Port Information. Lanzarote is the fourth largest of the Canary Island archipelago and the easternmost of the islands. It lies 80 miles off the coast of Africa. The island has about 163,000 inhabitants which makes it the third most populous island next to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. The ship will dock in the city of Arrecife, the capitol of Lanzarote, and home to approximately 65,000 people. Arrecife is “reef” in Spanish and the city is located on the East Central coast of the island. Lanzarote has a hot desert climate with practically no rainfall in the summer. Lanzarote is a volcanically formed island with many volcanoes dotting the landscape.
We ordered
breakfast from Room Service because our tour today is early. I had pancakes, two fried eggs, and some
cereal (familiar no?). Ellen had an
omelet and some fruit. The breakfasts were both good. I caught the approach from our veranda.
Initially, we weren’t sure about going on tour today because many of the good ones were already taken, started early, or were “strenuous”. We visited Destinations yesterday, and did find an open tour – early and with some walking and booked it.
Our excursion today –“Northern Lanzarote and Aloe Vera Farm” is an early tour but the description looked interesting.
We are on the pier at 8:30 AM to board our bus. We got out to the busses early so we could get good seats.
While waiting, I got a picture of Splendor docked.
The bus started off
with a little tour of the city of Arrecife – one of the first things we saw was "Wind Toy - Phobos".
The sculpture, created by
noted local artist César Manrique is located in Tahiche, a
village near Arrecife. The sculpture composed of concentric circles and
metal balls is located at the roundabout where Manrique was tragically killed in a traffic
accident in 1992.
Our first stop was a shopping stop – a small store in a little stucco complex complete with garden.
We went through the shop (always looking for magnets we don’t have) and then used the facilities (always a plus) and took some pictures.
From there,
the bus began to climb up a mountain road and stopped at Mirador del Río,
a viewpoint at a height of 1,560 ft on an escarpment in the north of the
island.
Mirador del Rio was created between 1971 and 1973 by Cesar Manrique (the same). It consists of a balustraded cafe, a souvenir shop and a platform at the top which are integrated in the lava rock. The was inaugurated in 1973. Its surroundings have been declared a protected natural area. Just outside the large windows of the café, there are several area of excellent viewing. I took a lot of pictures from the viewpoint, some of which are below.
Some of the more hardy of the
folks here today even climbed up some stairs to get an even grander view.
The main point of interest from the mirador is Graciosa Island or commonly La Graciosa (Spanish: "the graceful") another volcanic island (the eighth in the archipelago).
It is located just 1.2 miles north of Lanzarote across the Strait of El Río. It was formed by the Canary Hotspot like all the Canary Islands.
The bus went back down the hill to our next step, an aloe farm and a demonstration by an employee of Lanzaloe,
a store selling aloe based creams, lotions, and other items. There was an amazing Aloe plant near the entrance of the store. You can't see it in the picture but this is one plant and the two trunks actually form an arch.
The woman grabbed an aloe leaf and proceeded to show us
the various layers of an aloe leaf – the outside parts should not be eaten as then contain a powerful laxative. She cut that part off leaving a clear gel material that looked like it was inedible as well but she told us that it was OK to eat.
A few brave
shipmates gave it a try but there’s still a lot of cruise left so we opted out of trying it. It is this gel that is the source of
the oil or other substances that form the basis of the aloe cosmetics. I liked the hand and face creams but the
items were pretty pricey so we just sampled the items.
The aloe fields were expansive and impressive –
the slightly brown color of the plants probably reflects the lack of rain in this island.
We then all piled into the bus and we were off to our next stop, Jameos de Agua.
Jameos de Agua is located in northern Lanzarote. It is an art, culture and tourism center, created by local artist and architect, Cesar Manrique, and managed by the government of Lanzarote. Jameos del Agua consists of a subterranean salt lake, restaurant, gardens, emerald-green pool, museum and auditorium.The term, “Jameos” is not Spanish but comes from the language of the indigenous people of the island and refers to an opening in a lava tube. The lava tube was formed during an eruption of the Monte Corona Volcano (miles away). This opening is caused by natural forces and provides light and air to the tube.
The tube is quite long but we are only going to go through a short portion, which contains most of the more amazing components. In the parking lot, which was full on what should be a working day, we noted a large lobster sculpture.
This signifies the very small
(less than an inch) blind white lobsters, which can be found in the waters of
the Jameos.
The first thing you notice when entering is that you can see the opening on the other side of the salt lake.
The footing is
uneven and difficult and you can only walk on a narrow path (almost in single
file). At the far end of the lake, we got
a picture of those dwarf lobsters – they just looked like white blobs in the
water.
Besides the lake, there is, on the flat part, an actual restaurant (full service).
No time to check anything out today but it would be an interesting place to get a meal or a beer. We made our way to the other side of the lake. At this opening it opened onto some stairs leading to a magnificent pool bordered by fake white sand.
Over the fence at the pool, you could see the Atlantic Ocean. There was foliage around the pool which gave it a tropical look.
Our final destination in the tube was the “Theater”, where concerts and other events are staged.
One of the impressive things about the theater is the massive chandelier, very abstract.
There were mirrors in the
theater and we gook a “mirror selfie”.
The exit was
just beyond the theater (and a lot more tube) so we made our way to the bus for
our trip back to the pier. The ride home provided a nice picture (considering
it was from the bus) of the Tahiche Volcano (associated with the largest
lava field on the island).
Not sure why
the tour wasn’t more popular but we found it to be a great way to see the
island and most of its unusual sites.
Waiting for us in our suite were our Certificates for crossing the Equator. Instead of lugging them home, I documented them with photos.
We cleaned up
from our long day on the bus and spent about an hour in the Observation
Lounge listening to Fabiano’s fabulous piano interpretations. While we were there, Tammy walked in with
four of the female dancers – maybe they were hosting something. I did get a
picture of them.
I also caught the "magic moment" today. The greenish glow of the sky was interesting.
From there we
went to the Compass Rose for dinner. Ellen continued with her favorite,
Dover Sole and I ordered Branzino for the first time on this cruise. I had tried Branzino on other ships and
wasn’t that impressed (perhaps, it wasn’t really Branzino, which I was told was
usually only served in Specialty Restaurants on cruise ships). The Branzino was wonderful – it reminded me
of halibut – wasn’t fishy and just really good.
My side dishes were mashed potatoes (yummy) and the obligatory
spinach. With dessert and coffee and
tea, it was a really good dinner.
The ship has
finally booked its first comedian – Martin Beaumont, a Brit I can
actually understand. He was physically low key but his jokes were spot on. He touched on a number of subjects, all of
them funny. An enjoyable show.
It was a wonderful day in Lanzarote.
Tomorrow, our final sea day and my final lecture.
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