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Viewing Spain: Lanzarote's Top Five AttractionsSpain: Lanzarote's Top Five Attractions
By Teguise
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Even in the depths of a northern European winter, Lanzarote's temperature rarely falls below 21C. Add in four-hour flight times, over 90 beaches, high quality hotels and villas, and it has all the right ingredients for the perfect beach holiday. Lanzarote's year round clement climate is the primary draw for most visitors to the island. Even in the depths of a northern European winter, the temperature rarely falls below 21C. Add in four-hour flight times, over 90 great beaches, and an abundance of high quality hotels and holiday villas, and Lanzarote has all the right ingredients for the perfect beach holiday. However, this speck of Spain off the coast of Africa has more to offer than just bucket and spades alone. As thanks to the influence of the Lanzarote-born artist and architect, Cesar Manrique, this little island is packed with a series of unique tourist attractions that are well worth a visit. Timanfaya Volcano Park The Volcano Park at Timanfaya is Lanzarote's number one tourist attraction. And it's little wonder - as the landscape here is literally out of this world. This eerie and haunting terrain was created by the world's longest ever volcanic eruption, which lasted six years from 1730 to 1736. It buried what was once the most fertile farmland on the island under a sea of lava. Today, the scene is little changed, creating a vista populated by exhausted volcanic cones, weird, twisted lava shapes, and a surprisingly wide range of earthy and organic colors and tones. Visitors to the Volcano Park are treated to a coach tour through this surreal landscape - accompanied by a commentary recording the diaries of the local priest of Yaiza, who witnessed these terrifying eruptions. The tour culminates at an incredible restaurant - The Devil's Diner - where food is cooked over the heat of a volcano and where guests can enjoy panoramic views of the Volcano Park. Jameos Del Agua Lanzarote has many star attractions. However, this collapsed, 6-km-long lava tube, located in the north of the island close to Punta Mujeres, often tops the bill for most tourists - attracting close on 700,000 visitors in 2006. The Jameos Del Agua's popularity is attributable to the fact that this incredible natural space has been further enhanced by Cesar Manrique. With the help of fellow architects Luis Morales and Jesus Soto, he transformed it into a stunning subterranean auditorium. Tropical gardens, bars, and a restaurant surround an underground lagoon. The atmosphere is hushed and cathedral-like. Blind albino crabs - unique to Lanzarote - glisten in the water like jewels. Visitors emerge from this underground area and encounter a dreamlike swimming pool, which is so opulent that it is reserved for the sole and exclusive use of the King of Spain. Behind the pool lies a concert hall - formed from volcanic rock - with incredible acoustics. This has provided a stunning backdrop for many classical and avant garde concerts since it was first built in 1987. The Jameos Del Agua was declared the 'Eighth Wonder of the World' by Hollywood legend Rita Hayworth when she visited as a guest of Manrique, and it continues to wow visitors today. The Cactus Garden The Cactus Garden in Guatiza is a celebration of the plant world's spiniest species, orchestrated to perfection once again by the ubiquitous Cesar Manrique. The site here was formerly a quarry - but today it is home to over 1000 different species of cacti, all artfully arranged in terraces around this bowl-shaped amphitheater-like space. Visitors are initially greeted by a giant, eight-meter-high, green, metallic sculpture of a cacti. It stands sentinel-like over the car park and main entrance. This cacti motif is cleverly repeated everywhere: on door handles, in the big wrought iron front gates, and in slightly more abstract forms throughout. The Cactus Garden is a plant lover's paradise. It is sensibly located right in the heart of what was once Lanzarote's cactus country. This plant was originally grown by islanders in order to attract the cochineal beetle, which was in turn dried and crushed and used as a natural dye. Cesar Manrique Foundation This incredible house, built by Cesar Manrique into five volcanic bubbles, never fails to blow visitors away. This ingenious feat of architecture was one of Manrique's first creations on Lanzarote and was designed to illustrate what could be achieved to skeptical islanders. Many thought Manrique was crazy for believing that Lanzarote could be transformed into a tourist paradise. However, by the end of 1968, when this creation was complete, they were forced to think again. The building picked up numerous international architectural awards and started to attract the rich and famous in droves. One celebrity visitor - the actor Omar Sharif - was so impressed that he immediately commissioned Cesar to build him a similar style of holiday home. Manrique found the perfect site just up the road in Nazaret, and transformed an old quarry into an incredible private residence. However, Sharif soon after lost the property in a high stakes game of bridge and left the island in a fit of pique, never to return. Mirador Del Rio While Manrique was very much a child of the 60's he was no hippy, preferring a natural high instead. This philosophy is best epitomized by his transformation of a former naval gun battery in the north of the island into a breathtaking lookout point - or Mirador. The Mirador Del Rio sits at one of the highest points on the island - some 479 meters. It affords incredible views down and across to the neighboring island of La Graciosa - just 1000 meters away across the El Rio Strait, as well as the uninhabited islets of Montana Clara and Alegranza. Originally, Manrique planned to create a restaurant here. The curvaceous windows of the Mirador are very similar to those he later utilized when transforming the basement of the Castillo de San Jose in Arrecife into one of the most impressive dining rooms on the island. However today, while it's still possible to buy snacks and drinks at the Mirador, it doesn't house the grand restaurant that Manrique initially envisaged, as the space is instead dedicated to framing the fantastic view. About the Author: By Nick Ball, editor of the Lanzarote tourist information guidebook. Copyright Lanzarote Guidebook 2008. Article source: 111 Travel Directory: Triple1.com (triple one dot com) More free articles: 1st Rate Articles - 1stRateArticles.com |
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