By: john albert
Submitted: 2010-08-04 02:49:07 | Word Count: 485
As one of the seven islands of Canary Islands, Lanzarote is the fourth largest and the most eastern one. It was born like its other sisters and brothers out of volcano eruptions 35 million years ago. The name of the island in its native language Titerro(y)gatra means ‘the red mountain’. According to the theory of continental drift by Alfred Wegener who explored the island in 1912, Lanzarote with other islands nearby was the result of the breakup of the African and the American continental plates.
The reason why Lanzarole can be a perfect tourist destination is largely due to its temperate climate. During the daytime, the average temperature on the island is ranging from 21°C to 29°C. This island enjoy circa 2500 hours sunshine annually. With a location near the Sahara desert, the climate of the island is also been influenced, therefore, sometimes people call the climate of the island as semi-desert climate which is dry with rare rains. On the island, there is more than 300 days sunshine but only around 16 rainy days which are usually happened during the months from December to February.
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If you think that Lanzarole is a place only with beaches and basking in the sunshine, you could not be more wrong. There are other attractions in Lanzarole waiting for you to explore.
The Timanfaya National Park is one of the most popular national parks in Spain and the most visited attraction on the island. It is considered as the only closet to the Moons surface which you can find on the earth. In order to protect this land of precious ecological value, it was declared as a national park under the Decree of August 9th, 1974, which was confirmed by law in 1981. Each year there are around 900,000 visitors coming and exploring such surreal landscapes.
This natural wonder was created by the most recent volcanic eruptions took place in 1930s, which last almost 6 years, between the year of 1730 and 1736. The same thing happed in 1824 which disrupted the once most fertile land and the local people there have to leave to start a new life somewhere else.
Today the whole park occupies an area of 51.07 km² in the south west which is quite dominant on this small island. The island was born from the eruption which doomed that the life on this island will be profoundly influenced by it in response. For example, except tourism, the local economy is about agriculture. Besides, from the works of the Lanzarote born artist César Manrique, you can also tell the colors and textures of f the Timanfaya region.
Hiring a car in Lanzarote is obviously advantageous not only because it is cheap but it allows you to explore this island with freedom and ease. Car rental companies like Autos Famara, Hertz, Plus Car, Record Rent A Car, Rent a Car Anthon, and Autos Feber will take care of your need.
