Lanzarote redux

I had no intention of posting another blog on Lanzarote as I thought last year’s was sufficient to cover this island off the coast of Africa. (I clearly haven’t applied the same reasoning to the Dolomites in Italy, from where I have posted no fewer than four times over the past two years)! However, in looking back at last December’s post, I thought there was quite a bit more I could add from this year’s experiences without committing the sin of redundancy. So, with that in mind hare are a few photos I took with my phone over the last five weeks.

View south along the coast path connecting Puerto del Carmen to Playa Quemada. This view is taken at the Barranco del Quiquera. Puerto Calero is where you see all the white buildings and boats in harbor.

A view looking up the Barranco del Quiquera. This red bush is a close as I saw to a Christmas tree in Lanzarote. Barranco means ravine in Spanish.

Early morning coastal path view of the harbor in Puerto del Carmen. Most of my coastal walks were in the mornings. Here I got a particularly early start.

A wall with Bougainvillea and a cat along the coast path. Local good Samaritans kept them fed and watered. The cats, that is.

Vista near the GR131 with Montaña Guardilama in the background. The GR131 long distance path connects all the Canary Islands, although I didn’t see anyone through hiking it on this day.

View south from the slopes of Guardilama, the fourth highest “mountain” on Lanzarote. The textures on the land on the right here are half moon dry-stone walls to protect agricultural plants from the ubiquitous winds.

Lichen on the Guardilama summit. The lichen always grows on the south and south west sides of the volcanic rock, protected from the trade winds.

Lemon bush at Bodega La Geria. Here you can see the construction of the dry-stone walls. This winery has some excellent local wines, particularly their dry white Malvasias, produced under some very challenging conditions.

A water feature and mural of the artist César Manrique’s home in Tahiche. According to Wikipedia, Manrique “had a major influence on the planning regulations on Lanzarote following his recognition of its potential for tourism and lobbied successfully to encourage the sustainable development of the industry”.

One of Manrique’s sculptures at Tahiche.

Manrique’s small pool at his home, which is now a foundation featuring many of his art works and photography.

A subterranean lava room at Manrique’s home. The tree is growing through a natural hole in the lava ceiling. There were several habitable spaces such as this in his home.

A view towards Montaña Tahiche from the wall bordering Manrique’s home. I just love all the flowers in the middle of December!

I spent a pleasant hour strolling around the Jardín de Cactus in Guatiza. There are over 450 species of cactus in this botanical garden that was a former quarry.

Finally, a sunset view from my apartment’s terrace near the old town of Puerto del Carmen.

Currently I’m back in rainy England for a couple of days before heading across the pond to Colombia, where I will send out my year-end post with some of my plans for 2020. Until then, enjoy the holiday season,

The Vagabond Hiker

Lanzarote redux

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