Travel Man: 24 Hours in Lanzarote

Joe Lycett shows more willing celebrity guests how to get the most out of a weekend away, with a fun-packed, 48-hour itinerary of trademark humour and facts. For the final trip of the series, Joe heads to Lanzarote with comedian Jessica Fostekew.

Their Canarian caper begins in the island’s former capital, Teguise, where they check in to the Hotel Boutique Palacio Ico, complete with volcano view. Lanzarote is known as the island of a thousand volcanoes, so Joe and Jess hire a trike to discover the lunar landscape, stopping off at a green lake that turns out to not be quite as green as promised, and where Raquel Welch donned a fur bikini in the 1966 film One Million Years BC.

They sample volcanic wine in the surreal and surprisingly fertile region of La Geria before stopping off for a traditional meal of limpets and bienmesabe; a dessert that translates as ‘it tastes good to me’. The work of artist and architect César Manrique can be seen all over the island, showcasing his belief that artistic creation should be in harmony with nature. Joe and Jess visit the Jameos del Agua that embodies Manrique’s vision; a partially collapsed lava tube that houses a restaurant, concert hall and crystalline lagoon which is home to the Jameito, a tiny blind albino crab found nowhere else in the world.

The seven main Canary Islands are said to be linked to the seven chakras, which is more than enough reason for Joe and Jess to book into a yoga session on a volcanic plain. Then it’s on to Puerto Calero for a submarine safari and finally to the Jardin de Cactus, another of César Manrique’s creations, which has 500 different species of cactus and a café serving cactus croquettes.