Fascinating, strange landscape, lots of photo possibilities.
Now, about that local wine....?
OK, let's talk about wine.
There is quite a lot of wine made on the island, especially considered how dry it is, making it difficult to grow crops.
I think it is fair to say it is the major cultivation on Lanzarote (in the past it was cactus - use to grow cochinille, which was the source of red food colouring. Lanzarote was a world player until chemical industry wiped them out of the market).
Back to wines, my experience is only with the whites, because they are said to be better, but there are also reds. Besides, eating fish everyday, I was not interested in reds.
One of the main grapes is malvasia, brought in centuries ago from Crete.
After a period of oblivion it has had a resurgence several decades ago.
There are sweet, semi-dry and dry Malvasias. My favourites are the dry ones. Sadly I could bring back only a couple of bottles due to luggage constraints.
It is possible to visit the wine makers, although I did not have time to take the tours, just bought the wine directly.
And now the connection with photography. Wine is made mainly in the district of La Geria and the way the vines are grown is as peculiar as the island, and in fact a direct consequence of its geography.
The result is very pleasing to the eye.
Vines are grown in 1-2 meter deep conical pits dug in the ground. 1-2 plants in each pit. The pits are protected upwind by a low drywall made of lava rock, semicircular in shape, to protect from the prevailing wind, the Trade Wind. The pit is covered in crushed lava ("picon") that has a specific function. When night falls moisture in the air condenses onto the picon in the pit, which being porous absorbs it. The vines survive just with this water.
The holes are placed regularly and form a beautiful geometrical landscape. Here follow some images of La Geria, shot the morning of my last full day of holidays.
PS: The place where I bought my wine is shown in the second picture.
It is the large building on the left of the picture, along the road that cuts the image in half lengthwise.
