In recent years I have taken to escaping the winter weather in the UK by heading to the Canary Islands. They have enormous appeal to northern Europeans, being warm throughout the winter, are Spanish territory so a good standard of living and are not that far away, only four to five hours by air. Everywhere else that’s warm at this time of year is either a long way away, like Argentina, or dodgy, like most of Africa including Egypt now, or dull, Dubai and Australia. So the Canary’s fit the bill and the islands economy and existence has been built on the tourists that swarm here in their thousands.
Of course, people don’t only come here for holidays; many have stayed and bought homes. Tenerife was particularly German, Fuerteventura very British and Gran Canaria just about everybody but it seems to be a particular favourite of the Scandinavians.
Of course, people don’t only come here for holidays; many have stayed and bought homes. Tenerife was particularly German, Fuerteventura very British and Gran Canaria just about everybody but it seems to be a particular favourite of the Scandinavians.
When the money ran out. This trip was very different for me, as apart from some high end packages to inaccessible places, I’d never been on a package holiday before. The flight was routine but a pretty Swedish girl was waiting at the airport to tell me which bus to get on, which then took me to the hotel. No haggling for taxis or waiting for the airport bus. Then onto the world of mass tourism, huge hotel complexes have been built on almost every inlet or cove which has a beach. The hotels are massive concrete structures that climb up the sides of the hills, each floor only having the depth of one room before hitting bedrock, but this ensures that every balcony had a sea view. Some of the hotels are miles inland where you’d need a telescope to see the beach. Not all of these have been a success, due to Spain’s financial crisis when the property boom went bust, many workers just walked out leaving half completed shells which will probably be left to decay.
Luckily, my hotel was close to the beach which had black volcanic sand. It was warm enough to swim in and due to protection of the cove not too choppy. On most of the islands the Atlantic breakers make swimming something of a trial.
My fellow holiday makers were all somewhat older than me but I was staying in a ‘child free’ hotel. A mix of nationalities, British, Norwegian, German, even Spanish. Some people clearly never left the hotel but ‘hung out’ around the pool all day. This was an all inclusive hotel, where food was continually available for fourteen hours a day, and booze for even longer, just help yourself.
My fellow holiday makers were all somewhat older than me but I was staying in a ‘child free’ hotel. A mix of nationalities, British, Norwegian, German, even Spanish. Some people clearly never left the hotel but ‘hung out’ around the pool all day. This was an all inclusive hotel, where food was continually available for fourteen hours a day, and booze for even longer, just help yourself.
Looking down the valley to Morgan in the far distance. Of course I did go out, several times to the nearby town of Puerto de Morgan which still retained a village feel; and to Morgan itself, a hill village higher up the valley from the coast, few tourists made it up here. Beyond Morgan the road rose up and climbed up to the high mountains. On one day I did hire a car and made the gear grinding trip up, switch back after switch back to the top of the valley then onto the rolling plateau area at the top. The hills are covered with pine forests and a few people still scratch a living up here with goats and fruit trees. Also here are the reservoirs that supply the coast that keep the whole society/ economy going. At this time of year there was very little in them, I looked for one as a feature to calculate where I was but soon realized that what should have been a large lake was no more than small pond in the middle. The money, probably EU money that has been spent on roads is phenomenal. A motorway runs almost all around the island, and even the road into the mountains was new and well maintained, all you need is a head for heights.
The walking trails on the hillsides are well marked and maintained and as you have to be fairly determined to get this high, not far off 2000m, you will meet very few people. The coastal fringe is a world of mass tourism and in winter very much geared towards older people but just inland is another world, with very few people and a very natural landscape. Probably the nicest Canary Island that I’ve been to, and with much more to discover I shall probably go back.
The walking trails on the hillsides are well marked and maintained and as you have to be fairly determined to get this high, not far off 2000m, you will meet very few people. The coastal fringe is a world of mass tourism and in winter very much geared towards older people but just inland is another world, with very few people and a very natural landscape. Probably the nicest Canary Island that I’ve been to, and with much more to discover I shall probably go back.
A Farm in the High Mountains.
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A view of one the 'full' reservoirs.
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