Lanzarote is one of 8 Canary Islands. It is perhaps the only island in the world where development on the island was guided almost entirely from the perspective of an artist. Cesar Manrique was a 20th Century Spanish sculptor and conservationalist. He greatly impacted building plans on the island, designated that most buildings be painted white to contrast with the volcanic landscape and that nearly all of the buildings remain under the height of a palm tree (the exception being a large hotel that was built before the regulations were put in place). The result is an entire island that is itself an art piece, with development and nature in harmony.
While on Lanzarote, we visited Timanfaya National Park, a black volcanic region where the roads are again in harmony with nature- all paved in black without lines so that they blend in with the natural environment. Timanfaya is known for more than just its artistic appearance however. The National Park is still an active volcanic site. Park rangers introduce travelers to the park with 3 demonstrations. In the first, they dig a few inches below the surface and hand each traveler a small pile of ashes that are so hot it's necessary to move them from hand to hand to prevent them from burning. Next, the park rangers demonstrate adding a rakeful of dried weeds into a hole that is about 6 feet deep. The weeds immediately ignite in a blazing fire. Lastly they have some tubes that tunnel perhaps 10 ft into the ground. The park ranger pours cold water into the tubes and it immediately turns into steam and hot water, shooting back out in a 10 ft high geyser of water. After the demonstrations, travelers can tour the park in one of two ways- on a camel safari or a designated park bus that drives the single park loop.
After visiting the national park, we headed to El Grifo Winery, the oldest winery in Lanzarote. There we tried their classic white wines made from a grape variety that is grown almost exclusively in Lanzarote. Because of the unusual soil, lack of water, and high winds, grapes are grown differently in Lanzarote than nearly anywhere else on earth. A couple hundred years ago, the founders of El Grifo found that the volcanic ash soil did an incredible job of holding water in this very arid climate. They planted the vines very close to the ground, nestled in this ash soil, with a ring of volcanic stones in a semi circle around the vine to protect the soil from wind erosion. This unique soil, combined with the salt air blowing over the vines, creates a wine that has a distinct salty, earthy tone. In addition to the signature white wines, Syrah grapes are also grown to produce red varietals.
