Canary Islands

We spent 3 cool, rainy days in the Canary Islands. They’re extremely interesting, but not somewhere we’ll return. First of all, to put them in perspective, they are to Europe as the Hawaiian Islands are to the United States. They’re vacation paradises with lovely beaches, warm weather and relatively close to Europe, except when we are here. They’re also like Hawaii because they’re volcanic and rose from the ocean floor as the volcano grew over millions of years.

There are 7 islands and our first stop was on Lanzarote, the northernmost island. The last major volcanic eruption here was in 1829, following several in the 18^th century. About ¼ of the island is covered with lava, like that shown in picture 1. The remainder of the island is covered in lava sand, which means black beaches and an interesting growing environment.

We visited Timanfaya National Park, which covers a large part of the volcanic area. Most of our pictures come from the Montañyas del Fuego (Mountains of Fire) area of the park. Pictures 2 and 3 show some of the cones from the volcanic eruptions. These volcanoes are considered extinct, but, interestingly, the eruptions did not allow all the magma below the surface to escape, which means there’s still more to come out! The experts expect that future eruptions will be from new cones. The magma is close to the surface and produces a lot of heat. Picture 4 shows how the restaurant in the park cooks. This is the top of one of the cinder cones and 30 feet below that grate containing potatoes, the temperature is 400 degrees Celsius. If you pick up the volcanic rocks and sand in the area, they’re very warm.

The Spanish have done a wonderful job managing this national park and protecting the lava. They insist that everyone traverse the park on a bus, rather than in hundreds of cars. It’s good for the park, but results in bluish pictures through the bus windows—no getting out for pictures.

At the northern tip of Lanzarote we stopped at a mirador (viewpoint). Picture 5 shows a view down the coast and across a strait to the small island offshore. The colors, rocks and soil shown here are all volcanic. Picture 6 shows a close-up of some volcanic rocks. Little is growing where the lava has flowed—even almost 200 years later. What you see growing on the rocks are lichens—some 200 hundred varieties. From a distance they look like just one variety, but this close-up emphasizes the complexity.

Lanzarote does grow grapes and there are several bodegas. While the wine is not very good, it is interesting to see how it is grown. To protect the vines from the prevailing winds, the vines are laid on the ground and rock walls are built around them in the direction of the winds, as in picture 7. The only other place where vines are put on the ground to protect them from winds is on Santorini in the Greek Islands. Maintaining the vines and managing the grapes is extremely labor intensive.

Finally, we stopped at a lava tube that has been converted to a tourist attraction. It was designed by César Manrique, a local artist, who has greatly influenced tourism and development on the island. There are bars, restaurants and a swimming pool around the actual lava tube, shown in picture 8. The lava tube was originally 7 km long, but much has collapsed. The remaining sections are called Jameos. From this section the original lava tube carried on under the ocean. The water in the lava tube is home to an albino crab, found only here. Picture 9 shows some crabs in the water, each about 1 cm long.

Our second stop was on Gran Canaria Island. Our goal was to go up into the mountains for some beautiful views. Unfortunately, the winds were so strong that we were not allowed above a few hundred feet.  We did manage to visit 2 churches of interest. The first (Picture 10) was a cathedral in the town of Arucas. It was built in the early 20^th century by a student of Gaudi and is very somber looking from the outside. Our guide told of a little boy who once told her it looked like Hogwarts! I can see that.

The second church was the basilica in the town of Teror and is a major pilgrimage site on the island. Picture 11 shows the exterior and Picture 12, the interior—note the lovely wooden beams on the ceiling. It was built on the spot where someone had a vision of the Virgin among the pine trees and is, therefore, called the Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pino. Picture 13 shows the statue that everyone comes to visit.

Finally we visited La Palma Island. Like Gran Canaria, the winds were so strong that we had to remain off the mountains. We did find beautiful scenery (Picture 14 is one example) and loads of banana plantations (Picture 15).  Bananas are actually bushes that will sprout new bushes, and the grower decides which sprout will be the trunk of the following year’s plant, cutting off the rest.  This cycle continues year after year. Picture 16 shows one plant, with the bananas growing. The bananas actually grow out of the purple bulb at the bottom and not all bananas mature. Clustered near the purple bulb are miniature bananas that did not mature.

Sailing for 2 days to get to the Cape Verde Islands. By then we’ll be in the Tropics and, hopefully, warm!