Friday 9 December 2011

Lanzarote 2



This spacey looking view was taken at Manrique's former home.  It's actually a coloured glass ball marking the edge of a path.


Instead of a traditional garden Lanzarote is covered in all kinds of cacti and succulents.  You can probably tell by now that the sculpture above is one of Manrique's.  


The walls that you can see above provide shelter for plants, most particularly grapevines which are an important crop in Lanzarote.  At night the humidity is attracted to the hollows and is channelled to provide moisture to the plants.


Just like at Jameos del Agua the rooms at the Manrique Foundation are built in collapsed lava chambers.



Large picture windows give a view out to the lava field that the house is built in.  If you click on the photo you should be able to see the folds of lava where they have cooled mid-flow.  I have only seen volcanoes on the tv and as awesome as they are it amazing to see the evidence of their arrested flow looking as though it could be coming towards you.  



Manrique collected many artworks in his life and many are housed here at the Foundation.  This glass piece above is by Adolph Luther and concerns concave and convex surfaces. 









More inspiration in the garden.

13 comments:

Timaree said...

Love that last picture. It'd be fun to see this in person. Even though I am used to cactus since I live in a desert, the lava is so different plus the artwork here! Looks like you picked a great place to go visit.

Mrs Mac said...

Wonderful light, all those colours. WIsh I was there....except.... how big were the creepy crawlies?

ju-north said...

Never realised it was so interesting here!

Angela said...

Your pictures are great, I really like the first one.

Emma said...

Just amazing, a place! So glad you had a good trip away ;)

pam said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip - I loved Lanzarote when we went and found having my food cooked over the volcano fascinating.

Peneller said...

What a spectacular place! I'm glad you had a good time. Lots of inspiration here for the next quilt!
Happy Christmas and hope to see you in the new year.love Penny

Sandra Wyman said...

Loads of inspirational photos here Julie!

Heather said...

A fantastic post Julie, and what an amazing place for a holiday. Such unusual features and wonderful photos. Thankyou for sharing them.

Wendy said...

All this and you were only there for one day? I hope you got a good sleep that night. It looks like a wonderful place

sharon young said...

Fabulous pics Julie, I loved the tour :-)

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Beautiful inspiring photo's especially when its cold,wet and windy here!
Lovely to hear you had a good holiday.x

Unknown said...

What a lovely pictures Julie!