West Africa Cruise: Lazarote, Canary Islands (11.19.24)

Lazarote, in the Canary Islands, which we visited on November 19, 2024, was one of our favorite stops.  An artist, Cesar Manrique, designed large parts of the island, including a spectacular hotel and two visitor centers, one for the national park and another for a viewpoint on Mount Memos, overlooking the island. 

Lazarote, created by volcanos, must have strict building restrictions, because the whole island had a common look--white buildings, black volcanic rock, and a few bright green plants poking up through the lava beds. 

We stopped first at the national park, Timanfaya.  This devilish creature was created by Cesar Manrique as the logo for the park, and we saw him all over.

The visitor center was nearly hidden among the volcanic rocks.

The plants on the island were strange and beautiful.

We drove to a second visitors center, high above the coast, where guides showed how hot the volcano was, right beneath the surface.  They poked dry brush down into crevices in the volcanic rocks, and the brush burst into flames.

The guide poured water into holes in the rocks and it billowed back up as steam.

A chef cooked dinner with the heat from the volcanic rocks.

The views were spectacular.

There were walls of windows at Mount Memos, as well as trails outside, from which we could see the Lazarote coast, as well as other islands near Lazarote.

Our last stop of the day was at a hotel built above an underground grotto.

We climbed out of the grotto to a sky blue swimming pool.