Blog Charco del Palo

On top of the crater rim of the volcano Guanapay, close to the historic capital of the island Teguise, you find the the Castillo de Guanapay, better known as Castillo de Santa Bárbara. Since 2010 it includes a small Piracy Museum with ship models, maps, graphs, and among others a model showing the center area of the village of Teguise.

The Castillo de Santa Bárbara castle has a rich, over 500 year old history. Once built to protect Lanzarote against the numerous pirate raids, an undertaking which only partly succeeded because the castle was repeatedly attacked and captured. The Canary Islands were an interesting ground for pirates as the archipelago has always have been something like a bridge abutment between the old and the new world.

If the weather is fine, you have a magnificent view from the castle. On both sides, in the East as well as in the West you can see the Ocean, to the North the view stretches as far as the small neighbour island La Graciosa and in the South you can see the Fire Mountains of the National Park Timanfaya. It's really worthwile to visit, for example on a Sunday after the Teguise market, when you already are there...