Summer Solstice at El Verde

This evening will be the solstice, when the sun appears at its farthest north in the sky. For the northern hemisphere, it’s the longest day of the year. (And for the southern hemisphere, it’s the longest night of the year.) La Palma has several archaeological sites which mark the solstice. One of the easiest to get to is El Verde in El Paso. Park beside the cemetery and follow the…

June 22, 2021
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San Antonio Volcano

May 11, 2021

The most recent eruption in the Canary Islands was Teneguía, in 1971 (see Thursday, 21 February 2008 Which Planet Are You On?). It’s a nice place to visit, but you have to be fairly fit. St. Antony’s Volcano (Volcan San Antonio) is nice in a completely different way. For one thing, it looks like a volcano should look, and you can walk halfway around the spectacular circular crater. You could…

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Where’s the village gone?

November 17, 2020

Tourists sometimes go nuts trying to find the village of Breña Baja, or Fuencaliente. There’s a really simple reason why they can’t find them. They don’t exist. Breña Baja and Fuencaliente are municipalities, and their town halls are in the villages of San Jose and Los Canarios, respectively. It like driving all over the south east of England, looking for the town of Sussex. The map shows the 14 municipalities…

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Birds at the salt works

September 22, 2020

I went to the salt works on the southern tip of the island to photograph the salt and came back with photos of birds instead. I don’t know much about birds, but La Palma is a popular place for birdwatchers because we have the local Canarian species plus lots of migratory birds passing through. I tried to identify the birds when I got home, but they all seem to have…

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Assorted news

Sea salt being made in Fuencaliente, La Palma island
August 11, 2020

The wretched virus is back. After about45 days without a single case on the island, 6 new cases turned up on Sunday. They’re a group of Spanish tourists who were sharing a house. Now they’re self-.isolating in the smae house, all with mild symptoms. On Monday they found another three, again Spanish tourists. The contact tracing people haven’t found any spread, foprtunately, but please, please wear a mask and was…

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Flags Galore

Garafía's flag
June 19, 2020

  You see a lot of flags on La Palma. Most English visitors will recognise the flags of Spain and the European Union. But the Canary Islands are an autonomous region within Spain, and they have their own flag too. You see it a lot, especially around May 30th, which is Canary Day. And then each island has its own flag. Here’s the flag of La Palma: And as if…

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