CAPEV 3-6 22/6/09 13:22 Page 42
knowledge canary islands
ttglive.com
Excursions
Some like it hot,
and other ideas
Dave Richardson goes on an explosive
day trip to Timanfaya in Lanzarote, and
(overleaf) suggests the best excursions T
he Timanfaya national park in
Lanzarote is also known as Fire
Mountain, and bare rock stretches
to the horizon – a reminder of the
elsewhere in the Canaries
last major eruption in 1730.
You can trek part of the way up Fire
Mountain on a camel, but the best views
are higher up on a tour departing from the
visitor centre. Unfortunately, that means
piling on to a bus with dozens of others, and
putting up with a commentary in several
languages and background music like the
soundtrack to Space Odyssey.
There’s no getting away from mass
tourism on most of the Canary Islands, but
the views of Fire Mountain are impressive –
especially the volcano where the peak has
obviously been blown off.
Another curiosity, at the visitor centre, is
food cooked with volcanic heat. Chicken,
steaks, sausages and sardines were sizzling
on a grill drawing heat from the hot rock
only 20 feet below, while guides poured
buckets of water into holes and stood back
as we watched the steam shoot up.
You can learn more about volcanoes at
the national park’s visitor centre nearby,
including the account of a priest who
witnessed the 1730 eruption.
It’s certainly educational, but an attempt
to recreate an eruption with a shaking plat-
form and flashing lights was rather limp.
Even if you don’t visit Fire Mountain, you
are reminded of Lanzarote’s geology all over
the south of the island which has many
smaller extinct volcanoes, with lava blocks
used in building, and vines and vegetables
are cultivated in the fertile ash.
anarias
Fire Mountain is included on the Earth,
Wind and Fire excursion by Cosmos, which
T
urismo de C
costs £44.
Lanzarote’s Timanfaya national park, and a volcanic heat-powered barbecue (inset)
Turn to 44
■ turismolanzarote.com
42 26.06.2009
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