December 27 (Wednesday) – LANZAROTE, Spain Canary Islands

December 27 (Wed) – LANZAROTE, Spain – [port side to dock; Drive RHS 9:00-4:30] (Capital Arrecife population 55,000) – The Canary Island of Lanzarote is the Easternmost of the Canaries (shaped a little like a turtle swimming North East and actually developed as the North and South Islands and later in history the largest Center island rose from the sea and joined the other two), being 125 Kilometers (78 miles) from the coast of Africa and 1,000 Kilometers (621 miles) from the Iberian Peninsula and 4 degrees above the Tropic of Canver. It covers 846 Sq Kilometers (327 Sq Miles), and is the fourth largest Canary Island having a population of 142,000 the third largest in inhabitants. The first recorded name for the island given in 1312 by Angelina Dulcert was “Insula de Lanzarotus Marocello” after the Genoese navigator of the same name. In the native language (of the Guanache people) it is “Tetrogaka” OR “Tytheroygaka” meaning “Land of all that is Ochre” (referring to it’s predominant black color. It displays the many years of volcanic / lunar activity with rugged coastline (white, red and jet black sand) and volcanic landscape of the Timanfaya National Park and it’s Fire Mountain. It’s most famous artist and sculptor – Cesar Manrique home can be visited.

We all decided to take the Hidden Lanzarote tour. We visited the old Capital – Teguise (which has been declared a site of historic and architectural importance), making a stop at Haria viewpoint with the abstract Staue by Manrique to the farmer, his wife, a dog a camel and a donkey, which offers a great view of the northern part of the island and other islands. In San Miguel Teguise (a place that bears the name of the daughter of Guardafra, the last Guanache King, who married the knight who conquered the island for Spain – Jean (Maciot) de Betancourt). We took a walk to Constitution Square where the Church to our Lady of Guadalupe is located. Extensive manger scenes decorated the church as it was just after Christmas.

Our next stop was in the village of Orzola to visit the Aloe Vera Farm, where we saw how it is grown, harvested and even tasted some of the raw gelatinous center of the leaves. The yellow liquid which comes off the plant when opened if ingested, causes diarrhea. We also tased Aloe Vera Cake and a Liquor made from the plant. The next stop was in the spectacular stone built enclosure that is the cactus garden of the afore mentioned Manrique, with over 1,500 plants of some 100 species. We enjoyed a drink and wandered through the gardens, which were spectacular. Growing on the cacti can be found the cochineal beetle, used to color clothing red and drinks such as Campari and was in wide use by many ancient cultures. Having traveled outbound up and over the narrow hairpin curved over the Volcanoes (some 300 on the island), we returned to the capital by the seaside, flat black landscape. It is of real note that there is a sharp contrast between the white houses (all have to be painted white as established by Manrique) and the black lava sand that is almost everywhere else. Other interesting points of interest is that plants, grapes and other crops are planted in the soil some 20-30 Centimeters under the black sand. Due to the prevailing winds (N to S) each plant has to have a semicircular wall built around it so that it is not blown down. There is no University education on the Island, but there is a Tourism higher learning establishment. Tourism is the mainstay of the economy, with agriculture, which was very big, now is greatly reduced with most items imported from Spain.

The Capital port, Arrecife and it’s neighboring port are dominated by the Castle of San Gabriel (linked by a drawbridge – Bridge of Spheres) and the San Jose Fortress. The main resort is at the 6 Km pristine sands of Puerto del Carmen. After being dropped back at the ship we wandered off into the marina area for a nice lunch. Unfortunately during the lunch, Roger realized that he had left all his note books and worse – his camera on the bus, with all the pictures from the Baltic trip we took earlier in the year!!!!