. At Haria we descended into the valley of the thousand palms. It is said that when a child was born they planted a palm, two if it was a boy! In the middle of the valley there is a small town with bars and a restaurant.

                    The works of the artist Cesar Manrique

Sculptures and works of art seem to crop up when you least expect them there is an imposing 'devil' which is the appropriate symbol of the Timanfaya National Park with it's volcanos.

Cesar Manrique also created El Campesino a monument at the centre of the island and a house which he owned above and within volcanic caves has been turned into a museum of modern art.
On the north east coast at Los Jameos de Agua a snow white lagoon pool is reached via a natural grotto that has been transformed into an arena for cultural events.

The Mirador del Rio is another of Cesar Manrique's wonders, a look out point at the northern tip of the island with a fantastic view of the coast 500 metres below and of the golden sandy islands of La Graciosa, Alegranza and Montana Clara which sit in a sea that is a brilliant hue of blue.

Back in the bad lands I decided to live dangerously and brave the rigors of the the camel ride. And so fantasising the Laurence of Arabia scenario I boarded my ‘ship of the desert’ except in this case we rode not over the desert but across a landscape akin to the surface of the moon. There must have been about thirty or forty camels and we rode in a great line over a cinder strewn path around a not so long dead volcano. We tourists were mounted on panniers, two to each camel and I had for my partner, our guide from the coach.
She was an attractive young lady and as our crocodile of camels proceeded I realised that I was not alone in admiring her, the camel behind us was also attracted. He kept advancing on me, snarling through his lightly muzzled snout and putting his large ugly yellow teeth a mite too close to my rump for comfort. The lady was not at all disturbed and explained:
“Eet is my perfume he likes, he knows it well, the Camel Man, he is my boy friend”

So if you visit the island and are invited in a camel ride, be careful of your company, you may be given a bum steer!

http://www.tourspain.es/turespai/marcoi.htm Link to Spanish National Tourist Office Web page

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