Lanzarote
is a very volcanic island, as the view from our hotel balcony shows. Wine
grapes are grown in the volcanic soil, and each vine has its own protective
wall that doubles as a dew concentrator to provide irrigation.
Walking in Lanzarote is in a desert environment of volcanic vents,
cinder cones and sands.
The hotel offered free use of mountain bikes - so we spent a day
cycling.
On another day we hiked to, and into, the largest caldera on the
island: Caldera Blanca - the white caldera.
Just as the caldera wall begins we bumped into this local.
Part way up the caldera wall we look back the way we came from the
village.
We reach the crater rim and start to walk around the caldera.
Looking into the caldera from the highest point on the crater rim.
Lance on the highest point.
We walk down into the caldera.
Dead center of the caldera, a few shrubs are able to survive on
the moisture collected by the crater.
On another day we walked along a dry riverbed, and found these
amazing shrubs and their fruit.
From the riverbed we walked up to the ridge, where it was quite
windy, but had great views.
Lance on the highest part of the ridge.
The Cactus Garden on Lanzarote is very much worth a visit - here
are a couple of amazing specimens.
The garden is very well stocked and maintained.
And there loos available too.
Lanzarote does have golden sand, and one day we walked to one of
the most remote beaches.
Julie couldn't resist a paddle on this deserted beach.
On our last day we visited one of the more accessible beaches: it
had more people than the previous beach.
However, having more people on the beach brings its own rewards.