Fire mountains

A magnificent day!

Arriving in Lanzarote early in the morning I saw my first proper sunrise ...... With large cranes and a cargo boat silhouetted against a red sky. When I get home I may put this into my blipfolio. Following breakfast we found our coach and started the amazing journey through a black volcanic landscape to the National Park of Timanfaya. Along the way the flat white houses looked spotless in their clustered villages with very limited surrounding vegetation. This year they have only had a couple of day 's rain!

Once at the National Park we were astounded by the colours in the many volcanic hills, as you can see in my blip, and also saw and felt how hot the earth is immediately below the surface. On some of the older volcanoes some shrubs are trying to establish themselves but you could see quite clearly where the river of new lava had travelled through the land until it plunged into the sea, destroying everything in its path. The entire landscape was awesome and is preserved, as you are not allowed out of the coach (or cars) to walk on any part of it.

From there we enjoyed a hilarious 30 minute ride on camels amongst the volcanic dust and then went on to see where the lava had finally ceased when it fell deeply into the sea.

I was so impressed by how this island has embraced tourism without allowing it to take over. No high rise buildings are permitted, hotel complexes are only allowed in three areas, all buildings to be flat roofed and white and they are probably also in the forefront of the engineering in building and operating desalination plants which is their only means of having viable water.

They have no rain and yet have small vineyards producing delicious wines by making use of the fertile volcanic ground with their new water supplies. We are an island too, so maybe we should start using more water from the surrounding sea to supplement our own supplies. Just a thought.


A fabulous and inspirational day!