Off to the Canary Islands

I got up early, had a breakfast of an ensaïmada (a Mallorcan pastry) and orange juice from one of the many commuter cafes in Barcelona, surfed a bit at an Internet cafe and returned to the residencia to pack up and head out to the airport. The Air Europa flight was full of Spaniards.

The Canary Islands comprise 7 major islands. I would visit 5 of them. I would start from the largest, Tenerife, visit Gomera on a day trip, skip the 2 westernmost islands of La Palma and El Hierro, and progress eastwards. I would return to Barcelona from Lanzarote, the easternmost island.

The Canaries are a political oddity. They are closest to Africa but politically in Europe. Although they were inhabited before Europeans arrived, Spain took control of the islands in the 15th century.

The islands enjoy a sub-tropical climate, it's never too hot or too cold there and sunshine is abundant. As you can imagine this makes them a desirable holiday destination. In fact, one problem for the independent traveller is that most visitors come on package tours and stay in apartments so there are few backpacker establishments.

The islands are volcanic in origin and there is still activity on Lanzarote. The rain bearing winds diminish going east so the westernmost islands are the lushest.


The name is thought to come from the Latin for dog. It may have referred to a species of seal which the Romans saw when they discovered the islands. The eponymous native bird is actually named after the islands.

On arrival I could catch a bus to either the capital of Tenerife, Santa Cruz, near the north-east tip of the wedge-shaped island, or Puerto de la Cruz, on the mid-northern coast of the island. I decided on the latter, as visitor destinations are away from the capital. On the last part of the journey, the road  passed banana plantations on slopes descending to ocean. Despite the tourism, the Canaries still supply many of Spain's bananas. I found a room at the Hotel Alfomar. It was not crowded because it was spring. The two visitor peaks are during the European winter for obvious reasons, but also during summer, when the Canaries are cooler than mainland Spain.


During my evening stroll I found a small park with many of the colourful flowers that flourish in the mild climate. I'll post those in the next blog entry. As dusk fell a pleasant coastal breeze swept through the old town.

The hotel in the picture lit up the waves crashing against the dramatic rocky shoreline.

One of the many snack stalls in the old city.

A slightly shaken picture of the central plaza.


I noticed, listening with my pocket FM radio, that there was a station broadcasting in German, and it even gave traffic updates about German cities. My deduction was that there was a radio relay service to cater for the German visitors and long term residents.