Lanzarote: Join the stars on Canary Island for sun, sand and volcanoes
We usually think of Lanzarote as a winter-sun destination, somewhere warm to escape from the dreary days back home. But the island's more than just sun and sand: it has star appeal.
Penelope Cruz fell in love with Lanzarote when she was shooting Broken Embraces here; Formula 1's Jenson Button has been coming for years and Channel 4 has just been overshooting this summer's Celebrity Five Go To... series on the island. Acombination of continued upheaval in the Middle East and some brilliantlastminute package deals means we are starting to realise that - like adog - Lanzarote is not just for Christmas.
Luxury: The Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel
The most easterly and fourth largest of the Canaries, the Spanish islandwas created by a series of violent volcanic eruptions. Its distinct, moon-like landscape was formed from the cooled lava flows left behind.
Lanzarote's countryside is dramatic. Dark stretches of bulging volcanic rock in places resemble a giant, manically ploughed field.
Since it was first settled, the landscape has meant the population has had to find ingenious ways of living on an island with a lower annual rainfall than the Sahara and no natural water reserves.
Holidaymaker: Film star Penelope Cruz
Though, of course, it was raining on the day we arrived. Lanzarote does get a few wet days a year, and then the chronically dry land sprouts vivid carpets of green grasses before your eyes, woven with pretty pink and yellow wild flowers in all directions.
We were staying on the south of the island, in the chicer part of the popular Playa Blanca. The five-star Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort isa modern, 385-room, six-pool property set in mature tropical gardens onthe beautiful yellow sands of Playa Dorada (which tran! slates a s 'goldenbeach').
It's a lovely setting: families splash around in the warm Atlantic waters as couples amble arm-in-arm along the picturesque coastal footpath to the cluster of bars and casual waterfront restaurants at theMarina Rubicon a mile away.
But further around the coast, an easy 25-minute drive west, the views could not be more different. Timanfaya National Park is one of the most visited national parks in Spain and at the heart of Lanzarote's history.It was here in 1730 that 100 underwater volcanoes erupted, burying 19 square miles - including coastal villages and farmland - in devastating waves of molten lava.
Planet sunshine: The desolate beauty of Parque Nacional de TimanfayaThis is only too imaginable today as you look out across the parkland's vast lava sea: coils and whorls of rock-hard magma, punctuated by the empty cones of spent volcanoes, stained purple, red and orange by the ore and minerals that erupted from deep within the Earth.
It's an extraordinary, otherworldly sight, one so alien that Nasa is said to have used pictures of it to prepare early astronauts for space travel.
One volcano (Timanfaya, after which the park is named) is still semi-active. A magma chamber quietly bubbles away some 43ft below the ground at an astonishing 1,112F.
This kind of temperature is hard to grasp, so our guide poured a bucket of water down a hole in the ground. Seconds later, angry plumes of steamrocketed furiously up into the air.
'You could fry an egg on that,' someone quipped. Never mind an egg - youcan cook an entire meal using Timanfaya's geothermic heat: El Diablo isthe park's quirky restaurant, where the dishes are cooked using heat from the volcano. It's easy to imagine we are eating in the Restaurant at the end of the Universe from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
Distinctive: Cesar Manrique sculpture at his house on the island
Lanzarote is a small island - just 37 miles north to south and 16 miles east to west - with excellent roads. It's surprisingly pretty: traditional white cottages (fishermen paint their windows blue, farmers green) nestle in groves of prickly pear and palm trees. In places it feels more like a rustic Greek island than the Canaries. Lanzarote doesn't have the tourist high-rises you find in other parts of Spain. This is partially because in 1993 Unesco declared Lanzarote a protected biosphere reserve.
Mostly, though, the credit goes to the local-born artist and eco-architect Csar Manrique. In the Sixties, he forced the government topass a number of pioneering laws regulating tourism development, then himself created a series of astonishing public art works designed to showcase the island's beauty and the achievements of its farmers.
Whether you're driving inland to explore the weekend markets in the picturesque 14th Century town of Teguise (Lanzarote's old capital), or heading off to surf and sail along the wilder coastline in the north, chances are you'll spot at least one of Manrique's huge, roadside sculptures. Some may look a little dated, but pieces such as Monumento Al Campesino (Monument To The Farmer) are striking nonetheless.
Manrique's work with lava rock formations is extraordinary. Visit his home in Tahiche (now the Csar Manrique Foundation), where he lived in aseries of underground caves that were originally lava bubbles. He also transformed the Jameos del Aqua, a four-mile underground lava tunnel leading down to the sea. At one point, where the cave roof has fallen in, you emerge into a hidden paradise centred around a stunning saltwater lagoon as blue as any swimming pool. Concerts are performed here.
Volcanic setting: A farmer at work in the vineyards of La GeriaThe El Diablo restaurant at Timanfay! a was on e of his creations, and he designed the Ruta de los Volcanes - the bus tour that threads through the park's dramatic lavascape. The route was blasted from the landscape after Manrique walked through the rocks naked to feel at one with nature.
It's not hard to see why he wanted to celebrate the farmers' efforts in amonument. Take the central, wine-growing district of La Geria... not that you'd recognise it as such. These are not the rolling green vineyards of France or Italy.
Lanzarote's wine producers plant vines oneby one at the bottom of 4ft pits. These are then lined with black volcanic rocks, which leech every drop of moisture out of the air and keep the fragile vines cool. Stumpy, semi-circular walls of volcanic rockbuilt around the top of the pits help protect the vines from the hair-dryer-hot winds blowing across from the Sahara. These vineyards are an astonishing achievement and an amazing sight - like a surreal mosaic of giant horseshoes.
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Similar dedication goes into growing the island's surprisingly abundant supply of fruit and vegetables.
The Isla de Lobos restaurant in our hotel specialises in local produce cooked using the Slow Food method. Over a delicious dinner of grouper fish, served on a bed of sweet potato mash with asparagus and fig, we discover Bodega Stratvs red - a heavenly local wine. Without doubt, one of the growing delights of Lanzarote.
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