Lanzerote
We indulged in breakfast on our balconies this morning because of an early start and a booked tour around the Island.

David helped Barbara and Gary pre order their breakfast because, on the last cruise, they misread the little card you need to tick and ended up with one coissent and a black coffee between the pair of them. You need to tick everything you want....including milk for your coffee!

The first thing which struck us about the Lanzarote was how very different it was to Tenerife in landscape. Yes there were mountains, actually volcanoes, everywhere but the land was not green and lush like Tenerife.

Lanzarote is much drier than many of the other Canary Islands and the biggest reason for this is it is very much lower than the others and it's volcanic peaks do not trap as many clouds. Having said that....the North of the Island is completely different in weather to the hot and dry south. Our tour took us north and to Mirador del Rio which is Lanzarote's most famous view point.

As soon as we got off the coach we could feel the chill of the trade winds and the clouds hung around us like a cold blanket. The views over the valley and down to the coast were completely shrouded in the thick fog like cloud but then suddenly, the winds blew and the clouds lifted to reveal an incredible view of the coast line in the far distance. It was stunning.
Everywhere you looked was what was old lava fields, Lanzarote is called the Island of 100 volcanoes and it is not kidding. The last eruption was in 1730 and lasted six years. This particular eruption covered one third of the entire surface of the Island in lava.
Over the hundreds of years, algae and fungus form on the cooled magma and, following that birds visit and provide fertilisation. The process continues with tiny plants breaking into the rock's surface until, finally, other plants and shrubs can flourish.

Volcanic earth is very fertile and great for growing all array of plants and food. The issue with growing things on Lanzarote is the trade wind which would destroy crops in an instant due to its power. The farmers came up with a way to protect their crops from the trade wind and this was to build tiny stone walls around each crop or selection of crops.
The walls are built from volcanic stone and are only a few feet high. They curve around the plant offering some shelter from the fierce winds. Because they are built with no cement and have gaps between each stone, the wind is able to get through just enough to provide a breeze for the crops and these gaps also help to keep the wall standing. (without them the wind would just knock them down)

We noticed that every village we passed had simple built houses, very square looking and every single home was painted white or a very slightly off white. It seemed completely different to the brightly coloured places we had seen on Tenerife. The reason for the simple structure and colour of the homes was due to the artist Cesar Manrique. His love for Lanzarote and his determination that it should remain beautiful meant that there are now strict laws in place with regard to how high your homes can be, the shape of them and the colour.
It is only in the South, tourist crammed, part of the Island that these laws are relaxed and you will find taller buildings and hotels. The north of the Island remains completely unspoiled and the villages are all tiny little copies of each other.

Those who live by the sea are allowed to paint their window sills blue....but mostly you will see white homes with green window sills. It really is a charming little place and there was no sign of the Lanzagrotty that I had heard so much about.

Cesar Manrique was keen that Lanzarote be a place for tourists to visit and it was down to him that the Island evolved from being poor and barely inhabitable to a place where tourists flock in their hundreds of thousands every year. I just wish those who go would travel further than the south sandy beaches!

True fact! A number of sci fi films have been filmed on Lanzarote because, in the North, the landscape is lunar like in its ruggedness. Although the volcanoes have not exploded for some years, you can find places where the ground beneath your feet is very close to some still-hot rocks. These rocks can even be used for cooking on.

We travlled to Los jameos del Algua which is an open air cavern and part of a four mile long volcanic tunnel which collapsed and developed openings. These openings have now been turned into an underground auditorium, a tropical garden and a natural cavern with a pool inside.

Rather weirdly....in the pool are some crabs which are completely unique to Lanzarote. Pure white, and completely blind the crabs are only around a cm in size. I managed to crouch by the pool and get a picture. One old man, completely ignoring the fact that i had stopped just short of the pool, took one step more than me and ended up ankle deep in the dark waters much to the amusement of his wife.
I thought she might actually keel over she was laughing so much. I held his arm to prevent him from slipping further in and then advised him to get a new travelling companion.
Our tour then continued through the lava fields which extended from the volcano to 6km away where the coast was. Everywhere you looked was the same incredible landscape.

Today was a short day tour wise because we are only docked here until 15:30 which is now! David and I went to the gym then pool on our return to the ship and Gary was seen just after us in the gym too. Barbara did gym by proxy! All four of us went down for another dose of afternoon tea and now we are on our balconies waiting for the ship to move from the dock and on to our next port of Madeira.

Lanzarote is awesome people!