Mirador

At the north end of the island of Lanzarote, there is a tourist attraction which takes the breath away.  Called the Mirador del Rio, this is a viewpoint built on a cliff-top over 1500 ft above the sea.  Originally it was a defensive battery with guards watching over the straits between Lanzarote and the island of La Graciosa.
The cliff escarpment is called Risco de Famara.

The visitor's centre, built by the famous local artist César Manrique has walkways which cling to the cliff face and give a vertiginous view straight down to the beach and the salt-flats below.

La Graciosa, the island across the strait is a volcanic piece of land rising to 873 ft ad looks like an idyllic desert island.  No motors are allowed (except very few vehicles allowed for special purposes).  What few roads there are, are not good and vehicles needing repair have to be ferried across to Lanzarote.

The view from where one can sit with a coffee, is as I said, breathtaking.

Gulf

Formed by the volcanic eruptions of 1730 the natural wonder of El Golfo, just up the coast from Los Hervideros, is quite something to see.  It is a natural amphitheatre formed when one side of the volcano collapsed leaving behind a black, volcanic sand beach and a semicircular lagoon.

The lagoon is filled with sea water through the very porous lava and the curious green colour is a result of algae living in the water.  Red ash forms much of the surrounding sides.  The area was considered to be wild and rocky enough to be the backdrop to the film 'One Million Years B.C.' with Raquel Welch not wearing very much!

Very loose and easily whipped up by the wind, this red ash is visually rather stunning, rather like the volcano mentioned yesterday.  But trying to climb down the steep slopes to the beach below was a little tricky to say the least as was demonstrated by a few intrepid people.

We decided not to risk sliding down on our backsides opting for the magnificent views higher up.  The Espresso - sorry, Cafe Solo - we had in the cliff-top restaurant was also very good.

Boiling

Along the South-western coast of Lanzarote, the road snakes its way through the inhospitable lava landscape, taking in some wonderful views to the sea one side and the volcanic, inland areas.  One particularly beautiful spot is known as Los Hervideros or the 'Boiling Pots'.  The coastline here is spectacular.

The cliffs of solidified lava are pitted and cut through by the action of the waves, creating lots of coves and gaps which form 'blow-holes' through which sea spray is forced upward into your face if you look over the edge.

Small 'balconies' have been built into the rocks to provide the visitor with safe viewing platforms set among the jagged lava tunnels and rocky cliffs.  It's all rather beautiful.

Looking inland, across the rough lava landscape, the eye is caught by the red bulk of another volcanic ash-cone.  This one is known as Montaña Bermeja.  Altogether, quite a wonderful part of the island to visit.

More Flowers

Also along the sea shore we found several other plants in flower.  Actually in the dry and shifting sand, was a bright little flower called Lotus lancerottensis, a member of the pea family.

Continuing the 'vegetable' theme, a member of the cabbage family was growing in the volcanic grit nearby.  Known as a Matthiola lunata, it can clearly be seen to be closely related to the stocks we grow in our gardens.

A much larger and succulent plant was in flower in the dunes.  Zygophyllum fontanesii is quite a mouthful, but the plant itself was rather attractive with it's fleshy leaves and small, pink flowers.  Considering that it was still only January, I think we did rather well with our count of flowering things.

Lanzarote Plants

As well as the amazing bird life, Lanzarote has a lot to give when it comes to plant life too.  Among the volcanic grit surrounding the airport, we found several small, rosette-shaped plants flowering in the arid conditions.  Rather hairy and fleshy, they turned out to be Aizoon canariense.

All around the resort the cultivated beds were filled with a much larger plant with far more 'showy' flowers. Aloes grow all over the island, usually they are the variety Aloe vera and are cultivated for their well-known medicinal and cosmetic qualities.  These more ornamental ones were Aloe arborescens, sometimes called the Candelabra Aloe.

Another succulent plant to found in large numbers were among the Euphorbia family.  This is a huge and most diverse family with members as different as Poinsettias, those small, bright-green garden weeds, the Sun Spurge and several types which resemble cacti.  This particular one was rather cactus-like, but without spines.  It grew as a large, almost tree-like plant known as Euphorbia ingens or the Candelabra Euphorbia (candelabras seem to be popular!)

Along the seafront, there were lots of prickly bushes with small, yellow flowers.  These were Launaea arborescens and although interesting in themselves, a couple of them were more interesting because of what was growing through them.  The parasitic plant sometimes called Dodder or Cuscuta (Cuscuta europaea).  Red-stemmed and pink-flowered, it was practically strangling the host plants.

Lanzarote Birds

As always when on holiday in these 'exotic' places, I spent a lot of time looking for the local wildlife and in Lanzarote, there is quite a lot of it to see.  The birds on offer were not rare or particularly exciting, but nonetheless good to see.
Among the dry, dusty and sandy areas you find birds well suited to the desert environment, including the Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus).  Looking rather like a sunburned sparrow, it has a thicker beak and an endearing call - rather like that of a child's toy trumpet.

The sands of the beach provide feeding and rest for several other species.  Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) were quite abundant.

Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) too were present in fairly good numbers.  Like a smaller Curlew, it has an impressively long bill for probing the sand in the search for food and a bubbling call rather like that of the Curlew, but faster and more 'trilling'.

Around the more cultivated areas we found a solitary Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis).  A beautiful and small member of the Heron family, this individual was probably hunting for lizards among the rocks and plants.

Back out on the beach, my attention was attracted by a slumbering Greenshank (Tringa nebularia).  This, I think, was a juvenile bird and was overwintering here before returning to more Northern parts for the Summer.

Airport

Our apartment in Matagorda, was situated just 500 yards from the airport's perimeter fence.  Ordinarily, this would seem like a disadvantage, but it all added to the 'excitement' of the holiday.  We spent quite a time standing, watching planes land a take off, both from the raised ground close to the end of the runway and from the footpath which runs the whole length of the airport, between the sea and the runway.  Standing on the path at the end of the runway was particularly exciting as planes roared in over head to land just the other side of the fence.  Particularly when the plane happened to belong to Ryanair, who always seem to come in at high speed and higher volume.  Standing here when the planes took off was dramatic too and on one occasion, the 'whoosh' of air from the jets almost knocked us off our feet.  All rather thrilling.

The viewing area was popular with plane-spotters, both casually like us and more 'professional' who turned up in cars and vans and took notes of planes and numbers.  It was easy to overlook the Great Grey Shrikes and Trumpeter Finches in the surrounding sand and gravel when faced with much larger flying objects.

On the Friday, we were treated to a much more exciting arrival.  Two F-18 jet fighters of the Spanish Air Force turned up with a great blast of jet-noise.  Later that evening, they took off again with an even bigger roar which vibrated the windows of our apartment.  Although it's been many years since I went to a air-show, my love of these noisy and frighteningly powerful machines remains undiminished.

Fortunately for the aid of sleep, the airport closes between 11pm and 7am so we had plenty of quiet nights.  No need for alarm clocks though.  The departure of the first Ryaniar flight of the day was sure to wake us up in time for coffee!