REGIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE CANARY ISLANDS
The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are a
small group of islands just off the northwest coast
of the African continent and, as a Spanish
autonomous community, part of the European Union.
The islands include (from largest to
smallest): Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura,
Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, and the
islets La Graciosa, Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque
del Este, Roque del Oeste and Isla de Lobos.
The islands have a sub-tropical climate, with long
hot days in summer and cooler days in winter.
La Gomera
La Gomera is one of the smaller seven Canary
Islands along with El Hierro and La Palma. The
island is an ideal escape for any tourist or
resident wishing to retire for a few days in the
tranquil surroundings of a beautiful natural island
with its own national park. The island has dense
permenantly green forests and a continuous mist in
its central region; this is a genuine subtropical
island not to be missed.
From Tenerife, La Gomera sits on the horizon like half a
walnut shell, crowned by a heavily-forested central
massif Alto de Garajonay (National Park) and fringed
by deep ravines. The abrupt coast is mainly sheer
cliffs and the interior is so mountainous that the
islanders have a special whistling language to
communicate across the gorges.
Touring is hard work but rewarding, for La Gomera is
a tightly packed natural wonderland, its scenery
both dramatic and soft, with bananas filling the
valleys, more palm trees than all the other islands
put together, and Thai-like terraces up impossible
slopes tended by farmers who pole-vault between
crops!
La Gomera entered western history in the 15th
century with the arrival of the conquistadores. In
1492, on his way to unknown lands, Christopher
Columbus stopped in the bay of San Sebastián, the
island's capital. Since then, Gomerans have called
their island the Isla Colombina, in reference to
Columbus's visit. The Tower del Conde, the Church of
La Asunción, where members of the expedition and
their mission were blessed, and the Well of the
Aguada, all still existing, were witnesses to the
presence on the island of the discoverers of
America.
La Gomera is a small island having a total area of
some 378 sq kilometres and hardly 20 km. from north
to south. Yet it conceals an ecological treasure
without precedent and has been declared a Property
of Humanity by UNESCO. Few places in the world have
such a wealth of natural beauty as La Gomera, even
more interesting because of its past prehistoric
character.
The island, with its steep terrain, drops sharply
from the peak of Garajonay down to the Atlantic
Ocean in a sequence of mountains and cliffs that
form almost perfect circles. The rich vegetation, a
relic from the beginning of the time, and having
species that are almost non existent on any other
part of the planet, descends little by little to the
coast. Steep ravines lead down to fertile valleys
and agricultural areas, where the human hand works
hard to gain the fruits of the land, and at the same
time shapes the landscape.
Rain clouds driven along by the mild prevailing
winds, meet the high mountains and unload their
moisture, drop by drop, in a unique way called
horizontal precipitation. As a result of this the
entire island is covered with a fine mist that
extends over the lush vegetation. Garajonay is a
genuine rain forest, where trees can grow as tall as
500 metres, taking on whimsically twisted forms that
give the landscape a magical and surprising
appearance.
La Gomera has a great gastronomical tradition. The
delicacies from the surrounding sea, the
agricultural products grown on the island and the
special culinary methods all make for simple yet
very tasty dishes. Typical dishes waiting to be
discovered in the small village inns. Dishes like
the watercress soup, served in wooden bowls. A
unique culinary experience. Or the cheese, amde from
the milk of three different breeds or prehispanic
goat, which is made in the old way and considered by
some to be the best fresh cheese in the world. The
people of La Gomera use this cheese to make a
special food calles almogrotre. Butter, oil, garlic,
pepper, salt and sometimes tomato are the others
ingredients. The result is a piquant and delicious
spread for bread or potatoes.
The
two variety of potatoes used, called locally papas
negras and papas bonitas, were brought from the
American continent several centruries ago. Today
they are still cultivated in the traditional way and
they have become a real delicadecy for even the most
demandig appetites. With these potatoes and a
popular local fish called vieja, which has a very
special flavour, a succulent dish is prepared which
is typical on all the Canary Islands. But the queen
of Gomeran gastronomy is the palm honey. A syrup
extracted from the Canarian palm tree, of wich there
are more than 100,000 such trees on La Gomera,
boiled and thickened, it servers as a raw material
for a long tradition of local desserts. It is also
used for making different kinds of cocktails or
served with cheese or gofio, which is toasted wheat
or corn flour.
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