Travel guide Canary Islands

These winds blow from east to west and have a determining influence on the climate and vegetation of the Canaries. They push the clouds always in the same direction, and the latter remain blocked by the mountains. Their passage makes the Canary Islands an ideal destination for all kinds of board sports, windsurfing, paragliding and kitesurfing, etc.

Nicknamed miraculous plant, silent healer, doctor of paradise or elixir of longevity, it is a plant known for its cosmetic action on the skin and its nourishing properties. You will find it everywhere, markets, souvenir stores or in the supermarket. It is available in sun oil, shampoo, shower gel or fruit juice.

The barraquito is a very sweet coffee with milk that is only drunk in the Canary Islands. But in all the islands and often. It is traditionally served in a small glass, with multiple herbal liqueur, lemon, cinnamon, but the vast majority of bars and cafes will simply serve it with a good dose of condensed milk.

In the Canary Islands, this festival is as important as in Brazil. With that of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, but which also takes place on the islands of La Palma, in Santa Cruz de La Palma, and Gran Canaria in its capital, Las Palmas. Festivities that end with the traditional burial of the sardine, which is burned around a good table.

For the writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a puro smoker from now on, some Canarian puros were quite equivalent to those from Cuba. This is not strange, since since the ^19th century the Canary immigrants to Cuba brought back to the country this unique know-how. You can find them in the small market of La Palma or in stores.

Their fights are officially banned, but they still exist clandestinely. In 2017, the Canarian government presented a bill to ban them more effectively than the 1991 law, which triggered strong protests, especially on the island of La Palma, which has the largest number of associations in this area.

Of sand or lava, these islands abound in desert expanses. It is in the heart of the parks of Teide in Tenerife and Timanfaya in Lanzarote that the volcanic deserts are the most spectacular. The lava flows draw breathtaking lunar landscapes. In Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria you can see sand dunes as far as the eye can see.

You will be surprised by the presence of large lizards in the rock gardens. The blue-throated lizard is a magnificent endemic species that often shows itself. And what can we say about the presence of geckos, or salamanders, which are nocturnal reptiles that enter houses to hunt all sorts of insects.

It is an ancestral native sport still rooted in the local culture. Two teams of twelve wrestlers compete in matches. However, the bregas (matches) are only between two wrestlers. In a 10-meter circle covered with sand, the one who knocks down his opponent twice in less than three minutes wins the match.

It is a great local Canarian production, especially in La Palma, Aldea rum, and in Gran Canaria, honey rum, and it is drunk both as an aperitif and as a digestive. It originates from a plant, the sugar cane. The sap ferments for several months to turn into alcohol. After distillation, we obtain a brandy of cane, the rum.

Used for centuries, this whistled language of the Gomeros allowed the inhabitants of this steep island to talk to each other from one valley to another. Roads and new means of communication have contributed to the decline of the silbo, but it still persists in some parts of the island and is listed as an intangible heritage by UNESCO since 2009.

The Canary Islands were born from an important seismic activity in this region. The best known is that of Teide in Tenerife. But the last eruption concerning that of Tajogaite in La Palma in 2021, El Hierro having been subject to an underwater eruption, on October 12, 2011, off La Restinga. With a main cone at 120 meters under the sea.