Lanzarote still has several remaining windmills (los molinos) although a few of these are now in ruins. The Lanzaroteños grew maize, which after harvesting was toasted and then taken to the local mill for crushing to create their staple diet of gofio.  The mills were also used to crush barley, wheat and chick peas to create flours (frangollo, millo & trigo).

The mills can vary in height as they could have one or two floors. The millo tostado (roasted corn) was taken inside up the stairs to the top of the building and poured into a special wooden funnel (tolba), which dropped the corn bit by bit onto the huge lava rock millstone with a central hole, underneath this stone would be a similar round stone but static.

The wind would turn the sails which could be turned to harness the direction of the wind, the sails moved a series of gears which then transmitted the power to the top millstone to crush and grind the toasted corn into the gofio powder, this would then pour out of a chute to the floor below where it could be sacked.

If there was a lower floor of the mill, this would be the warehouse (almacen).  read more »

The Castillo de Santa Bárbara sits high up on Mount Guanapay overlooking Teguise, the old capital and the island of Lanzarote. King Felipe II ordered the castle to be built by D. Sanco de Herrera in the 16th Century as a watch tower to help protect the islanders from pirates and privateers such as Sir Francis Drake who was known as El Draque (The Dragon) to the Spanish.

It is rumoured that a tunnel connects the castle to the town of Teguise below and that the islanders could go to ground when invaded.  read more »

If you’ve driven or walked along the Avenida la Marina, on the sea front of Arrecife the capital of Lanzarote, you’ve got to have noticed the beautiful and striking kiosk, that is currently open as a tourist information centre.  read more »

Arrecife has two castles on the waterfront, the Castillo San José sits overlooking Puerto Naos. This castle was built between 1776 and 1779 as ordered by King Don Carlos III. It was positioned at the port to look out for pirates and known locally as the ‘Fortress of Hunger’ because the construction helped to provide employment and alleviate hunger for the Conejeros who were struggling against thirst, hunger and disease following the volcanic eruptions.

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Arrecife has two castles, Castillo San Gabriel is the one situated right in the centre of town on the end of the main shopping street Leon y Castillo. The castle was originally a wooden fortress, built in 1573 to defend Arrecife from pirates and attacks from North Africa, unfortunately it was destroyed by fire a few years later by the pirate - Morato Arráez.

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The King’s house (Residencia de los Reyes) is situated on Calle Real, right on the coast at the end of the promenade in Costa Teguise. The house, La Mareta, belonged to King Hussein of Jordan who offered it as a gift to Don Juan Carlos in 1991 and now belongs to the Patrimonial Nacional, but it is available when ever the Royals or their guests want to use it.

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For those of you on a car tour around the island of Lanzarote, have a look out for the very quaint chapel perched on the top of the mountains Risco de las Nieves (which means snow!), accessed by a small road close to the giant modern windmills through Los Valles on the road from Teguise to Haría.

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