Welcome to the Canary
IslandsThe seven islands that comprise the Canary archipelago are located more than one thousand kilometers (620 miles) south of the Iberian peninsula, and only 115 kilometers (71 miles) from the closest point on the African coast. Their volcanic origin and special position in the Atlantic ocean have granted them some unique features with regard to geology and vegetation, resulting in a landscape that is unlike any other found in Europe or Africa. These natural characteristics favour the existence of a temperate climate with mild temperatures (22C - 72F average on the coasts) with little seasonal variation in temperatures between day and night.
The climate of perpetual springtime, which permits enjoyment of the beach during all the seasons of the year without extreme oppressive heat, has also shaped the easy-going and good-natured character of its inhabitants.
Since ancient times, the mild climate has been the most outstanding attribute of the Canary Islands. The Greeks located the Garden of Hesperides here, and during centuries, they were known as the "Fortunate Islands". The fame of the Canaries as a travel destination began with the great scientific explorations of the 18th and 19th centuries, when European naturalists frequently visited the unique volcanic landscapes and the varied native flora. At the close of the last century, the fame of these islands was increased as a place to rest, and they were recommended for the treatment of a variety of illnesses. Presently, the Canary Islands are one of the leading destinations of European tourism, welcoming more than eight million visitors annually who are drawn to the irresistible charm of these islands.
The appeal of the Canary Islands for most visitors, 50% of whom return, is closely linked to the extraordinary climate of the islands, but it also has to do with the more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) of coastline, the magnificent beaches, and the numerous sports and water-related recreation available. The subtropical environment has also provided the allure of volcanos, forests and other spectacular scenery, with a variety difficult to imagine in such a small territory. The people, their traditions and cuisine, inherited from a culture blending traditions from Europe, Africa and the Americas, have also played a large part. All of these factors have contributed to the islands' popularity, in addition to their easy accessibility, only a few hours by plane from the great cities of the Old Continent, and a complete tourist infrastructure, an example of quality for many places around the world.
The Canary Islands are Spain's tropical paradise, and
for Spaniards living in mainland Spain, they are synonymous
with holidays, as they are for the hundreds and thousands of
foreign tourists who pack the islands' resorts all year round.
Colonized and populated by Spaniards, they lie 1,150km off the
coast of Africa. They are politically and administratively
Spanish, and yet culturally and geographically they have very
much their own personality.
The Canaries today consist
of seven islands divided, for administrative purposes, into
two areas. The province of Las Palmas brings together the
major island of Gran Canaria and the lesser ones of Lanzarote
and Fuerteventura. The province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
encompasses Tenerife and its satellite islands of la Gomera,
la Palma and Hierro.
Within the archipelago, there is a variety so extreme that
it is easiest to refer to it as a mini-continent. The isles
share an eternal spring climate but they differ dramatically
amongst each other. Exploring the Canaries, you move from
sub-tropical vegetation to volcanic semi-deserts, from verdant
cliffs and gorges to sand dunes by the seashore.
One
wonders to this day when and how the ancients learnt about
this little paradise which Herodotus called the Garden of
Hesperides, Homer the Elysian Fields and Pliny the Fortunate
isles. Modern contact with the Canaries began to develop in
the Middle Ages as sailors from peninsular Spainarrived to
plunder the isles of their orchids, which were used to make
dye, and those of their inhabitants, who were enslaved.
Conquest in earnest only began with the Norman adventurer
Jean de Bethencourt who, in 1402, claimed Lanzarote on behalf
of his feudal lord, Henry III of Castile. In 1483, during the
region of the Catholic Monarchs, Pedro de Vera established a
base in Gran Canaria, and in 1496, Alonso Fenández de Lugo won
control of Tenerife. From then on, colonization started in
earnest.
The original inhabitants of the Canaries were
a race known as the Guanches, a name derived from guan,
meaning man or people, and achinch, meaning white mountain in
an obvious reference to Tenerife's snow-capped Mount Teide.
The natives lived a Stone Age existence of shepherding and
very rudimentary agriculture. They buried their dead and, in
the case of chieftains, mummified the, much like the ancient
Egyptians.
In Tenerife, Bencome, the mencey or leader of the tribe,
fiercely resisted the conquistadors with his flint exes and
slings, while in Gran Canaria the ruling Guanarteme. Semidán,
welcomed the European strangers and established
truces.
The isles began to realize their potential for
the Crown of Castile as the links developed with the New
World. Right at the beginning of that awesome period,
Christopher Columbus, on his first voyage, rested at La Gomera
before venturing into the unknown, westwards in search of the
Indies. Before long the Canaies were to become the vital link
in transatlantic crossings, a stepping-stone between Europe,
Africa and the American continent.
Last century, as trade and travel increased, the first
hotels began to open in Tenerife. Since then commerce and
leisure have spread and never ceased developing throughout the
archipelago which still retains the paradisiacal qualities
that earned it such poetic appellations so many centuries
ago.
Folklore and
crafts
Popular songs and dances have a characteristic
cadence, in which contributions from the Peninsula mingle with
a native basis. An exotic original feeling is conveyed by the
expressive stances of the dancers, by the many coloured
costumes, which are different on every island, by the rhythm
of the melodies--some of which have airs of a certain languid
slowness. The isa and the folias are the most popular songs
and dances, apart from the malagueña of Andalusian origin,
which has taken root in the Canaries.
The typical musical instrument used for accompaniment is
the timple, a kind of ukulele with a harmonious sound. Crafts
mainly take the form of openwork and embroidery, which are
done by Canary women with great skill and refined taste. It
may be said that the first Canary greeting which the traveler
receives upon his arrival at the islands is an example of this
delicate work shown and on sale everywhere. Pottery also has a
long tradition and is of the greatest interest, as it is used
to make baskets with palm leaves, reed and wicker. Delicate
objects are also produced by carving wood.
Shopping
The Canary Islands
are a shopping paradise because there is no joy-cooling
customs barrier. Shopping, therefore, is a pleasure as never
before. Not even the tax-free shops at the airports can
compete with prices in the Canaries. Liqueurs, tobacco,
cameras and film cameras, tape recorders, transistor radios,
watches, everything is cheaper than in their countries of
origin. From Nigerian crocodile skin to ivory carved on the
banks of the Ganges or real Chinese silk, the most curious,
rarest objects can be found.
Sports
The islands are
the ideal setting for the practice of all kinds of sports.
There are many fans of underwater fishing, swimming and
whatever other sports there are on the beach and at the
swimming pools. The traveler has a thousand training
possibilities at the tennis courts, trap-shooting, riding
clubs and the magnificent golf courses with a perfect lawn on
undulating terrain. There are also occasions to get to know
local sports, such as cock fights, the game of sticks, a kind
of fencing with two long poles, and the famous Canary catch
as-catch-can of remote origin, which requires great skill and
strength and is a spectacle of major interest.
Another
tradition is el salto del regatón or de la garrocha, practiced
above all in the island of La Palma.
Communications
The Canary
archipelago is connected with Europe, Africa, but especially
with the Spanish peninsula by numerous sea and air
links.
The shortest distance between these islands and
Africa is 115 Km. From Gran Canaria and Tenerife to the port
of Cádiz, there are 680 and 705 miles, respectively, the
equivalent of two days at sea. Direct flights by jet from
Madrid take a little over two hours. Every island, with the
exception of Gomera, has airports for national and
international flights. For the moment, the airport on the
island of El Hierro only receives national flights. There are
numerous air and sea links between the different islands of
the archipelago. Especially between Tenerife and Gran Canaria,
there are several air and sea links every day.
Cooking
Canary cooking
includes many dishes prepared with fish caught in large
amounts along the coast. Fish is served with the famous papas
arrugadas, potatoes boiled in salt water, and a hot sauce
called mojo. Traditional dishes are watercress stew, the
popular sancocho canario, made with salted fish and mojo,
rabbit in salmorejo, a sauce consisting of water, vinegar,
olive oil, salt and pepper, sweet black pudding, etc. Banana
and tomato, the main source of wealth of the islands, also
occupy an important place in Canary cooking as do avocado pear
and papaya fruit as well as gofio, a roasted mixture of wheat,
maize or barley, which is eaten with certain dishes of the
country instead of bread.
Among the sweets, especially outstanding are tirijalas,
bienmesabes, frangollo, bizcochos lustrados, turrones de
melaza or gofio and pastry. Typical of the island of El Hierro
are quesadillas and of La Palma rapaduras and marquesotes.
Among the drinks produced in the islands, there are especially
rum, rum-cum-honey, malmsey wine and the reds from
Tacoronte.
A splendid complement of a Canary meal is
the excellent native tobacco world-famous because of the
quality and variety of its tastes, among which the typical
cigars, exported to countries of all kinds, do deserve special
mention.
Climate
The Canary Islands
have a climate of their own, due in the first place to their
geographical position in the middle of the Atlantic, near the
African coast; secondly, because of their place in the path of
the trade winds, which are responsible for the peculiar
character of their climate, and thirdly, because of the
variety of their geographical features, ie, the more
mountainous islands have more rain, such as Tenerife, La Palma
and Gran Canaria, and the less rugged ones, such as
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, have less rain. Consequently, the
mountains have a direct bearing on the amount of rain that
falls and not the proximity of the African continent, as is
commonly believed.
All the climatic indicators based on
the sensation experienced by the human body, when the values
of temperature, humidity and wind speed are combined, coincide
in showing that the islands have the best possible conditions
for eternal spring throughout the year.
The temperature
variations between the different seasons are especially
eye-catching: 6C (42.8F) between the warmest and the coldest
month. The number of really good days varies from between 90
per cent in August and 50 per cent in January, and it is
typical for them to be mild--between 18 and 24C (64.4 and
75.2F)--, with clean, fresh air, a rather high degree of
humidity (80 per cent) and a partially clouded sky in places
lying east of the mountains and close to them. The less
agreeable days with a southern African wind only account for 7
per cent (26 days in the whole year). At the same time, its
mountainous features produce temperature changes depending on
the altitude so that even snow is found on some
peaks.
The so-called Canary current contributes to the
mild climate. It keeps the surface temperature of the sea
below that corresponding to the latitude. The mean temperature
of the sea water is 22 in the summer and 19 in the
winter.
As a result of their pleasant spring with a
mean temperature of 18C (64.4F) and their splendid summer with
22C (71.6F), the climate of these marvelous islands is
unmatched and the feeling of well-being constant.
Tenerife
The island of
Tenerife is the largest of the Canary archipelago--2,053
square kilometres--and it has the shape characteristic of a
triangle. The island of eternal spring because of its peerless
climate is full of huge contrasts and has a great variety of
scenery in the different regions. A mountain chain runs
through its centre fro Anaga to Teno and on both of its slopes
there are large, exuberantly fertile valleys, among them
especially La Orotava and Gumar. In the heart of the chain
there is a gigantic, natural crater, called Las Cañadas del
Teide, which is about 29 km across and has officially been
declared a National Park. It lies over 2,000 m above sea
level.
North of the crater stands El Pico del Teide, a
3,718 m high mountain, which is the highest point in Spain. It
is snow-covered in the winter and marks the island with its
unique silhouette.
Tenerife has an extremely varied
plant life, large, wooded mountains, extensive areas where
banana, tomato, potato and other agricultural products are
grown. Its coast is rocky and lined by cliffs in some places,
while in others there are beaches with soft, clean sand, which
are sometimes black and sometimes golden.
The capital
of the island and of the province is Santa Cruz de Tenerife,
which has 220,000 inhabitants. It is a cheerful, light-filled,
modern city on a gentle slope and it is open towards the wide
plains in the south. It is the seat of the military
headquarters, La Capitanía General de Canarias, and Santa Cruz
is known as a hospitable, cordial city. Beautiful gardens,
especially García Sanabria, the Municipal Park, and busy
streets make it easy for the visitor to feel at home
there.
Hotels in Tenerife:
La
Palma
La Palma, the beautiful island, is -with its 728
square kilometres and 80,000 inhabitants--the green island par
excellence. It has the greatest heights in relation to its
circumference. In the centre of the island lies the largest
known crater: La Cadera de Taburiente, a National Park. It has
a circumference of 28km full of dense pine forests and depths
of up to 770m. The greatest height is called Roque de los
Muchachos (2,423m), and there is the Astrophysical
Observatory.
The impressive grandeur of la Cadera can
be observed from the observation platform of La Cumbrecita
because it can be viewed in detail and visited from that
point.
Santa Cruz de la Palma
This is the
capital of the island with an important port and 18,000
inhabitants. It lies on the east coast of the island on the
slope of the mountain and on the edge of volcanic crater
called la Cadereta. Its form is that of an amphitheater which
gives the town a curious look. Its picturesque Real St, the
centre of Official, commercial and social life, leads to
España Sq, where El Salvador's and the Town Hall stand, two
valuable examples of the 16C. Santa Cruz de la Palma has a
Museum of Natural History with magnificent zoological examples
and traces of the original population as well as a large
library.
The seaside avenue skirts the sea and there
are modern buildings alongside large old houses with huge,
wooden balconies which are typical of the island. 500m from
the pier there is the Parador on this avenue.
Near the
town stands the Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, the
patron saint of the island.
Gomera
It is round, has a
surface area of 378km2 and a population of over 17,000
inhabitants. It is a rich, densely wooded island with a large
massif in the centre, called Alto de Garajonary, another
National Park at a height of 1,487m above sea level. Its
coastline is rugged and full of cliffs, while it is
mountainous inland.
A famous feature is its whistle
language, used by the inhabitants of the island to communicate
from mountain to mountain.
San Sebastián, the capital
and harbour of the island, is the place where the Conde de la
Gomera Parador stands. It is a pretty, picturesque village
with about 6,000 inhabitants. This is where Columbus prepared
his ships, took in water and food supplies, and this is where
La Asunción's stands, where he attended mass before setting
out on his way to America.
This port of call where
Columbus was put up by Beatriz de Bobadilla, the widow of
Hernán Peraza, lord of the island, before the voyage leading
to the discovery has a sight in memory of the occasion: the
so-called Torre de Conde, a former fortress, officially; Sight
of Interest to National History today.
Gran
Canaria
The island of Gran
Canaria is third in size in the archipelago, after Tenerife
and Fuerteventura. It has a surface area of 1,532m2 and its
most outstanding features are the ravines which come down from
the central peaks--which are over 2,000m high--to the
shore.
There is no other place with such an eloquent
variety of little known scenery. There are desert and sandy
areas as well as mountains with lush, tropical vegetation. In
Gran Canaria, the steep cliffs of El Puerto de la Nieves and
de la Aldea together with the rugged ravines of Tirajana, Moya
and Azuaje alternate with pleasant valleys where thousands of
banana-trees grow and which--like the Arucas--gently descend
towards the sea.
Gran Canaria has not in vain been called a continent in
miniature, because beginning by La Cumbre (a 2,000m peak) with
its granite masses of El Roque Nublo, nature has provided for
all kinds of scenery, where plants from Europe, Africa and
America grow (the Tamadaba pine forests, Los Tilos--lime-trees
-, the El Monte vineyards, the coffee plantations at Agaete,
palm forests, banana-trees, almond-trees, sugar cane and
tomato crops).
Las Plamas, the capital of the province,
is the largest city of the archipelago, a prosperous,
beautiful place with 370,000 inhabitants and the largest port
in GRT in Spain. Its airport receives the most important
airlines, with flights from Europe, Africa and America. The
capital has the attractions of a large city, with excellent
hotel and catering facilities, night clubs, international
shows, an intense social life and an ample calendar of festive
occasions and celebrations throughout the year. A must in this
modern, active city is the noble, peaceful old area of
Vegueta, where one finds stately old houses with impressive,
private inner courts and with artistically worked balconies
facing onto narrow streets and sheltered squares.
The Old city has the most important sights; the
Gothic-neo-Classical cathedral, which was begun in 1497,
Columbus House, the residence of the first governors of the
island, which is a lovely building housing an interesting
museum about the times of Columbus, the Canary Museum, which
has the most complete collections of the traces left by the Guanches, the pre-Spanish inhabitants of the islands.
Interesting churches include San Francisco's and the Hermitage
of San Telmo, which has a Mudéjar coffered ceiling.
The
Provincial Fine Arts Museum, the House cum-Museum of Pérez
Galdós and the Néstor Museum round off the treasure of art,
architecture and history in the city. In the splendid Doramas
Park there is an area called the Canary Village, a creation of
the artists Néstor. It is an expressive sight of Canary
architecture.
Against this exceptionally beautiful
background, popular dances and songs are performed on
Thursdays and Sundays.
Las Canteras is magnificent,
2,600m long beach with a pleasant temperature throughout
the year.
Hotels in Gran Canaria:
Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura, the
Old Canary Country, is the island with the longest coastline,
with wide plains and gentle valleys, with huge beaches: it is
a geographical no man's land, a place for those who wish to
escape from the pressures of today's life. In addition, there
are possibilities of fishing in unbelievably transparent
waters, as a special attraction for a growing number of
tourists who refuse to spend their holidays without any
activity. In fact the island is separated from Africa by a
corridor where sardines, tuna and sword fish are the objects
of mortal persecution. The fishing sportsman can easily get
his share of the booty.
Fuerteventura has a magnificent
airport with a 2,400m runway where national and international
flights land and airplanes arrive from numerous, mainly
European countries.
Fuerteventura has lovely beaches in
the vicinity of its capital, Puerto del Rosario. But in the
very north and south, there are two areas with beaches that
can be compared with the best in the world. Especially
outstanding are those of Jandía in the south and those of
Corralejo in the north.
At Playa Blanca in Puerto del
Rosario there is a Parador belonging to the Office of the
Secretary General for Tourism.
Hotels in Fuerteventura:
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