Lanzarote - Unique among the Canary Islands

Lanzarote is unique among the Canary Islands, white houses, green palms and lava framed by the blue waters of the Atlantic. Much of its charm is due to Cesar Manrique, artist, architect and town planner all in one, who pulled down the billboards and set to work, determined to preserve and enhance the character of his native island.

Lanzarote’s volcanic landscape is awesome, especially in the Timanfaya National Park where temperatures may reach 140°C just 10 cm below ground and ‘bad lands’ bear witness to eruptions, the last one in 1824. Dig a tiny hole, pour a few drops of water and up comes a geyser, sprinkle a little brushwood and it catches alight instantly. Hilario, the highest volcano, rises above it all, with a restaurant on top, suitably named ‘The Devil’, where lunch is cooked over a well filled with geothermal heat, Manrique’s idea, of course.

There are guided treks and dromedary rides across the lower slopes but the most popular way to explore is on a coach tour, crawling along a single lane road, now trapped between dark lava walls, now floating on top of the world, looking down on a sea of craters, volcanic bombs, crumbling slopes and teetering rocks. Scenes from Planet of the Apes come to mind and tales of the lunar buggy ever since NASA came here to study the terrain.

But watching volcanoes from a coach is one thing, living in a volcanic bubble underground is another. Back in 1968, Manrique spotted a fig tree sprouting from a field Lanzarote is unique among the Canary Islands, white houses, green palms and lava framed by the blue waters of the Atlantic. Much of its charm is due to Cesar Manrique, artist, architect and town planner all in one, who pulled down the billboards and set to work, determined to preserve and enhance the character of his native island. of solidified lava, its roots deep down in a volcanic bubble. ‘This is where I will build my house,’ he declared. The land was so barren the owner gave it for free. Today, Taro, the ‘pile of rocks’ where Manrique lived, is the seat of an Art Foundation bearing his name. Heading down into the cave, you may expect darkness and gloom, but you find cool living rooms with luminous white walls, art work set in a minimalist decor and an underground garden where plants and trees shoot up towards the light.

At the very centre of the island, the artist built a Farmers’ Monument with discarded water tanks, part recycling, part defiance on this arid land. He designed giant mobiles to play with the wind, turned a disused quarry into a circular Cactus Garden and hid a panoramic Mirador into a cliff face while in the Geria, vines grow in crater-like hollows, covered with lava grit to retain moisture.

But most striking of all perhaps are the two volcanic caves turned into concert halls where acoustics impressed the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin. In Jameos de Agua, you can spot rare albino crabs in the lagoon, marvel at the tropical garden and its turquoise pool and the 600 seat hall ready for the next festival. The caves are part of a volcanic tube, created 3000 years ago and stretching both under the ocean and the land.

Some say that one day, Manrique ran naked through the lava fields to commune more closely with the raw forces of nature. For him, this was ‘one of the most beautiful places in the world’ and many would agree.

By Solange Hando

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