The Spanish Canary Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean about one thousand kilometres (600 miles) from Spain. Lanzarote is the easternmost island and is only one hundred twenty five kilometres (80 miles) from the northern coast of Africa. It is the fourth largest of the group, the one with the red flags on it in the top right. The coast of Africa is the beige blob at the bottom right.
The excursion began at the capital city, Arrecife, on the East coast where the Oceania Marina docked. (orange tag {12} in the map below) The bus took us to the first stop at the top of the mountains in the centre of the island. (red flag {35}) The second stop was at a beach on the western coast called El Golfo (tag {8})
The line of red tags running north to south are places where I took pictures with my iPhone. They are along the road through the volcanic fields of the Timanfaya National Park. On the way back to the ship we stopped to visit the La Geria Winery in the centre of the island (orange tag {20}) that I featured in the previous post.
We arrived in the early morning and found we were in the company of the Cunard Cruise Line Queen Anne ship. It may look like an older ship but it was only six months old, launched in May of 2024.
You might think that the air quality would be clean when the island only has a population of 163,230 people and is out in the Atlantic Ocean. However in the week we were there the air quality ratings were in the red. Hard to believe but the reason is the sand blowing off of the African desert. You can see it in the air in these pictures. (another good reason to wear a face mask)
Look what I saw at the side of the road marking the entrance/exit to the national park at the north end and the south end.
I saved you a seat on the bus. Let’s ride up to the volcano learning centre. Most of the recent eruptions on the island occurred between 1730 and 1736.
At the top of the park is the visitor centre and bus parking lot. The pavement in the parking lot is only black volcanic granules. It is very windy up here and the guide knows enough to put on her yellow jacket, not only so that we recognize her but to keep herself comfortable too.
The ground is very warm in places. A shovel full of the granules is passed around the visitors. A little bit is dropped in your hands with the instructions to pass it between your left hand and your right hand often enough that it does not burn your hands. It is like the proverbial “hot potato”.
A fork load of brush is lowered into the pit. It smoulders for a while before bursting into flames. There is a lot of brush on hand to demonstrate the process to each of the bus loads of visitors.
Another demonstration pours water into one of the holes. It is not long before the water boils and shoots the boiling water into the air.
One of the fire pits is in the restaurant and is used to barbecue the chicken.
Leaving the volcano learning centre we head to the beach on the western coast.
There was a shop there to buy some snacks for the ride back to the ship.
It was great to get back to the ship with all of the other shiploads of travellers after a day of riding around in the bus. The next post will be about Agadir, Morocco.
