70

canaries

lanzarote

intro

Lanzarote

T

he easternmost of the Canary Islands with its charred landscape may not have seen violent volcanic activity for two hundred years, but crevices in Lanzarote’s ’Fire Mountains’ remain hot enough to fry an egg. This scorched piece of the earth’s surface is arid and mountainous and has been immortalised in films such as ‘One Million Years B.C.’, featuring Raquel Welch. NASA trained for Apollo moon missions here, to prepare astronauts for the unearthly scenery they would encounter in space.

Some 360 volcano cones protrude from black sand in the Timanfaya National Park, established in 1974 around the Islote de Hilario volcano as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Timanfaya is certainly worth a visit, though there is more to Lanzarote than just its volcanic topography and black sand. In the remote north there are small coves to explore and surfers’ favourite spot, Famara, while there are several golden stretches of beach such as Papagayo, in the south.

This scorched piece of the earth’s surface is arid and mountainous and has been immortalised in films such as ‘One Million Years B.C.’, featuring Raquel Welch.