Lanzarote

This Month in Lanzarote (March):

Shopping: For the latest in authentic Canarian surf T-shirts, surfwear and locally produced surf equipment, check out Santa. There are two branches: one at 123 Calle Limones in Playa Blanca, the other on Avenida Doctor Rafael Gonzalez in Arrecife.

Sightseeing: Support Lanzarote's football team as they face Puertollano at home at the Ciudad Deportiva in Arrecife in their battle to avoid relegation. Game kicks off at 11am on 28 March.

Key areas: Sit yourself down in one of the terrace cafés on Arrecife's main pedestrianised shopping street, Calle Leon y Castillo, and get a real feel for life in the island's capital.

Day trips: The last of César Manrique's monumental creations, the stunning cactus garden, overlooked by a restored windwill, was fashioned from an old picón quarry near Guatiza and features over 1,000 species of cacti.

Lanzarote News & Gossip

Shopping in Lanzarote

Fridge Magnets

€4 EACH

If you need a last-minute present or just want a memento of your island holiday, pick up a few of these fridge magnets from the airport. They sport illustrations of some of Lanzarote's exotic sea life, including (from top) a hammerhead shark, a piranha and a monkfish. Lanzarote (Arrecife) Airport, www.aena.es/csee

Jewellery Set

€13 (EARRINGS)
€20 (NECKLACE)

When local artist César Manrique returned to his native Lanzarote after making his fortune in New York, he created a futuristic home and adjoining studio in a series of five lava bubbles. It's now a museum with a great gift shop selling jewellery inspired by his artwork. Fundacion César Manrique, Taro de Tahíche, Teguise, tel: +34 928 843 138, www.fcmanrique.org

César Manrique Book

€15

Lanzarote's most famous artist created stunning museums and cultural centres across the island, including Jameos del Agua, an extraordinary, James Bond-style restaurant, bar and auditorium hewn into an extinct volcanic tube. This cute little book charts his remarkable career. Jameos del Agua, Carretera Orzola, tel: +34 928 848 020

Felt Devil Pin

€5

Back in the 1730s, Lanzarote's landscape changed radically when volcanic eruptions created the Montañas del Fuego (Fire Mountains), which became the Timanfaya National Park in 1968. Stop off at El Diablo restaurant, where food is cooked using geothermal heat, and pick up this souvenir of the park's devilish mascot. El Diablo, Timanfaya National Park, tel: +34 928 840 057

Cactus Banana Jam

€4.80

The white, modern monument to Lanzarote's farmers in the very centre of the island has a museum attached in a converted farmhouse that showcases local ceramics, embroidery and weaving. Take home this quirky condiment made from Lanzarote's most ubiquitous plant, the cactus. Monumento al Campesino, San Bartolomé, tel: +34 928 520 136

Lanzarote Trivia

• March: Lanzarote's volcanic landscape is used regularly as a video backdrop for car commercials and music videos: The Stone Roses filmed their psychedelic Fool's Gold video among Timanfaya's volcanoes.

• February: Lanzarote's Club La Santa Sport complex has become a popular winter training destination for top sports stars. Newly crowned Formula 1 world champion, Jenson Button, did his winter training there.

• January: The Canary Islands are not named after the bird, but rather the other way around. The place is actually named after large dogs. When the Romans first arrived here, they encountered a pack of huge dogs (Canii in Latin), hence the name.

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