Yaiza

In Yaiza, in the area of the Rubicon, sits the first Franco-Norman village, and from here the conquest began. However, the pirate attacks forced the inhabitants of the village to refuge in a more inland and higher site, Femes.

A little history

In the year 1741, the tower called La Forteleza del Aguila, or de Las Coloradas, was built in Playa Blanca. It was destroyed and rebuilt later under the reign of Carlos III.

After centuries in which the population settled in Femes, Yaiza began to reclaim importance and it gradually became an agricultural village. However, in 1730, the population again abandoned the village and moved to Femes for fear of the activity of the volcanoes around the area of Timanfaya that were erupting and would continue to do so for the next seven years burying eleven villages. Finally, in 1952, Yaiza became the principal centre as its population passed that of Femes.

What to see

The parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad is a hermitage from 1699, but it was reformed on various occasions until it became the church we know today.

The church of San Marcial, situated in Femes, was built at the beginnings of the C17 with the characteristics of popular island architecture and raised as a parish in 1818. La Torre del Aguila, or de Las Coloradas, situated close to Playa Blanca, is the only defence that was built in the south of Lanzarote in the C18.

In the surroundings of the municipality of Yaiza, we find places of extraordinary natural beauty: El Golfo, whose name is due to the shellfish that used to live in its waters, is the cone of the volcano that has in its interior a green coloured lagoon; Los Hervideros, caves over which the waves of the sea crash with such force that they seem to boil; and Las Salinas del Janubio - in the past, the most important source of income on the island - that is now in the process of being regenerated.

Village of Uga.

Small village of peasant cottages.