Our Tuesday morning was focused around Lanzarote’s most famed attraction, Timanfaya National Park. The park occupies about 20 square miles in the southeastern portion of the island and is made up entirely of volcanic soil. Access to the public is limited, with most visitors taking in the park via a one-way ride on a coach bus through the park’s fascinating volcanic landscape.
Both the guidebook and online reviews suggested arriving early, so we did just that. The timing of our arrival worked out perfectly, as we went immediately from our parking spot to board the bus for the aforementioned tour. The tour lasted about 50 minutes, with recorded audio descriptions in Spanish, English, and German. We benefitted from seats near the back of a bus that wasn’t completely full, as we could walk across the aisle to take in the views from either side of the bus when it stopped to allow riders to take photos.
Noah, Eilidh, and I sat together in the back row of the bus.
When the tour concluded, we exited the bus to participate in a series of three demonstrations to showcase the power of the park’s only active volcano, Timanfaya, for which the park is named. The first showed how quickly a pile of brush catches on fire from the ground’s volcanic heat. The second demonstration featured a bucket of water dumped into a metal pipe before shooting up like a geyser seconds later, again due to the heat. The final demonstration took us to a cooking chamber where the ground heat was used to cook chicken and potatoes which were served at the park’s restaurant.
The floor to the barbecue rotunda was warm to touch.
Other guests helped us get a rare family photo at the national park!
We’d planned to eat at the restaurant, but only snacks were available until Noon, and our only option to further explore the park was to shop at the gift shop. We decided to move on for the day, driving to a cafe in nearby Yaiza which had a strong collection of Google reviews. On our way out of the park, the recommendations to arrive early were validated as we encountered a long line of cars waiting to enter the park.
Our lunch destination in Yaiza.
Like our experience a day earlier, when we arrived at the 7 Hojas cafe, drink orders were taken but there was no menu to be found. Even though the restaurant was open all day, the lunch service didn’t start until 1:00 p.m. The waitress spoke only Spanish, but we learned they served sandwiches in the morning with options including pollo (chicken), bacon, and queso (cheese.) I ordered two chicken sandwiches and two cheese sandwiches, which were brought to our table within a few minutes. We supplemented our carb-heavy lunch with a can of Pringles, an item we spotted at the bar that was also available before lunch service.
Noah and Emmie with their basic cheese sandwiches.
Eilidh had half of Emmie’s sandwich.
Next up was our hike of La Caldera de Los Cuevos, our opportunity to get up close with one of dozens of volcanic craters on the island of Lanzarote. The well-rated stop was built for easy hiking. From the car park, we followed a well-defined gravel path with multiple signposts along the route explaining the volcano and its role in Lanzarote’s history. This particular volcano was believed to be the first to erupt in a series of eruptions on the island in the early 1700s.
Pre-hike photo!
Eilidh was extremely happy at the start of the walk…
…but she was asleep by the end.
The crater inside the volcano was impressive, and the path was set up to give visitors significant access in the crater after a very modest hike. When we planned a volcano hike, Amanda had her sights set on something more equivalent to our 2015 experience in Iceland’s Heimaey island. The hiking experience this time around was a bit less organic, but more family-friendly and still yielded some impressive views and photos.
Emmie poses outside the entrance to the inside of the crater.
With our key volcano sites in the books by 2:00 p.m., we made just one final impromptu stop on our return to our Lanzarote home, at a cheese factory and shop called El Faro that was directly along our driving route. The shop was only slightly more interesting than the two we stopped at in Fuerteventura, but this time around, at least the staff was interested in letting us sample and purchase cheese.
Noah tried a couple of types and picked the semi-cured variety. I bought the smallest piece they had packaged, which seemed far bigger than necessary but was only a few Euros. Our best find from the stop was locally-made potato chips that Amanda and I consumed during the remainder of the drive and were truly some of the best potato chips I’ve eaten, anywhere.
Excellent potato chips.
We had a bit of a lazy afternoon around our house, where Amanda kept the kids entertained and quiet enough that I could take an outdoor nap on our home’s shaded patio area. Afterward, we put on our swimsuits for a walk to the beach. After refusing to go in the water during our last beach visit, Eilidh surprised us and ran to the water this time around, allowing Amanda to capture some fantastic sunset photos.
We loved opening the windows at our Lanzarote house.
Noah and Emmie each wrote their names in the sand on Famara Beach.
Eilidh was thrilled about the opportunity to ride in the front seat with Amanda on the very short ride down the street from the beach to our place.
Amanda stayed home with the kids, preparing them a charcuterie-style supper that included hams, cheeses, bread, olives, and green beans. I returned to the capital city of Arrecife, specifically the same McDonald’s restaurant we had eaten the night before. My trip wasn’t for the food, but rather to take advantage of the comparatively high-speed internet to catch up on blogging and work for Neapolitan Labs.
