Day 6 - La Palma

We had a very smooth crossing overnight, and soon after 6 a.m. we were approaching La Palma. Looking out from our balcony, it was still pitch black with the exception of the luminescence from our wake. There was no hint that the sun might be on its way to work, but I had every confidence that it would have set its alarm. We had an excursion planned for the morning, so agreed to go for breakfast at 7:45.

Expecting to be out on an excursion at lunchtime, we made sure that we had a good breakfast (though I avoided the coffee, knowing I would be on a coach for a number of hours). 

We disembarked and headed for our coach. The excursion was “Silk, Scenery and the Sugar Estate” and our guide, Lilia, gave us interesting running commentary throughout the four hours. From the port, in Santa Cruz, on the east coast, we wound our way up through the mountains, and through the tunnel to the west side, and made our way to El Paso. We stopped in El Paso and were surprised that we saw nobody wearing a Stetson or riding a horse. What we did see was a museum dedicated to the heritage industry of silk making. It was intriguing and the curator bombarded us with many amazing facts: it takes 500 cocoons to make a 300g skein of thread, each cocoon can produce 1 kilometre of thread, and that for 35 days all the silkworm does is eat and poop (which sounds a bit like a long cruise).

We climbed back aboard the coach and were taken to a small park at Los Llanos de Aridane. This was created by a local artist and musician, Luis Morera, who was a colleague (or student) of César Manrique (Lanzarote). It was a charming place with some bizarre fabrications and sculptures. We didn’t stay for long, but it was worth the stop. 

From there, the coach took us to Tazacorte to visit the Hotel Hacienda de Abajo, which was one of the oldest sugar plantation houses on the island. The estate was originally worked by Don Juan Fernández de Lugo (nephew of Alonso Fernández de Lugo, the conqueror of La Palma), who built a sugar mill at the end of the 15th century or early 16th century. Through time, ownership passed through other prominent local families, notably the Sotomayor-Topete family, by marriage and inheritance. These families added buildings, residences, and decorative works. 

The Hacienda is composed of four main buildings arranged around an internal garden; this garden was once the estate’s huerta (vegetable garden) and orchard. The Hacienda was restored in about 2010-2012, converting it into a hotel while preserving its historical identity. After we had looked around the hotel and the gardens, we were treated to tea, a banana (the whole area is surrounded by a sea of banana plantations), and a slice of cake. 

The last stop on our excursion was to Mirador de Tajuya. This was the spot where observers watched the last major volcanic eruption on the Island in 2021. It had a view straight across to the caldera and along the lava flow which reached the sea after ten days. The lava caused huge destruction of homes and agriculture and, in places, was 60m deep. When the volcanic activity died down, there were still areas that remained evacuated because of the gases that were still venting. The lava cut off a couple of villages, but they have already had a new road driven across the lava field.

We arrived back at the port just before 2 p.m. and, after stopping for an ice cream, wandered back to the ship. Whilst we enjoyed the excursion, I couldn't say that it encouraged me to return— not because it wasn't interesting— but more because it is so similar to Tenerife, which we know so well. We spent the afternoon on our balcony enjoying some Kindle time.

We met up with Jane and Trevor before dinner, but only after a call with Zoe who gave me the news that our heating at home needs a £600 part... but having said that, seems to have kicked back into life since Ross called. That was "great" news! We went down to dinner and stared at the menu for a while. Then Di and I both selected the Tortilla de Partatas to start with. For our main course, Diane selected the Sun-dried Tomato and Mozzarella Arancini, while I chose the Oven-roasted Cod Supreme with Green Olive and Cherry Tomato Caper Sauce. After dinner, we avoided the Arena Theatre which was featuring the Bloxed Beats again. I think once was enough. We went, instead, to Havana where Paris Adams was performing a Night at Nashville. I'm not a lover of country music (having once offered to write a filter to prevent it getting played on BBC Radio) but I'm sure she was very good, and would certainly have been better if they had got the sound balance right. As it was they had gone for volume rather than quality.