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In natural beauty, La Palma rivals all the other Canary Islands
put together. Its immense, abyss-like crater, the Caldera de
Taburiente, is considered to be the largest of its kind in the
world. Deep within its pine-speckled, towering walls is a
year-round abundance of water- gushing streams, boisterous
cascades, and a plummeting waterfall. Outside the crater, high
on the cloud-catching hillsides, 20 million-year-old laurel
forests grow as dense as a jungle. In the southern half of the
island, hills pitted with volcanic craters and mini-deserts of
black lapilli speak of the island's volcanic past. This stark,
striking landscape, all the more dramatic for its stabs of
volcanic reds, oranges, and yellows, is far removed from the
lush and verdant, tree-clad north. El Hierro, the least-visited
of all the Canaries, at first appears to be a dried-up,
sprawling mountain of rock, rising straight from the sea,
treeless and barren. But Noel introduces you to the island's
hidden charms as remarkable as any in the archipelago, and well
worth a visit in its own right or during your stay on La Palma. |
