El Golfo is a small fishing village, the southwest coast of the island of Lanzarote, which does not lack charm, with its narrow streets, small houses with traditional architecture and its fishing boats from the black sand beach. Many of these fishermen’s houses have become holiday residences.
This village - about 150 people - is part of the municipality of Yaiza. It is famous for a natural curiosity, the Green Lagoon (Laguna Verde) and for its fish restaurants.
El Golfo (“Gulf”) is named after the name given by the people to the semi-circular lagoon of Lago de los Clicos or Charco Verde, formed by the collapsed crater of Montaña del Golfo.
The village of El Golfo is located inside the Natural Park of Los Volcanes, south of the National Park Timanfaya; the village is in a desert landscape surrounded by lava and volcanic ash eruptions that occurred between 1730 and 1736.
From Playa Blanca, 18 km (20 minutes), you reach El Golfo via the LZ-701 road and then the scenic route LZ-703, which runs along the west coast between the volcanic peaks of Montaña de la Vieja Gabriela and beaches black sand; First road bypasses the salt marshes of the Laguna de Janubio, then passes near the impressive cliffs of Los Hervideros before reaching the fishing village and its green lagoon. Yaiza is located 8.5 km southeast of El Golfo by the LZ-704 road.
The Laguna Verde is a natural site of rare beauty, the green color contrast with the ochre, red and black tones of the surrounding volcanic rocks, especially just before sunset; it is one of the main natural attractions of the island of Lanzarote.
The vocabulary hesitate to describe this strange body of water: El Charco (“the puddle”), El Lago (“Lake”) or La Laguna (“lagoon”) Verde or Los Clicos. The Laguna Verde (“Green Lagoon”) is a separate body of water from the sea by a sand, but no longer communicating with the sea through a channel as do the lagoons: Green Lagoon is fed by seepage sea water through underground cracks in rocks and volcanic sands.
The greenish color of Charco Verde due to the presence on its surface, a fresh water algae, the sea grass (Ruppia maritima), which is adapted to the high salinity of the lagoon, and the the presence of sulfur in its waters. His other name, Charco de los Clicos, is the fact that there was an abundance of edible shellfish once called “clicos”; this species has now disappeared from the waters of Laguna Verde.
The Lago Verde is also a crater lake: it is located in the crater of Montaña del Golfo whose western part disappeared in the ocean; the last eruption of this volcano took place in the eighteenth century (1730-1736). The Volcán del Golfo is an example of hydrovolcanism, a submarine volcano; This phenomenon is seen especially on the coasts: the meeting of magma and water causes an explosion which forms a porous volcanic tuff ring, which, by the action of time, creates spectacular formations. This tuff ring there is only a half-crater, forming a beautiful semicircular bay, El Golfo, the eastern part of the crater, whose ridged wall rises to 157 meters above the lake.
Connected to the beach by a sand bar, a rock stands in the bay there is a dyke, a hard lava chimney whose softer rocks around him have been eroded by the action of ’ocean. This dyke accentuates the dramatic character of the landscape when the raging ocean waves crash against him.
Green Lagoon about 150 meters long and is about 50 meters from the ocean, behind a cordon of black sand of 320 m long and 30 m wide on average. For unknown reasons, the lake evaporates increasingly and has a fraction of its original size. The lagoon water salinity has exceptional: it is denser and saltier than the Dead Sea.
The sandy beach and volcanic black pebbles contains olivine, semiprecious stones olive green color that come from the earth’s mantle; these stones attract amateur geologists and the region of jewelry manufacturers.
The Laguna Verde is a few hundred meters south of the village of El Golfo; it is separated from the village by a lava flow. Since parking a dirt road off to the left and drove to a lookout with a beautiful view of the lagoon. From the viewpoint a path down to the lagoon and to the beach.
The Charco Verde is surrounded by a fence, and it is not allowed to penetrate, let alone swim in it because it is a nature reserve; swimming is not allowed on the beach because too dangerous due to strong currents.
The site Laguna Verde was the backdrop for the movie "One Million Years BC" (1966), in which Raquel Welch wore a bikini in animal skin.
The village of El Golfo is known for its many fresh fish restaurants, popular with islanders and tourists, where you can enjoy the sunsets while sipping wines from Lanzarote.
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Fishing boats. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Fishing boats on the beach. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
Situation_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Wild Coast to El Golfo. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
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The Green Lagoon (.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. green lagoon of El Golfo. Click to enlarge the image.")
.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Panorama of the green lagoon (author Stefan Krause). Click to enlarge the image.")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Beach Lagoon. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Green Lagoon. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Green Lagoon. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Green Lagoon. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Crater of El Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Crater of El Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Crater of El Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. the Dyke del Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. the Dyke del Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Crater of El Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Crater of El Golfo volcano. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
_small.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Access to the Green Lagoon. Click to enlarge the image in Adobe Stock (new tab).")
.jpg "The village of El Golfo in Lanzarote. Poster of the film \"One Million Years BC\". Click to enlarge the image.")
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