In which Sid and Doris try to make up for their decision to stay in Blottus Maximus.
Because of his art and also his planning obsession, Señor M is a bit of a local hero. His determination to improve everything that could be built a) lower profile and b) covered in white paint has left a fond legacy, but alas, one that is very suitable for coach trips.
Our first two visits, to the Jardin de Cactus and the Casa de los Volcanos, are not propitious. Both are large-scale projects, easily able to absorb eight coachloads of visitors at once, and they are. This a great example of why cruise ships are so damaging to tourism. Here in Lanzarote people usually stay at least a week, and many of them return. This means that with around 70,000 hotel beds on the island you might get at most 5,000 people visiting a major site in any one day. By contrast, a single big cruise liner (and we can see four docked in Arrecife right now) holds 2,500 passengers, all of whom want to see the key sights on the one day they are in the port.
These are not Sid and Doris places, and we drive on feeling gloomy.
The roads round the north of the island are suddenly quiet, greener and scenic. Our visit to his Mirador del Rio is altogether more charming. Which is very clever of him because in Grand Designs style it is the repurposing of a military bunker, look out post and gun platform.
It has a spectacular view of the Eighth Canary island, answering your unvoiced question “Why did they use the title ‘ALL the Canaries’?” Doris was terribly tempted but truly it would have been a bit of a box-ticking exercise to visit, and looking down on it from up here is probably better. (Hey Anna! For the first time ever we can use the hashtag #bestviewedfromabove!)
The MX-5 is a great little car in many ways, but boot space is not one of its strengths, and it is entirely full with two soft bags and two small rucksacks. We are going to have to resort to gathering Virtual Souvenirs as we do on a bike ride, and so Doris bags these very engaging pictures in the Mirador’s gift shop.
Onwards to More Cesar! Yes, we are unstoppable now, and while we drive through the black-soil agriculture we will tell you that Lanzarote welcomes cyclists of all shapes and fitness. The whole island is very cycle friendly, with signs everywhere and even special parallel roads for cyclists to use. But this is one of the odder bikes we’ve seen.
Our next stop is the Great Man’s Last House. When he was sixty seven he decided that living in the basalt party bubbles was a bit exhausting and so he built this house to seek “quietness and harmony with nature” in Haria. It is a total contrast to the bubble house but equally engaging and still designed for entertaining.
He died in a traffic accident in 1992 at the age of 73 and must have left a huge hole in his friends’ lives. The large studio and his house are kept as he left them.
We finish this post with a gallery of the Great Man’s works that we have seen, making public places across the island just that bit more engaging and fun.
