The strangest volcanic landscapes in the Canary Islands are found on Lanzarote, the easternmost Canary Island and the nearest of the islands to Africa. It is a hop of just one hundred kilometres to the Dark Continent, which probably explains why North Europeans flock to the island in the darkest months of the year. Winter sun is guaranteed.
The island was discovered about seven hundred years ago by the Genose naval captain Lanzarotti Malocello who promptly named it after himself. During the 15thcentury, under the Castillian crown, Lanzarote was a centre of the slave trade. Most of the indigenous population fell victim to slavery and many died at the hands of merchants and pirates.
In 1730 the island experienced one of the world’s greatest volcanic eruptions, lasting six years, (it has had a number of them over the centuries), burying more than twenty villages and leaving the island with a unique landscape, more of a moonscape really, that from a distance looks like new and unevenly turned earth.
This is most evident in the dramatic Timanfaya National Park where over one hundred craters display tones of ochre and grey to a backdrop of the piercingly blue Atlantic in the distance. As you take a ride through the surreal landscape you half expect to see Neil Armstrong step out from behind a rock in a big white bubble moon suit. It comes as no surprise to learn that many of the scenes from Planet of the Apes where filmed here.
Adaptable as ever, though, the north of the island shows how man can turn even the most extraordinary environment to agricultural use. To grow the grapes for Lanzarote wine (the best said to be the excellent white from 18thcentury El Grifo winery), first the farmer must dig a hole to the bare rock below ground. This is then covered with a layer of sand over which soil is laid. Once the vine is planted the soil is covered with la pili, the black volcanic sand that stores water and releases it through the night, negating the necessity of irrigation, a high priority in a dry, flat, barren island. To protect the vines low walls are built around each three plants, giving the impression of an enormous black and green quilt laid over whatever dragon might be below ground, ready to exhale his fiery breath once more. Step into one of the small walled enclosures and it’s like walking into a fireplace once the coals have cooled.
Little breaks the long views of volcanic landscape. Squat one- and two-story houses with flat or pointed roofs are scattered like sugar cubes. Island laws say that all houses must be white and woodwork can only be painted in green, brown or blue, and that also depends on whether you are either near the coast or further inland. But the limited colour palette is enlivened with bright red hibiscus growing in the gardens of black ash.
In 1993 Lanzarote was named a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco, in an attempt to unite the socio-economic development of the island with conservation of the natural resources. To promote the rural areas of the island the “Asociacin de Turismo Rural de Lanzarote” (Rural Tourism Association of Lanzarote) was created in an attempt to make it possible to get to know the island, its culture and its people in an everyday setting.
All rural accommodation must be at least 50 years old. No new building is allowed, to encourage the restoration of the existing architectural heritage. The Association is actively encouraging a new type of tourism on the island, which includes equestrian tourism, bicycle tourism, walking holidays and discovering the local cuisine.
I am a freelance journalist living in Valencia City, Spain, although my work takes me throughout the country. My work is pretty wide ranging, both in subject and geography, but my heart lies in Spain, which is where most of writing concentrates on. I’ve written two successful guide books to the Valencian region, on Spain’s eastern coast, Inland Trips from the Costa Blanca and Small Hotels and Inns of Eastern Spain, as well as many articles for national and international press. While most of my work features the idiosyncratic side of Spain, I’ve also written extensively on wine, gastronomy and hotels.
Tags: horta tourism, rural tourism