Canaries,
Tenerife, La Palma, Lanzarote, etc ...
Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera ...
Fuerteventura and El Hierro are the only islands of the "Fortunate Islands" that we have not visited.
Even if the archipelago is located with precision in a well delimited and sparse region (490 km east-west and 170 km north-south), each island has its own character and originality, which sets it apart from its neighbors.
However, there are general features that give the archipelago its identity, such as the climate, the geological origins and the resulting landscapes, a fairly strong common history that has been transcribed in a clean culture, finally habitats special enough to speak of Canarian architecture.
In this page, we will only mention a few features common to three islands, Tenerife (June 2008 and October 2017), La Palma (January 2017) and Lanzarote (March 2010 and November 2015).
La Palma
Lanzarote
Tenerife
Because it was necessary to make choices, it will be on the one hand the volcanic traces and the beauty of the landscapes (sometimes one explaining the other), and on the other hand the picturesque habitat.
Canaries,
landscapes shaped by volcanic activity
Wherever you go, traces of volcanic activity are everywhere.
The landscapes which bear witness to this, often of great beauty, are extremely diverse, from high peaks, craters, calderas, to cliffs or to the lava tongues of the seaside.
For a scientific approach, one can in particular consult Raphaël PARIS's thesis defended on December 18, 2002, entitled "Construction and destruction rate of hot spot volcanic buildings: the example of the Canary Islands (Spain)".
For some examples
volcanic landscapes ,
To see the slideshow below.
Les énormes falaises (jusqu'à 600 mètres de haut) de Los Gigantes au sud-ouest de l'île sont un autre témoignage de l'origine volcanique de l'île. Elles protègent une plage policée, organisée, mais dont le sable noir colle à la peau, emplit les chaussures et marque les tissus.
A Timanfaya, un cratère. Au loin un bus, dont les touristes confinés sont interdits de sortie sur le parcours extrêmement et très justement protégé.
La lave a créé des chenaux dans lesquels l'océan s'engouffre dans sa violente majesté, repoussant à d'autres périodes plus sereines l'attrait des piscines dans le roc d'ébène.
Les énormes falaises (jusqu'à 600 mètres de haut) de Los Gigantes au sud-ouest de l'île sont un autre témoignage de l'origine volcanique de l'île. Elles protègent une plage policée, organisée, mais dont le sable noir colle à la peau, emplit les chaussures et marque les tissus.
Picturesque Canarian habitat: some examples
For some examples
Canarian habitat and architecture ,
To see the slideshow below.
... and many other attractions
of the Canaries
It is the archipelago of meager rains, semi-tropical sweets which are often torrid, trade winds which further dry up the relief and the steep slopes.
North of La Palma
On the slopes of Teide in Tenerife
Canarian pine, an endemic variety with branches with a high density of needles, is stretched towards the slightest humid scent.
Particularly majestic and supplied as a hussar feather duster north of La Palma.
Banana plantations have been successfully adapted there (see here in La Palma).
It is the Cavendish variety, introduced by the French Sabin Berthelot in 1855, when he was consul of France in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
But as for other productions, irrigation is necessary, even if it remains limited by nature.
And there is no salvation without the desalination of sea water (now mainly by the process of reverse osmosis) for the subsistence of the populations, but also the comfort of many tourists.
In a few selected places, the random mosaic of the salt marshes is still being exploited.
Janubio, southwest of Lanzarote
South-west of La Palma
The less arid slopes are organized into cultivation terraces, dotted with perennial palms.
Sometimes as in La Palma, the delicate veil of almond trees in bloom discreetly dazzles the mountain slopes, when early spring comes.
Succulents, prickly pears, thorns of all kinds are in their element and compete, over their shaggy stingers rare blooms and intense (as in the "Jardin de cactus" in Lanzarote).
To the vine, where each vine has Lanzarote in the region of Geria, at the bottom of its small lava funnel sometimes protected by a semi-circular low wall, tries to collect the slightest humidity and protects itself winds.
The precious nectar, however, did not reach the fame of neighboring Madeira or port.
While elsewhere, the piercing and oblique eye of cormorants or seagulls is preoccupied exclusively silvery reflections under the wave.
They rock over the turquoise rolls plumed with foam, which try in vain to smash black lava. And who delight in the north-west of Lanzarote, surfers from all over the world.
Near El Golfo on the west coast of Lanzarote
