Travels in Lanzarote: Day 1. Clifftops & Cacti

So, last time I mentioned that I had been off on my travels.

John and I decided to treat ourselves to a bit of sunshine, to cut a hole in the cold, wet, British winter. Neither of us had ever been to the Canary Islands before. Various friends recommended Lanzarote, because of the interesting, volcanic terrain and the way in which the island has been protected from modern development.

I was looking forward to getting some landscape sketching done, so packed two A3 sketchbooks and 4 of my long concertinas. We travelled all over the island and I managed to do something almost every day of the two weeks we were away. I thought I would share the sketches with you a day at a time, rather than overload you with them all at once.

So, these two sketches are what I did on day one. The first is the extraordinary view from Mirador del Guinate, on the north west coast, not far from where we were staying. It was the perfect view for my concertina book, though I had to watch out for the wind! The island you can see is La Graciosa. You can get a ferry across to it, but it costs 20 Euros each and so we never got around to it, as there was so much else to see on the main island.

On the afternoon of our first day, we visited the Jardin de Cactus, one of the many projects created by the architect and artist Cesar Manrique. There are some cracking cacti there. There was a deranged man wandering around too:

The garden is so beautifully put together, like everything Manrique has built on the island. Not only is the cactus collection fascinating, but the space itself is really interesting. Also, every detail is considered and designed, like this lovely cactus peep-hole in the gates:

A smashing first day and a good start on the sketchbook front. Tune in for more, same time tomorrow!