Nearby:
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Not all that much is known about the Island's early history because most archeological evidence has either been buried under lava or carried off by raiders. The Phoenicians were there, followed by the Romans. The Arabs then settled the island, the French explored it, and the Spanish conquered it.
The island thrived for a while by producing cochineal, an expensive, crimson dye taken from the carapace of a scale insect that lives on cactus. Cochineal is used for dyeing fabric, decorating china, in cosmetics, and as a food coloring.
The eruptions in 1730-1736 covered a quarter of the island's surface, destroying its most fertile farmland and eleven villages. Still, visitors marvel at how stone walls and semi-surrounds are used to capture moisture to grow crops elsewhere on this decidedly desert island.
The coherence and beauty of the island's cultural and tourist centers are largely the legacy of the local artist César Manrique (1919-1992). He also played a key role in having the island declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1993.
Lanzarote has a desert climate according to the Köppen climatic classification. The little precipitation is concentrated in the winter months.
Bus and taxi are good value on the island. Car hire is also relatively cheap and is the best option for discovering the remote wilderness regions. It only takes about 40 minutes to cross the entire island from North to South by car, and about 25 minutes across.
Lanzarote tends to be a bit windy, and often a bit more in July, making motor scooters or bicycles a little difficult and risky.
Itineraries
Drive from Yaiza along the LZ-704 to El Golfo on the west coast, where there are a couple of black sand beaches and a long row of restaurants along the shore. From there head south along the coast road LZ-703, stopping at the lookout, the Charco Los Clicos, and Los Hervideros. Continue past the salt pans at the Laguna De Jaunubio then return to Yaiza along the LZ-2.
The beaches. There are also water activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, windsurfing, parasailing, and canoeing. There is also a water park (with bus service from Puerto del Carmen), a Zoo Park (Guinate Park), an aquarium-type park and a wild-west themed animal park (Rancho Texas). You can also take submarine trips from Ports in Puerto del Carmen and Puerto Calero. One of the island's most enjoyable things to do is relax, lie at the beautiful beaches during the day and enjoy a nice meal in the evening. There is an array of shops ranging from digital hardware shops to bazaars but be wary, you can get a good bargain if you can haggle a little with the shopkeepers. Don't worry, these guys are well used to people asking for a better deal than what they are offering.
Try Scuba Diving from Costa Teguise, Playa Blanca or Puerto del Carmen. Lanzarote offers some of the best diving in the EU. Sport Fishing is also a popular activity, with several boats departing from the different harbors on a daily basis.
International Charter Group - Yacht charter and sailing, one of the worlds largest yacht charter companies, can take care of all charter requirements, from bareboat to crewed in the Santander. Operating from nine offices worldwide (USA, Spain, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Caribbean, Honk Kong, and Dubai).
Caleta de Famara is a famous surfing destination. It is a small village located on the north-east of the island, right in a bay. There are three small grocery shops, a couple of bars and a good dozen of surf-shops, renting equipment surfers, kite-surfers as well as providing lessons for those keen to learn. Local bus L20 goes to Famara from Arrecife on weekdays and a bus from Costa Teguise on weekends.
The local cuisine is typical of the Canary Islands:
Restaurants noted for local cuisine:
However, it is worth noting that in many of the resorts there are very few true Canarian restaurants. Most of those present tend to focus on English food (English fried breakfast, Roasts, etc). If you are going on a package holiday it would be a huge saving to pay the extra for all-inclusive, especially if you're not likely to travel far from the resort.
There are many non-traditional places to eat out in the main resort towns, serving a wide range of food such as Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican.
The 'old town' area of Puerto Del Carmen is home to Blooming Cactus Vegetarian Restaurant, but those with vegan or vegetarian dietary requirements will find limited choice outside of this eatery.
The tap water is treated seawater, brackish, and not recommended for drinking. Try to drink bottled water, which is affordable.
There are many bars in the tourist areas, in particular, Irish bars in Puerto del Carmen.
Alcohol is very cheap in supermarkets. There is no duty on alcohol purchased in Lanzarote (other than VAT at 5%) so restaurants tend to make a lot of their money from the selling of alcohol at a significant - but to foreign visitors seemingly imperceptible - markup. Again, if a package exists which is all-inclusive, it might be a good idea to pay a little bit extra in the long run.
Supermarkets vary greatly in price the most expensive are Netto (about 25% more expensive), then Hiperdino supermarkets, these are the larger ones and tend to have good local produce at reasonable prices, lastly, there are SPAR stores.
Watch out for the cost of fresh fruit and veg as this has to be transported refrigerated by ship from afar and can be expensive.
LOCAL TIME
7:13 pm
March 8, 2021
Atlantic/Canary
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The island of Lanzarote made me wonder. It's just a few hours on the water from the neighboring Canary Islands, but there's a feeling that you find yourself in another world. 300 years ago, everything was blooming and smelling, the harvest was several times a year. So far in 1730, in the result of... |
We arrived to Caesar Manrique's House. It was here that he found 5 enormous pieces of solidified lava that had formed into caves. Manrique built his house here.
Below is a museum, as well as a Caesar Manrique fund, that deals with protecting nature on the island.
Our guide gave us all... |
Here, we were on the observation deck of the
Mirador del Rio
.
The exit to the ocean was fenced in....
....just like this.
Beyond the wall, there was an observation deck with views of the Chinijo Archipelago.
Below are some close-up shots of the landscape. The population is 300,000... |
From the
Park of cactuses,
we arrived to the Cave of Jameos del Agua.
Near the entrance to the cave is this sculpture:
We went down:
Of course, you can take photos along the way but it was so dark that you can barely see anything. The one-of-a-kind blind albino crab lives in this... |
Day 5, Friday. Today marked our second excursion; our bus left at 9.40 am.
A lot of things on the island were made by Caesar Manrique. He created the island's style, look, and symbol.
His most famous work is the "Monument to the Peasant". There is no water on the island. After the... |
Day 4, Thursday.
We traveled to the town of
Playa Blanca,
situated in the southern part of the island. When we left territory in the morning, the grass was being watered. We even managed to take a photo of a little rainbow.
Below is the bus stop. We were waiting for bus umber 61 but there... |
Day 3, Wednesday.
We passed by the Salinas de Janubio, where salt is extracted. We did not stop here so the following photos were taken from the bus.
You can see mounds of salt.
We continued to La Geria, where all of the vineyards are located, which grow by the roadside. Since these photos were... |