Lanzarote´s Hottest Attractions
The eastern most Canary Island of Lanzarote is one of Europe´s hottest winter sun destinations. Boasting a whole range of cool attractions that offer visitors to the Island of Fire much more than just the usual water parks and golf courses common to other Spanish sunspots. And with flights to Lanzarote lasting just four hours the island is the closest winter destination to the UK too.
Back in the 1960´s and 70´s an island born artist and architect called Cesar Marnique campaigned for the controlled evolution of tourism on his beloved island. And in order to illuminate an alternative path for development created a unique range of tourist attractions – which have helped to cement Lanzarote´s position as the cool Canary Island today.
During the 1730´s Lanzarote was subjected to the modern worlds longest ever volcanic eruption. Which buried around one quarter of the island beneath a sea of molten lava. A cataclysmic event that caused enormous disruption and spurred the emigration of thousands of Lanzaroteños to Latin America and Cuba.
But today the volcanic region of the island has been declared a National Park and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in all of Spain. Drawing in over 900,000 tourists during 2007 alone.
Cesar Manrique was instrumental in the transformation of this region into Lanzarote´s most popular and best known attraction. Island legend has it that he divined the optimum route for sightseers through the park by walking across the lava fields naked. Whilst also creating the breathtaking Devils Diner restaurant which enjoys panoramic views across the spent cones and peaks and where visitors can enjoy seeing their food cocked by the heat from the volcano below.
Visitors to the Timanfaya National Park are able to witness the eerie lava fields up close and personal on tour buses that wend their way through the Park. And visiting Lanzarote without taking the time to take the tour is akin to traveling to Egypt and ignoring the pyramids.
Elsewhere on the island Manrique teamed up with fellow architect Jesus Soto and continued to fuse art with nature by transforming a collapsed 6km long lava tube into an underground grotto – complete with bars, restaurants and beautifully planted gardens.
The Jameos del Agua is this site is known is also home to a species of blind albino crab, entirely unique to Lanzarote that glow in the water like jewels. The scale of the site here is such that visiting Hollywood legend Rita Heyworth declared the Jameos the 8th wonder of the world.
Looking for a Natural High? The Mirador del Rio at the Northern tip of the island was built by Manrique on the site of a former naval gun battery. Which overlooks the neighbouring island of La Graciosa – reputedly the real life location of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic book, Treasure Island.
Visitors here can enjoy a bird’s eye view across the El Rio strait to La Graciosa whilst also enjoying all of the usual flourishes that have become so closely associated with Manriques work. Located in a former quarry the Cactus Garden celebrates the plant world’s spiniest species – with over 10,000 different types of cacti on display.
The Cactus Garden is located right in the heart of what used to be cactus country on Lanzarote. As this is the spot where local farmers harvested the cochineal beetle that feeds on the tunera cactus. And which they then transformed into a dye stuff that had many uses – such as colouring the red coats of English infantrymen during the 19th century.
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