The Land of Water and Fire (Part IV)

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Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain)

I know many people who have heard about Lanzarotes beautiful beaches, but besides crystal clear water and great temperatures (even in December!), there's a lot more to see and experience. It's impossible to summarize the secrets of the island in just one post - so this one is going to be the first of a series called The Land of Water and Fire. 

El Charco de los Clicos 

El Charco de los Clicos

Next to a small fisher town called El Golfo, is a peak in the shape of a perfect half cone which  used to be part of a crater. The side of the crater that stood next to the sea was affected by erosion, and at some time, cracked and sinked under the sea (the ocean around the Canary Islands can be extremely deep in some parts, going as deep as 4.000m!). 

Inside this half-coned crater, there is a green lagoon, locally called El charco de los clicos.  (a kind of shellfish). It's color is due to the kind of sea weed living in it, and the shade of green observed will depend on the exposure of light. I visited this place on a cloudy day (as you can guess from the picture) and was impressed by the deep shade of green. It's probably a good place to visit when the sun isn't too bright as it would cool the effect of the green (not that I'm a professional photograph, or anything - this is pure intuition). 

The lake can be seen from both sides of the crater, and you can even go for a walk along the black sand beach that separates it from the ocean. 

Anyway, I know it's far less glamourous than the thin white sand from the Caribbean, but I'm a big fan of black sand. Maybe it's because I associate white sand with fake beaches that have been built to attract more tourism. Or maybe because I relate it to calm flat sparkling sea, and well, I'm a girl that enjoys waves and fighting against the current. But then, maybe it's just me. 

Have you ever been on a black sand beach?

Which kind of beach do you prefer?

If you liked this post, you might also like:

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part I)

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part II)

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part III)

The Land of Water and Fire (Part III)

Hello! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain)

I know many people who have heard about Lanzarotes beautiful beaches, but besides crystal clear water and great temperatures (even in December!), there's a lot more to see and experience. It's impossible to summarize the secrets of the island in just one post - so this one is going to be the first of a series called The Land of Water and Fire. 

Bodega Stratvs (Wine Tour)

La Geria (Wine Region in Lanzarote)

It's easy to associate wine production to Bordeaux or Tuscany. It's not that easy to picture a vineyard in an island destroyed by catastrophic volcanic eruptions that left no else than black volcanic sand. This might had been the end of crops, but soon the locals realized that some plants, such as vine, grew even better in these areas. 

How do you cultivate vine on ash and volcanic sand?

Vine is planted in cones made out of picón (little stones ejected from a volcanic eruption, also known as lapilli) and protected by little stone walls. This type of structure allows the plants to easily take root on the fertile ground, while the mantle of picón retains moisture from the air and prevents evaporation, keeping the vine hydrated during a longer time. The crater shapes holes usually have a diameter of 2-4 meters, given that the roots of the plant need their space to spread horizontally. The shape of the holes and the small stone walls facing the north-east, protect the crop from the trade wind. 

This is how it look like underneath the crop

Presenting... the most innovative Bodega in Europe

The Bodega Stratvs was founded in 2007 by a local family with several other investments across the island (among others, a Cheese Farm in Uga and a luxury hotel in Playa Blanca). The farm extends over 2.500m2. 

The farm is located in the Barranco del Obispo (the Bishop's Ravine). Something that really caught my eye during my visit, was the smart way the winery and its installations were constructed - it was built underground, preserving the original topography of the ravine. Also, locals materials were used - such as volcanic stone, iron and wood - in order to lower the visual impact. 

This, together with their use of the latest technology, explains how the owners spend 25 million euros in this wonder. 

How to spend a day in Bodega Stratvs.

1. Take a tour - 10 € per person, 45 minutes tour, 3 wine tastings
2. Have lunch at one of their 2 restaurants (Terraza Grill and El Aljibe del Obispo) and order a bottle of wine
3. Spend a ridiculous amount of time in their gourmet shop
4. Doubt about which wine you're going to buy
5. Go to their bar and make a second wine tasting of your own. 
6. Go back to the shop and get the bottle(s) of wine you liked most 

When you get to the hotel, you'll realize that you bought too many bottles and might have some customer problems when trying to smuggle back more alcohol than actually permitted  (for the UK it's 1 L - I was interrogated). 

Tip: In case you are not doing the tour, but still would like to buy some wine or simply want to order online (Europe only) and don't know which one to take, my personal recommendations are Crianza 2007 (Red) and Dry Malvasia (White). 

For more info on Bodega Stratvs click here. 

If you liked this post, you might also like:

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part I)

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part II)

The Land of Water and Fire (Part II)

Hello! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain)

I know many people who have heard about Lanzarotes beautiful beaches, but besides crystal clear water and great temperatures (even in December!), there's a lot more to see and experience. It's impossible to summarize the secrets of the island in just one post - so this one is going to be the first of a series called The Land of Water and Fire. 

La Ermita de las Nieves

Lanzarote is quite flat compared to other Canary Islands like Tenerife or La Palma - It's highest mountain is little less than 700m high! This makes it easy to access high points and enjoy the amazing views. Visiting the Ermita de las Nieves is rather a insider tip, so you won't find any tourist masses around. This beautiful little chapel is situated on the top of the mountains Risco de Famara. In case you wonder - Nieve means snow in spanish! 

Formerly, the locals used to walk up the slope to the Ermita, to pray here for rain whenever it was desperately needed. Nowadays, it's still a local tradition to climb up these slopes on the 5th of August, enjoying the spectacular views of Famara.

Las Nieves can be easily reached by car from the LZ10, driving through Los Valles and watching out for the signpost "Las Nieves". 

If you liked this post, you might also like:

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part I)

Stay tuned to know more about the Land of Water and Fire soon!

The Land of Water and Fire (Part I)

Hello! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain)

I know many people who have heard about Lanzarotes beautiful beaches, but besides crystal clear water and great temperatures (even in December!), there's a lot more to see and experience. It's impossible to summarize the secrets of the island in just one post - so this one is going to be the first of a series called The Land of Water and Fire. 

Parque Nacional de Timanfaya

Lanzarote is the oldest of the Canary Islands, and was emerged more than 18 million years ago as a result of aggressive volcanic activity. The National Park of Timanfaya emerged when 32 of the island's 100 existing volcanoes erupted simultaneously, between 1730 and 1736, destroying fields and villages and covering 1/4 of the island. 

Today, Timanfaya is probably one of the few National Parks worldwide with not even a blade of grass to be seen - The heat of the ground, the almost inexistent vegetation, the abstract volcanic twists and turns... altogether remind me of something evil. 

At the Islote de Hilario, which is the starting point of a beautiful ride (or walk), the surface reaches up to 120ºC, and only 13 meters deep even 600ºC! Once you pour water into one of the wholes, and wait for 2-3 seconds, the water is thrown into the air with an extremely high speed, creating artificial geysers. 

The National Park can be toured on a bus (or a camel, I think) and can be hiked. You cannot walk freely through the lava field - not that anyone wants to go through that kind of hell anyways, but, with previous appointment and confirmation, there are two guided walking tours you can take - an easy one of 2 hours and a difficult one that takes about 5 hours. The weather prediction showed possible showers, so we decided to go safe by taking the bus tour.   

At the Islote de Hilario (starting and ending point of this tour) you can find the Restaurant "El Diablo" (the devil - which is the symbol that Cesar Manrique, architect, designed for the National Park). The food is quite simple. If anything, I would recommend to try the grilled steaks, which are grilled out on natural warmth coming out of the ground. 

The whole scenery is truly impressive and probably one of my favorites among the seven islands - next time, I'll hike it! 

If you liked this post, you might also like:

- The Land of Water and Fire (Part II)

Stay tuned to know more about the Land of Water and Fire soon!