Spain - Canary Islands - A Postcard from La Palma

Out and about in the Atlantic in February 2018

On the coastal path at Los Concajos

There is no threat of a Banana Drama when you go to La Palma, they grow here by the thousand. Have to admit I had never heard of La Palma before we chanced upon some cheap flights.
We had just about given up on finding a warmish place to visit for a week in February when TW noticed £70 return last-minute flights to La Palma. Perfect!
When you have to get up at 4 in the morning to get a flight you start to doubt whether it is worth the hassle. Well it was very much worth the the effort. La Palma is lovely and the people were great too.

TUI plane spotting

We knew the forecast before we booked so cannot complain about the weather. Wet and windy with a bit of sunshine - fair enough. Not typical, they even had snow on the mountain tops while we were there! Mind you the mountains are are higher than many an Austrian ski resort as they climb to over 2,400m. The hills are 'more alive' too with a volcano that erupted as recently as the 70's. It's roughly twice the size of the Isle of Wight at around 700sq km but with half the population, about 80,000.
It claims to be the most mountainous island in the world.

Los Concajos Playa

It's a long flight, normally over 4 hours, but we booked a 100 mph tail wind and arrived nearly an hour early. No need for a long transfer, the Airport Taxi fare to our Apartment - Los Rosales - was under 8 Euros so, yes, we stayed pretty close to the end of the runway in Los Cancajos. Didn't matter though, there are not too many flights and the pilots do not hang around on take-off as it is quite a short runway.  We arrived there in time for a late lunch in a restaurant just around the corner, Mi Rincon, recommended by our hotel. We liked it a lot and went back a couple of times. They serve nice fresh fish. The service can be a little haphazard but it was amicable and we had plenty of time. Los Cancajos is a good place to stay. It is not a traditional village, it's mainly apartments probably built around the 80's. There is a pleasant walk  along the rugged coastline and some black sand beaches to wallow on if the weather is fine.

On the cobbles of Santa Cruz

There is a decent walk along the coast into Santa Cruz, the capital, and we headed there next morning. It took us over an hour to get there but it was worth the hike. Parts of the City are modern but there are some very pleasant cobbled roads flanked with traditional Canarian houses. A very good place to saunter around on a damp February day. We had to dodge the showers and needed to be under cover for our much anticipated lunch. After a lengthy hunt we decided upon La Chalana on the sea-front and sat under an awning. Another lovely meal. We had fresh fish with salad and wrinkly potatoes. The potatoes are a Canarian specialty and are, I suppose, boiled potatoes coated in salt. Very tasty with Mojo sauce. Not sure what is in it but Green Mojo (Mojo Verde) sauce is very tasty, certainly garlic. TW reckons its garlic with Herbs, oil and vinegar. We were sat there quite a while. They were busy with cruise ship visitors. We were nicely compensated with a little local tipple. The tasty equivalent to our Austrian free schnapps.
We decided against walking home and jumped on the regular bus back to our Apartment. We had a full kitchen and, with the help of nice little local Supermarket just down the road we were able to cook up in-house. The local brands were pretty cheap so it kept the costs down. The local wine was good, hic!
There was another Supermarket, a Spar, but we did not like it. Not sure they bother to check their sell-by dates as we found some expired items. We bought a tasty looking pie to cook up at home but TW spotted some mould, before cooking fortunately. We returned it but they were not the least bit apologetic. It was well in date so maybe they are also a bit slack in keeping stuff refrigerated. This was the only place we had bad customer service.

Los Rosales - our little oasis

Next day, a miracle! The sun came out so we were able to sit by the pool and have lunch on our veranda, very civilised. Another walk to Santa Cruz to see more of the sights followed with an obligatory coffee stop at our new local, La Chalana.

Sadly the improvement in the weather was short-lived as the following day was really wet and windy.
We made it out for lunch, this time by the beach at Restaurant El Pulpo. The fish was OK but our salad had endured a few late nights and was looking tired. We should have sent it back really but hey-ho. We managed a good walk but today was more of a reading and Su Doku kind of day. We did have a wander southwards to do a bit of plane-spotting near the airport.

We decided that we had better rent a car. On the say-so have our friendly Hotel Receptionist we went across the road to Cocos. They gave us a nice little Citroen for about £60 for 3 days. So we saddled up and headed West on the not so long but winding road to Tazacorte. It only takes about one hour to cross the island. Driving on La Palma isn't bad actually. The local drivers are fairly patient and the scenery is varied and gorgeous. We had been tipped off that the West of the island has a drier climate than the East and so it proved. We parked up in Tazacorte Port  and spent an hour or so on the beach. The sea was a bit rough but I ventured in. The water was a comfortable temperature for a quick dip. We sat outside a pleasant Fish Restaurant for lunch. As creatures of habit we needed our Canarian potatoes with every meal and they never disappointed.
Blown away by the wind!
We did head back to the beach but were disturbed by a maelstrom. A most vicious wind suddenly got up and we were blasted by sand. We found out later that when there is a strong wind on the eastern side of the island it can sometimes cause an air disturbance on the western side in the afternoon. Amazing how quickly the wind got up. Anyway, Tazacorte Beach is a very pleasant laid back sort of place. The main town is at the top of the cliff. It looks a bit of a hike but it looked nice as we drove through.

The volcanic South

For day two of our motoring adventure we headed South to the province of Fuencaliente. Bit of a confused route because the main coastal road was closed for re-surfacing. There was a diversion of sorts but the signs confused us. Eventually we opted to take another higher road and this was beautiful. It took us through lovely terrain and vegetation. Even though the LP-206 was bendy, it was a spectacular drive.
We stopped at the town of Los Canarios for a wander around. It should have taken us about 45mins to get there from Los Concajos but it probably took us double that. The Lady in the Los Canarios Tourist Office was brilliant. She showed us a on-line heat map of the island. The top of the mountain was  -2 degrees, the South of the island +10 and the west +18. Incredible variations in such a small area. We learned a lot about the island and left with our plans sorted for the day. Visit a volcano (San Antonio), have a shuftie at a salt pan at Las Salinas and a Lunch at a lovely Jardin du Sal Restaurant. We had Blue fish, a cross between Tuna and Swordfish. The south is very volcanic but the bananas still grow in abundance. The salt pans are interesting. The sun and the slope means that they can pump salt water to the top and dig out salt at the bottom.We now know where our kitchen sea salt comes from. There is a big Hotel down there, the Princess. A bit incongruous sitting amongst the bananas and lava. It has a nice pool but is too isolated for us. It is a very steep road down from Los Canarios and we would not like to do it too many times. Our route North this time took us along the coast road LP-2. We managed to follow the diversion but it took us on a really rough dirt road. Thankfully, our little Citroen coped well.

Salt Pans by the seaside in Las Salinas

Deep in the South the Salt Pans of La Palma

Day Three of our short motoring tour would ideally have taken us to the North of the island but it was still blanketed in cloud with a gale blowing. Also, the high road to Los Muchachos was closed due to snow. We opted to return to Tazacorte and take a few detours en route. We had a quick look at Los Llanos ( the secret capital), quite an impressive and substantial town of about 20,000 people and then pushed on for the beach and a picnic sitting in the sunshine. The terrifying wind got up again after lunch. That encouraged us to head for the National Park in the centre of the island.

On the playa at Tazacorte

Bird on the beach at Tazacorte

Access to the National Park from the main LP-3 East/West road up to La Cumbrecita is restricted during the day and you have to book in advance and give your Passport details to go up there. Apparently this is due to the limited parking at the destination end of the road but seems a bit odd. Our friendly Lady from Los Canarios told us to go up at 4pm when the barriers were raised and it is open to everyone. We dutifully arrived at the appointed hour and were waved through. We climbed in our C3 up to the Car Park found a space and then took a lovely walk through the pine trees to a viewpoint on the edge of the crater. It was cool and breezy up there but well worth the drive. There must be some great walks in the National Park but they could be a bit edgy!

Birdie in the crater - La Cumbercita

La Cumbrecita

Somewhere with a rainbow - La Cumbrecita

Almond Blossom on the farm

Our final excursion of the day was  a circular walk through farm land. The almond blossom was in bloom and it was an exceedingly pleasant wander. This was despite the fact that were lots of loose rocks on the path. TW managed to fall over and I turned my ankle.
All that remained for us then was the drive home to Los Cancajos, a tasty last meal in Mi Rincon and comfortable flight home the next day. Job done!

What is good about La Palma
Very interesting as big variations in climate, terrain, vegetation in such a small area.
Not too touristy.
Laid back.
Easy driving, the road surfaces are generally good but the roads are a bit steep and bendy.
Good food, particularly the fish and, of course, the bananas
Nice locals

What is not good
Hmm.. Tricky. It would be good if it was closer to home but then the weather would be nearer ours as well!

What it cost
Return Airfare with TUI (thomson) was £67 each but the hand luggage was limited to 6Kg so we had to pay £40 for a bag in the hold.
7 Nights in our large self-catering Apartment (206) at Los Rosales cost £461
Gatwick Parking £36
Car Hire in La Palma £63
Lunch/Dinner for two - typically including a nice piece of fish cost £25 - £35