On Saturday morning we set off before it got too warm to walk along from our accommodation to where the fully pedestrianised prom ends at Pocillos Beach.
When we first got to know Matagorda almost 30 years ago, the authorities were already working to slowly shut off the old coast road in the area and push traffic inland. It became a one way route and was then finally closed to traffic completely.
So many Spanish seaside resorts are, or have been, blighted by roads running right along the sea shore, making access for pedestrians to the sea front difficult.
By closing off this part of the coast road, this area has a much better feel and look about it and tourism has benefited enormously as a result.
The other advantage that Lanzarote more generally has is that, as mass tourism started to take off here, a local artist, sculptor and designer, Cesar Manrique (1919-1992), led a concerted campaign to stop the island becoming blighted by endless high-rise blocks crowding the shoreline. He had no doubt seen how many of the mainland Spanish seaside resorts had developed over the years and decided that Lanzarote should have nothing of it.
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