Lanzarote

Wednesday 1st December and we are still in T shirts! A fair wind so we had full sail & yankee to make 7 knots and a fast ride to Marina Rubicon.

The first job was to sort out us coming out to have the antifouling, anodes and various other jobs done prior to crossing the pond. There are holidays next week so it looks like the week after. The weather didn’t hold so more boat jobs and the dentist for Malcolm. We finally had a couple of days sightseeing. Images are on Picasa and ‘Windows Live’ people can see flora in the public folder there. I have also been playing with the blog facility on Friends Reunited which you may like to have a look at—if you do be sure to leave a comment then I’ll know if anyone uses it.

Lanzarote is not an endearing Island. It does have vegetation but most is low growing Lichens and shrubs. There is no variation in buildings predominantly which low level cubes. The exception was Cesar Manrique’s house which was just my cup of tea. Cesar was an artist in the fullest sense of the word, his mark is all over the Island, either as Paintings, Sculpts, pottery or tourist attractions. His house was built on his return from America and shows empathy with the volcanic surroundings. It is made on two levels more traditional rooms at ground level and his living area below ground level in rooms of converted bedrock (literally the gas bubbles formed during the last volcanic eruption). It was built during the mid sixties when tourism was just taking off on the Island. He promoted a model for Territorial Intervention based on sustainability based on the Islands natural heritage. In fact the success of this model led to Lanzarote becoming a World Biosphere Reserve in 1993 so I guess this is a larger form on WHS? He then became a planner and left his mark on many a roundabout and seafront. Once you have seen his house it is quite easy to spot his other works.

Next stop was the viewpoint Mirador del Rio. This was another of Cesars’ works to encourage tourism and has outstanding views over the channel to Graciosa. We continued round the coast road to Cueva de Los Verdes but the next tour was waiting for 20 more people to make up the 50 needed to run so knowing we were running late we gave it a miss and went straight onto Jameos del Aqua. This is another of Cesars works but this time an auditorium for concerts with extras for tourists. The steps down to the amphitheatre have been planted with cave loving ferns. There is also a lake with a protected species of freshwater crab, then up the stairs on the way out a swimming pool and interpretive center for the Island including much information on volcanoes and daily life. By the time we had read all the information there was barely sufficient time to do the shopping before home to dinner.

And yes I managed to put 2 images in this time!