We're not really "townies", so having spent half a day in Santa Cruz we were happy to explore the countryside. We went on a couple of organised trips which enabled us to explore bits of the island we wouldn't otherwise see, since we weren't hiring a car. We also took a public bus a couple of times, to get to places we wanted to walk from.
This statue commemorates the traditional method used by farmers to get down the steep hills fast. Scary! The origin of pole vaulting, perhaps...
There's very little running water on the island, because a landowner owns any river or stream which crosses his property, and can abstract the water to sell to the banana farmers. Water which flows into the sea is regarded as wasted. This high, delicate waterfall was a pleasant exception, in the laurel forest, which was a magical place.
There didn't seem to be nearly as many flowering plants as in Madeira:
I think this might be Canary samphire. But the natural vegetation was full of subtle colour even when not in flower.
I looked up the pale, vertically-spiky one - it's Euphorbia canariensis. Not something I've seen before, but then I'm not very well travelled!
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
The Canary pines were amazing, lovely soft long needles, right down the trunk. And not an ant in sight, so we had a lovely afternoon lying under the trees...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Thank you for resurrecting this thread, Liri. Now Fairygirl hasn't been here it seemed to have disappeared.
Great photos, looks lovely and interesting too. Love the door furniture and the leaping man statue, so full of life and movement. Dramatic countryside. Looks warmer than here! Glad you had a good holiday.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
The most spectacular place we went was the highest point on the island, the Roque de los Muchachos, where there are lots of huge telescopes - it's a "dark sky reserve", maintained as such by strict laws on pollution.
The volcanic rock formations were amazing.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Thank you, Lizzie. It was a lovely holiday, with mostly sunny weather and temperatures around 20C - very pleasant for walking, or sitting admiring the view. Bit too cold to do that on the top though!
Hopefully Fairy will come back and share some more of her fabulous Scottish photos...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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Hello friends. Here are some photos from our recent holiday in La Palma, for anyone interested.
This is the capital, Santa Cruz - a pretty little town, with typical Canarian balconies, and interesting window screens:
Interesting architectural features - don't know what this is!
And a lovely town square and church.
We're not really "townies", so having spent half a day in Santa Cruz we were happy to explore the countryside. We went on a couple of organised trips which enabled us to explore bits of the island we wouldn't otherwise see, since we weren't hiring a car. We also took a public bus a couple of times, to get to places we wanted to walk from.
This statue commemorates the traditional method used by farmers to get down the steep hills fast. Scary! The origin of pole vaulting, perhaps...
There's very little running water on the island, because a landowner owns any river or stream which crosses his property, and can abstract the water to sell to the banana farmers. Water which flows into the sea is regarded as wasted. This high, delicate waterfall was a pleasant exception, in the laurel forest, which was a magical place.
There didn't seem to be nearly as many flowering plants as in Madeira:
I think this might be Canary samphire. But the natural vegetation was full of subtle colour even when not in flower.
I looked up the pale, vertically-spiky one - it's Euphorbia canariensis. Not something I've seen before, but then I'm not very well travelled!
We really loved La Cumbrecita, the National Park.
The Canary pines were amazing, lovely soft long needles, right down the trunk. And not an ant in sight, so we had a lovely afternoon lying under the trees...
Thank you for resurrecting this thread, Liri. Now Fairygirl hasn't been here it seemed to have disappeared.
Great photos, looks lovely and interesting too. Love the door furniture and the leaping man statue, so full of life and movement. Dramatic countryside. Looks warmer than here! Glad you had a good holiday.
The most spectacular place we went was the highest point on the island, the Roque de los Muchachos, where there are lots of huge telescopes - it's a "dark sky reserve", maintained as such by strict laws on pollution.
The volcanic rock formations were amazing.
Fantastic Liri. Thanks from me as well.
Thank you, Lizzie. It was a lovely holiday, with mostly sunny weather and temperatures around 20C - very pleasant for walking, or sitting admiring the view. Bit too cold to do that on the top though!
Hopefully Fairy will come back and share some more of her fabulous Scottish photos...
I'll just put on a few more. There were some pretty villages near the coast:
- the odd goat -
- and a few flowers. This is a Canarian native climber.
Almond trees flourish, though they no longer produce a commercial crop thanks to competition from California.
And finally, an 8-ft poinsettia.