BOTH Michael Palin and Lanzarote have come a long way since he notoriously dubbed the isle “Lanzagrotty”. I met Palin in London recently and I joked about his tag – to be fair he had already long since apologised. And no wonder as Lanzarote is one of the finest Canary Isles, ideal for a dash of winter sun as I found when I flew back out last week.
Palin’s quip couldn’t be further from the truth, thanks largely to another mammoth creative talent, Lanzarote-born artist and polymath Cesar Manrique. He not only fashioned seven glorious, low-impact tourist attractions, but he set out a template still followed today, steering development away from high-rise hotels, towards sympathetic whitewashed buildings that work with nature rather than trample over it.
For the majority of my trip I didn’t even stay at a hotel, high-rise or otherwise. I’d heard great things about Yescapa (www.yescapa.co.uk), who hook visitors up with locals happy to hire out their campervans. I got the lowdown on his four-berth van from Angel just minutes after flying in. Anyone aged over 24 with a UK driving licence can hire a van here and I cannot recommend it enough.
