Timanfaya volcano park in Lanzarote

Timanfaya volcano park in Lanzarote 

Lanzarote is an extraordinarily beautiful island. Although there are no dense forests and rivers as on La Gomera island, at first glance at the mountains you begin admiring them.

And it’s up to shades and textures. The island of purple mountains. Red, brown, coffee, light brown, reddish, and brick colors are seen everywhere.

And soft forms shimmer in waves on the horizon. It’s especially nice to contemplate all this through pink and purple sky shades.

We decided immediately on arrival, in the first morning, to visit the most interesting place of the island – accumulation of volcanic craters and unreal landscapes, like on the Moon.

If to imagine the volcano craters, which actually are as if (in mild words) deficiencies on the Earth’s skin, they emerged from the deepness and damaged everything in several kilometers around. But somehow these craters look great, charming. In fact you simply want to contemplate these textures and shapes. So we wanted to come closer to them, and what’s even better – to see everything from height as on Google Maps!

Heading along the main road you can also see different craters, but they are far and you can’t approach them closer due to sharp hardened lava, fissures in the ground, large stones – as after the Apocalypse.

We woke up in the morning to take shots at sunrise. We stopped at the famous Timanfaya park, turned to the road leading to the craters, and then were met by a gate bar and patrol vehicle. Entrance from 9 am! And we came nearly at 6 am?! We came across the same almost everywhere on Lanzarote. But nothing could be done! – in the meantime we went to take photos of vineyards, but that’s another article.

We didn’t have time to find the details on the Internet before and therefore didn’t know what waited for us on 🙂 Timanfaya park looks like that on the schematic map of Lanzarote.

And it’s simply amazing thing on a relief map:

We watched even more frightening ground surface along the way. Large fossil lava remnants, deep cracks, and craters. As though they once were a spherical chocolate dessert, which was then poured with cold sauce because of which the top fell down.

Though there’s stiffer texture – like dried clay or soil. But it’s extremely beautiful and very impressive.

We didn’t believe our eyes that land can have such a surface.

Incredible crater! It’s so near! Nearly 300 years ago a new giant here was formed!

Another giant! However Lanzarote is a quite low island when compared to others.

The highest point is just 600 m.

Here we are! Literally. Once we turned on bend we saw a parking site and parking attendants who accurately indicate where to park. Then we were being shown to a bus. “Well, well” – we thought. So we must take a bus to some area and at last we’ll see all the unreal beauty close to us!!!

• -Aha! Here you are! You wanted to take cool photos? – And we won’t allow you to!
• – Take a glazed bus with dark film on windows!
• – And contemplate in such a way!
• – Withdraw from the bus? Are you nuts?
• – We deliberately adopted the law to preserve the unique lands completely intact!
• – It is against you, tourists, who will steel and tread everything!
• – You’d better listen to a short story in three languages and extraordinary soundtracks that will make you feel as if there is end of the world going on!
• – Pleasant viewing!
• “How stupid we were” – we thought!

And what to do for as much as 30 minutes. ? – Entertain and capture those happy moments when the sun is not reflected in the window and something is even seen and even take some photo.

What can we say? If we read about this in advance, we wouldn’t come here. However, it would be a mistake. You know what we were thinking of when got off the bus? – We want some more :)) For we haven’t enjoyed to the full. Those views are so charming that beckon to them! And lots of unreal landscapes or what we managed to grab on the go ))

And the map was at first, which shows everything. You can drive your car only to the parking site and then transfer to the bus by tickets we were given at the park entrance. The bus was gradually driving along narrow one-way road between the craters and even dipping into the narrow passage between vertical walls of lava. Oh, that’s fantastic!

Would be! If even driving at least in a cabriolet or open double-decker. We all had sunglasses, why then the black windows (((

In fact it’s very well that residents want to preserve, conserve this unique land. They did this road with the bus for the sake of the nature. For there’s no other way into the Park. And, at least they show so! Just what we can’t chew is why isn’t the bus with open windows?

We wrote in the introductory article on Lanzarote that almost 300 years ago there was fertile land, people lived happily. Suddenly three dozens of burning mountains emerged out of the earth. For 6 long years have the volcanoes been ejecting lava on the surrounding land. So old land and soils remained deep under the hardened stones. Almost half of the island is unsustainable.

Shed crater!

The surface varies from flat ground, as though interspersed with fine sand, to rigid, prickly and hard rock.

The craters are incredibly beautiful. So we wanted to look around… But the driver did not stop. For the next bus back will follow soon.

How correctly we heard some mere three sentences of record played on the bus, nothing can grow on these lands, since the temperature changes is very rough from the night to the day.

We enter a narrow passage with vertical walls through lava!

It seems only we were eager to see it in more details and enjoy the longer the better out of all those present ))) All the rest wanted just to click something and rush into the restaurant!

And then we were whipping the cat once again!

Main advice: best to sit on the side opposite to the driver! At the highest point, at the end of the route, «O’MY GOD» panorama opened from the height of about 400 meters. And no one in the foreground with cameras in their hands! And the driver even stops for a little – you can stick to the window and get wide-eyed!

We would like to come through those “terrible” soundtracks 10 times for this moment.

This is the coolest place that looks like a foreign lifeless planet!

Don’t forget where to be seated! To avoid what we suffered)))

And there’re more impressive moments of Lanzarote.

This attraction was made up by the creator of almost all tourist spots on Lanzarote.

Passionate for his native island, captured by the unique nature, Cesar wanted to save it from the destructive power of millions of tourists. He mapped the route and did everything he could for the park to become Biosphere Reserve protected by law. The park opened in 1974. The area of Timanfaya National Park is 51 km². And it’s not just a small part, all the rest of the surrounding land is just unprotected by law.

ЗАМАМ’ЯТАЛИ КУДИ СІДАТИ? Щоб не було такого як в нас )))

Another crater fell inside!

Fun adventure. We laughed at the music, at the tourists, and at ourselves ))

We were passing along a small trail near the top of the crater like an ant!

Our unforgettable 30 minutes gone. Everyone enjoyed it – all clapped out and left the bus happy)) Just we felt ourselves to be cheated. But that’s not it. The parking site is located near a restaurant designed by the same Cesar Manrique. And he decided to build it on the largest volcano crater!!! On the active volcano.

There are two evidences that the volcano Islote de Hilario doesn’t sleep at all. The first evidence – the park employee throws tuft of dry hay into a shallow hole – and the hay’s burning in a moment!

Evidence No. 2 a park employee pours a bucket of water into a pipe buried underground. And strong geyser shoots in a moment!

And the zest of the restaurant bearing the name invented by Cecar – El Diablo (the logo of which can be guessed owing to its translation (the Devil) – is a giant grill that is constantly heated from the very crater from underground. The temperature reaches 600 degrees merely 13 m underfoot. Cool, that is!

The restaurant design since the 1970s! It’s very beautiful and creative here. But there’s one drawback in food. We haven’t tasted grilled rabbits but everything else at the bar is tasteless.

It has happened to all the “miradors” of Lanzarote.

We arrived at 9:20 and a third or even a quarter of parking was occupied. A few hours later it was just packed. By the way, you can come again by the old ticket to the parking site, i.e. to the restaurant. That won’t work for the bus, since the counterfoil is torn off. This is done perhaps for those wanting to get again to the restaurant for dinner.

These are the bans everywhere on Lanzarote. Mostly everything is open till 4 pm. You have no chances for the sunset due to gate bar. Many limitations. This is what we observed by ourselves. We understand that nature is worth saving and we can imagine what it would be like if it was allowed to walk everywhere. But we have never experienced such on any of the other islands. We are delighted by Cesar Manrique – but why the bus isn’t open top? ))

As we were made fools of ourselves on Lanzarote or adventure in a marvelous bus