In November John turned 30 and we decided to celebrate by spending a week in the sun. We chose Lanzarote as John had visited before and really liked the island. We decided to stay at the same hotel he had stayed at previously, Santa Rosa Apartments in Costa Teguise and flew from Newcastle. After a few days of relaxing and trying to acclimatize (I am useless in the heat!) it was time to explore.
For our first excursion we chose to go on the Short South Island tour, mainly because I got a little over excited at the prospect of riding a camel…
The tour took us to Timanfaya National Park in the southwestern part of Lanzarote where we saw the stunning scenery created by eruptions in the 18th century. Brimming with different colours and textures the lava fields look unearthly and photos of the area where apparently shown to Nasa astronauts to prepare them for what the moon would look like.
To demonstrate how hot it is below the surface of Montañas del Fuego we were shows geothermal experiments.
At the restaurant in the heart of the Fire Mountains they even cook the food with the natural heat from under the ground.
Next we were taken to the base of Fire Mountain where the camels were waiting.
We took our seats on either side of our camels hump and up it got. The camels were all connected and in convoy took us round a track on the side of the mountain.
The last stop on our tour was a traditional vineyard where we tasted some very sweet wine.
The vines are grown in sunken pits surrounded by semi circular walls built with volcanic stones. This protects the vines and means that around 2 million litres of wine are produced each year.
The Lanzarote Short South Tour is run by Last Minute Travel and is €20 per person. It runs Monday-Thursday and if you’re visiting Lanzarote I really recommend it.