After a relaxing morning, chilling at the Fundación César Manrique, we waited a few hours before taking our car to climb one of many volcanos of Lanzarote : the Caldera Blanca! It takes approximately 3 hours to walk through the lava fields, climb the volcano and come back. Since we noticed it was dark at about 8.30pm, we had to start hiking at 5.30pm to watch the sunset at a 360° view over the island.
There were many benefit of leaving late: the air was more fresh and we didn’t meet hords of tourists, though I think the area is not experiencing rush hours. We met a French couple that were on their way back to the car, and seemed surprised to see us starting the adventure so late on the afternoon.
Anyway, the landscape was really beautiful. After parking your car at Mancha Blanca, you will first have to walk on a path through the lava field.
The first crater you will see is the Caldereta, a small one just next to the Caldera Blanca. Then you have 2 choices to climb the volcano : clockwise or the opposite. We chose the opposite: pursue the path and start climbing at the north-west side of the volcano ; it’s supposed to be easier to find.
Once on the edge of the crater, the view is quite impressive, and if you look around you can attend the sunset over the sea, at the north-west of the island, where the lava reached the sea.
Then starts the walk at the top of the volcano to hike until its highest point. More at the south-west, you can enjoy the view of Timanfaya, with amazing shades of red and ochres. At that point, the wind started to blow very hard and I was a little worried to fall either inside the volcano or on the other side. Moreover, the sun was low and the temperature was dropping… such an adventure!
We continued our walk, not really knowing what was the path but fortunately Yoann was more confident than I was. As the light was so beautiful at the end of the day, he found the path to go down the volcano, at the north-east. We walked down the mountain, with the Caldereta in a bath of gold light right in front of us. We even saw the famous « loving shepard » pen, which is heart-shaped.
Since we spent a lot of time appreciating the view and taking pictures, it was dark on our way back to the village. The stars were sparkling above us and we were exhausted but happy 🙂
After this thrilling adventure, we deserved to wander quietly from the Monumento al Campesino to the wineyards of La Gería on the following day.