Arrieta & Surroundings

Following the road further north, you will soon reach the small, rather plain fishing village of Arrieta, pepped up with one of Manrique’s striking wind sculptures in red on the roundabout at its entrance. With some modest tourist development going on in its surroundings, Arrieta offers its visitors a small harbour with a quay made of volcanic rock and an equally small beach with white sand – Playa de la Garita – where some good fish restaurants are well worth a try. At the waterfront, sticking out from its surroundings with its unusual architecture, stands a two-storey, red and blue coloured house, enclosed by a white lattice-fence, housing the Centro de Arte y Cultura Africana (Museum of African Art and Culture), which is closed at the time.

Punta de Mujeres, just a bit further north of Arrieta, is our next passing point. This little, and still untouched, fishing hamlet marks the beginning of Malpaís de la Corona, a stretch of badlands extending for about 10 km (6.2 miles) to the north. Some 5,000 years ago, volcanic eruptions caused lava streaming out from the colossal Monte Corona – standing 609 m high (2,000 ft) and measuring 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in diameter at its base and 450 m (1,480 ft) at its top section – clearly visible from far. In spite of these eruptions dating back thousands of years, the Malpaís still shows remarkable little vegetation, but it boasts one of the longest lava tubes in the world, which runs southeast from the volcano for about 7.5 km (4.7 miles) – the last 1.5 km (approx.1 mile) already under water – before it joins the sea at around 50 m (164 ft) under water level. Two of the most popular tourist attractions Lanzarote’s, Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes, originated from occasional dilatations of this tube – coming about through explosions of enclosed gas – producing these strange and spectacular lava formations.

All along the coastal stretch of the Malpaís, which can be explored on footpaths, the dark basalt stone is in striking contrast with the white sand of the small bathing coves and the glistening greenish-blue of the Atlantic, an ideal place for families holidaying with children.


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