Lanzarote and the Fire Mountains.

At least the sea was in a good mood this morning as we made our way to the island of Lanzarote.  We were due to dock at lunch time, and spend half a day in Arrecife.  Once again the sky was blue with promise, and Peter and I spent a good half hour looking out from the rear deck, enjoying the fresh air.

Peter and I are escorting.  We've done the Fire Mountain tour before, about five years ago, and I remember nearly all of it.  It's something we really enjoyed, which is why we wanted to do it again.  According to our tour guide, it's the most popular tour of Lanzarote.  According to the tour description - "During the 18th century, more than 100 volcanoes erupted creating a curious lava landscape".  It's breathtaking, and it's what we are going to see. 

So Peter and I took a bus each and off we went.

First we visited the green lake "El Golfo" - I'm led to understand that it is fed with sea water which it gets underground via lava tubes.  It's gone green due to the algae.  Personally I wasn't that enamoured with the lake, but the landscape around it was quite spectacular.

El Golfo is the green "lake".

The next part of the tour was a photo stop of Los Hervideros.   This place is quite incredible. As the lava ran down into the sea, it cooled into some quite amazing caves and shapes.  The sea hits the cliffs with such force it seems as though it is boiling, crashing upwards in huge foaming waves and fountains.  I would have loved to have more time here.

Los Hervideros

Then we were taken to the Timanfaya National Park

View of Timanfay National Park from the park centre

The first part of the visit involves three demonstrations to prove the heat of the ground beneath our feet.   This starts with gravel being lifted from about 20cms underground and being put into our hands.  It's hot!   The second demonstration involves a hole about 2 metres deep.  We watched as grass spontaneously caught fire inside because of the underground heat. The final demonstration involved deeper holes and water.  The resulting geyser affect made everyone jump.   We were then shown how the restaurant at the park centre cooks for large groups (they were expected later).

This barbecue uses the heat from the volcano below to cook the food, 

The second part of the park visit is the drive through the park itself.   The place is amazing - described as an alien landscape or like being on the moon.  Beautiful.

We got back to the ship as the sun was setting and enjoyed a cup of tea on the rear deck.  I learnt how to take selfies on my phone, so my aim is to try and get one and included Nureyev.  The evening's guest act were a couple of magicians Evans plus Evans.  I really quite enjoyed the show.

So that was our day in Lanzarotte day. Tomorrow it's Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. No tours, but we've been here before and plan to have a lovely relaxed day. Class.