La Gomera

I got up early to join the tour group at the ferry terminal. There were many people waiting already. What would it be like in high season? The ferry was operated by Fred Olsen, a 150 year-old Norwegian maritime company that entered the Canarian market in 1974. It was a vehicular and passenger ferry: large, comfortable and efficient.

We disembarked at San Sebastián de La Gomera, boarded the bus and immediately ascended for the national park in the centre, Garajonay. Gomera is a typical volcanic island: circular, with steep slopes and deep valleys. To travel between valleys usually requires heading towards the centre first.

Our guide Michel was jovial, and interspersed jokes with information. He had a habit of commencing his sentences with Good so. He duplicated his spiel in both tour languages: English and German. He got a few laughs from the anglophones explaining that because rabbits are pests, they are hunted without compunction and turned into a famous Gomeran dish: lapin au vin, or rabbit run over by a van. (The joke works better verbally.) He didn't translate that one into German; it doesn't work there.

Gara and Jonay (page in Spanish) were essentially the Romeo and Juliet of Gomera. In a park clearing are these wooden representations of them. I don't remember what the donkey was about. Maybe that's how they ascended the mountain. Some Spanish tourists took pictures in ribald poses with the statues.

Garajonay is a well preserved example of laurisilva, important because it collects water from the the northern side to be used in the drier south. Some plant photos follow.

Chamomile.

Marsh marigold I think.

Canarian succulent. These can be found growing in crevices on rocks all over.

Another one, in a garden.

Calia lily.

Lunch was provided in a restaurant overlooking a valley. At the end of the meal, a couple of waiters demonstrated the whistled language invented by early Gomerans to communicate across ravines and valleys.

You can barely see El Teide in the distance.

House construction on Gomera has to contend with steep slopes but the views are fantastic.

On return to San Sebastián, we had a hurried ½ hour to explore the small town. Gomera was the last port of call for Columbus on his first crossing. He had intended to stay only 4 days to replenish his wine and water, but ended up staying a month to romance the lady governor of the island. The house he is reputed to have stayed in is now a museum.

The Iglesia de La Asunción.

While waiting at the jetty for the ferry, I saw how clear the Atlantic water was. Fish swam just beneath the surface, unafraid of the humans watching them.