Day 7 - Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain

So our day in Lanzarote went very well.  We took a half day coach tour to see the north of the island. It's a volcanic island, so it's quite barren. Very little water, there are no mountains higher than 650m, so not enough condensation to cause rain.  There are prevailing winds and to combat the harm they can do, the farmers build little shelters around the plants (ie. grape vines) using volcanic rock.

The tour guide, Dolores, told us there are two seasons, spring and summer. Much is grown…potatoes, corn (not sure if maiz or sweet), onion. The soil is rich, a reddy brown colour. In order to keep the plants and roots from burning, they plant, then cover the soil with crushed volcanic rock a few inches deep.  The effect is that it keeps the soil and plants underneath cool, plus evaporation from the soil condenses on the lava and the moisture then is delivered again to the plant.

Much of what we see, the architecture, the art, the town squares, remind us of Mexico, just nicer and cleaner because there is more money available.

Population? 144000😋

Each year 4 million tourists visit.  Our guide knew Spanish, English, German at least and I’m guessing a few others.

One very interesting stop was the Jameos water cave. It's an ocean-fed lagoon in a cave. It has been developed into a tourist attraction with a restaurant and swimming pool.

“The Jameos del Agua - like the Cueva de los Verdes - are part of a 6Km long lava tube which formed about 4,000 years ago when the Montaña La Corona erupted.
Molten lava continued to flow as the surface hardened, which in turn led to the formation of the tubes, which run down under the Atlantic.
The word Jameo is used in this context to refer to the large openings in the tube which formed when parts of the roof collapsed due to a pressure build up caused by the volcanic gases.
It is these open-air caves which Manrique used as the centrepiece for the attraction and which have given it a name.” (Online Lanzarote tourist page)

A beautiful place to visit and one that we would definitely want to go and spend a day enjoying.

We were only off the ship for 3.5 hours, getting an early start and back on board to enjoy a little quieter time around the pool.  Note to self:  Next time I will make sure to check more carefully when European spring break is – there are so many kids onboard that things get a little crazy.Read more