Despite its tarnished image, LISA O'CARROLLis bowled over by what Lanzarote has to offer
LIKE MOST of the Canaries, this island has been described by some as a bit of a joke destination. Few who haven’t been there take it seriously – and many dub it Lanzagrotty.
But if you were prepared to rethink a little, you’d find this is a holiday destination a world away from nightclubs, drugs and package holidays. The island is brimming with eye- opening architecture and culture, the landscape can easily compete with Iceland’s, and the ecoculture would set green hearts racing.
One of the instantly striking aspects of Lanzarote is its bizarre landscape. The island has more than 300 volcanoes, has virtually no rainfall and is largely treeless.
In parts, such as the breathtaking Timanfaya National Park (where the Bond movie Moonrakerwas shot), it looks completely apocalyptic – seemingly endless giant shards of jagged black lava scattered across a plain with volcanic mountains jutting up randomly throughout like pyramids. In other parts the volcanoes that appear every few kilometres are cloaked in a fine greenish growth, offering amazing drives that give panoramic views over the island.
Having been there recently for a 40th-birthday party in a group that included architects, media types and a French culture vulture, I wasn’t the only one bowled over by what Lanzarote has to offer. In fact, you could spend an entire week here without once stepping foot on sand. (The men loved the scary hairpin mountain drives in particular.)
The trick is to seek out independent accommodation in the north of the island, a world away from Puerto del Carmen and other resort towns. Some of our party stayed in an ecovillage complete with yurts, chickens and solar heating, on the outskirts of Arrieta, a little fishing village that exists perfectly well without a single tat shop or nightclub. Others stayed in the village itself, where accommodation is easy to find online.
But by far and away the most interesting thing about the island is the legacy of a local artist, architect and sculptor by the name of César Manrique. If you visit just one of his amazing creations you will be in awe.
Take his house, built in a lava field a 20-minute drive from Arrieta. Half the house is built underground, with five lava bubbles – or natural air pockets – ingeniously converted into accommodation, including funky Barbarella-style living rooms with original 1960s furniture, an outdoor bathroom and the grooviest underground garden you have ever seen, complete with azure pool and barbecue. The place exudes the decadence of a bygone era.
Manrique’s influence on the island is all-pervasive – it is thanks to him that no advertising hoardings scar the island and high-rises are banned. And his vision of turning the landscape into an ecologically sustainable tourist attraction helped make the island into what is now a Unesco-protected biosphere.
The development of the island into an ecoresort dates back to the 1960s, when he returned from New York, where his head was turned by the likes of Rothko, Warhol and Pollock. He was quickly embraced by the local government and effectively became Lanzarote’s town planner, even designing a house on a volcano for Omar Sharif. The actor is believed to have lost it in a game of bridge in 1972. You can now stay in this house, which is itself a curiosity as it is made of ash.
His most visited creations are half a dozen public buildings or visitor centres where he fused the harsh landscape with art, just as he did in his house.
One site, El Mirador, is a restaurant carved into the island’s highest cliff face – just imagine the Irish Government doing that in the Cliffs of Moher to get an idea of how audacious that was for the Lanzarote government in the 1970s.
The building is barely noticeable from the road, save for a small door in the cliff. But once inside you are brought into a wondrous vaulted space – it wouldn't look out of place in Dr No– with two wide windows (the "eyes" of the Mirador) and a spectacular view of the sea, 475m below, and the neighbouring island of La Graciosa.
Manrique called the island an “unframed, unmounted work of art”, and his legacy makes it a special place to visit.
He ensured the island is a perfect mix of sun, sand and culture. You can easily make half-day trips to any of his seven creations. They are all between 10 minutes and half an hour away, making it easy to get back to the beach with the kids or to top up your tan.
There is also some amazing surfing at Famara, a wild west-facing beach where lessons can be booked at many of the schools. The beach was featured in Broken Embraces,a recent Pedro Almodóvar film starring Penélope Cruz.
And if Lanzarote is good enough for Almodóvar, it’ll be good enough for tourists seeking an alternative to a quick spot of winter sun for years to come.
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