You know the feeling when you're jet-lagged, and your senses seem to be on high alert?
We hadn't slept the night before we came to Lanzarote - useless, since we had to be at Schiphol Airport at 3.00 AM, so we started 1.30 AM from our home. The Lanza landscape we encountered when we had picked up our car hit hard.
And we loved it.
It was as barren as we had ever seen.
And dead silent: no other traffic when we headed inland towards the volcanoes. The rocky landscape was amazing. Empty. At first sight devoid of life - no wonder since the island has no natural sources, it's only a bit of rain and the morning dew that gives some water.
So why for Heavens' sake had people been living here in the old days? How could they have survived? The other islands have rains and wells and sources - we were dumbfounded. Must have been the true frontier attitude - or the people were simply too poor to move to greener pastures.
In the middle of the island, a part riddled with volcanoes - they are old (and inactive) and they look like nice little round hills - we parked the car and walked into the land. We saw there was life after all: lichens, in every bright and happy colour imaginable (the island hosts 180 different species, btw).
Then succulents, leathery shrubs clinging on for dear life, a lot of them even blossoming.
They looked like little trees - they probably are, but since the trade winds are relentless year round they consist of a small wooden stem and branches that grow flat out on the surface. Horizontal trees. The ground around them was clay-like, and pulverised when you stood on it.
We headed to the Northern part of the island where Manrique had built a beautiful outpost.
Here comes Manrique into our story and he'll remain with us during the rest of our holiday.
César Manrique - born on the island, left it for Spain and the USA, met all sorts of very famous people and came back, by then a renowned artist and a architect.
He immediately occupied himself with the 'preservation' of the island. Many of the Canaries had by then fallen into the hands of pretty ruthless development companies who were feverishly building concrete tourist highrises all along the pristine beaches.
Manrique had a major influence on the planning regulations in Lanzarote: no highrises, a traditional Spanish-Moroccan building style, all houses whitewashed and with green or blue doorposts and window frames. Apart from a couple of hotels in the tourist areas the island still keeps to these 'rules'. And it works! Outside the tourist area's the island feels very unspoilt and that's IMHO a major achievement.
On the island he developed tourist attractions at every interesting spot: the view of the ocean in the north, a restaurant in the middle of the volcano park, a group of buildings and underground plateaus around a hidden volcanic lake. And his own underground house, featuring in architectural and lifestyle magazines ever since. We've been there too so there'll be photos of that to come!
Plus numerous 'Juguete al Viento': wind toys. Just about every roundabout on the island sports a Manrique wind toy, and at the end of our stay when we spotted one of them we knew exactly where we were - and what direction to take to go to our next destiny. Signposts!
In a sort of 60s-70s art style they were easily recognisable and some of them very intricately made.
Btw, we now have a miniature of the most colourful one in our garden..
Anyway.
See some pics of inland Lanza, and this Mirador del Rio, the Manrique Viewpoint at the northernmost point of the island, overlooking the ocean and the small island of La Graciosa. The building is hardly visible and that's another of Manrique ideas: buildings should never be intrusive. So you only see a low wall made of rocks and a small entrance. But then!
We hadn't slept the night before we came to Lanzarote - useless, since we had to be at Schiphol Airport at 3.00 AM, so we started 1.30 AM from our home. The Lanza landscape we encountered when we had picked up our car hit hard.
And we loved it.
It was as barren as we had ever seen.
And dead silent: no other traffic when we headed inland towards the volcanoes. The rocky landscape was amazing. Empty. At first sight devoid of life - no wonder since the island has no natural sources, it's only a bit of rain and the morning dew that gives some water.
So why for Heavens' sake had people been living here in the old days? How could they have survived? The other islands have rains and wells and sources - we were dumbfounded. Must have been the true frontier attitude - or the people were simply too poor to move to greener pastures.
In the middle of the island, a part riddled with volcanoes - they are old (and inactive) and they look like nice little round hills - we parked the car and walked into the land. We saw there was life after all: lichens, in every bright and happy colour imaginable (the island hosts 180 different species, btw).
Then succulents, leathery shrubs clinging on for dear life, a lot of them even blossoming.
They looked like little trees - they probably are, but since the trade winds are relentless year round they consist of a small wooden stem and branches that grow flat out on the surface. Horizontal trees. The ground around them was clay-like, and pulverised when you stood on it.
We headed to the Northern part of the island where Manrique had built a beautiful outpost.
Here comes Manrique into our story and he'll remain with us during the rest of our holiday.
César Manrique - born on the island, left it for Spain and the USA, met all sorts of very famous people and came back, by then a renowned artist and a architect.
He immediately occupied himself with the 'preservation' of the island. Many of the Canaries had by then fallen into the hands of pretty ruthless development companies who were feverishly building concrete tourist highrises all along the pristine beaches.
Manrique had a major influence on the planning regulations in Lanzarote: no highrises, a traditional Spanish-Moroccan building style, all houses whitewashed and with green or blue doorposts and window frames. Apart from a couple of hotels in the tourist areas the island still keeps to these 'rules'. And it works! Outside the tourist area's the island feels very unspoilt and that's IMHO a major achievement.
On the island he developed tourist attractions at every interesting spot: the view of the ocean in the north, a restaurant in the middle of the volcano park, a group of buildings and underground plateaus around a hidden volcanic lake. And his own underground house, featuring in architectural and lifestyle magazines ever since. We've been there too so there'll be photos of that to come!
Plus numerous 'Juguete al Viento': wind toys. Just about every roundabout on the island sports a Manrique wind toy, and at the end of our stay when we spotted one of them we knew exactly where we were - and what direction to take to go to our next destiny. Signposts!
In a sort of 60s-70s art style they were easily recognisable and some of them very intricately made.
Btw, we now have a miniature of the most colourful one in our garden..
Anyway.
See some pics of inland Lanza, and this Mirador del Rio, the Manrique Viewpoint at the northernmost point of the island, overlooking the ocean and the small island of La Graciosa. The building is hardly visible and that's another of Manrique ideas: buildings should never be intrusive. So you only see a low wall made of rocks and a small entrance. But then!
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