Being on the island of La Palma, you can not only rest well on his beautiful beaches, but also visit a lot of interesting and unique places that will probably call you delight and leave indelible impressions. About some of the most interesting, which in my opinion deserve attention and visits, I want to tell.
There is no doubt that the main attraction of La Palma, even one can say, is a business card of the island, is Caldera de Taburiente National Park which is located in the center of the island.
This is a huge crater formed in a consequence of a volcanic explosion, about four hundred thousand years ago. Its depth reaches two kilometers, with diameter up to ten kilometers. The surface of the funnel places are covered with thick forests and is cut in deep ravines, and picturesque waterfalls, which in some cases have a stronger height, paint stones with their water containing a large amount of iron, in brown color.
At an altitude of about five hundred meters, there is a gorge of Dos Aguas, where the water flows down these sources.
Especially for inspection of this National Park, a huge number of tourists arrive here every year. In different places there are several viewing sites to which hiking trails and roads are conducted. For those who want to visit this place, special cards and brochures are offered with a pointer of hiking and road routes. There is even a special information center for tourists, where you can familiarize yourself with the reserve and watch a film about its formation.
It is on La Palme that there is one of the largest and most significant observatory of the northern hemisphere - Rock de Los Mucachechos which was built in 1985 specifically to observe the starry sky.
There is the largest telescope in Europe, since all the conditions, both geographical and meteorological, are ideal for this. The observatory employs several international scientific organizations and the surveillance time is painted almost a minute. It is located on the highest point of the island, and this is 2426 meters above sea level. You can get into the observatory as part of the excursion group, according to the prior application. So if you are interested in visiting the second largest telescope in the world, then resting on La Palma, ask about this visit in the tourist agency near you.
The northern part of the island at altitudes from five hundred meters, up to one and a half kilometers, covered with laurel forests that have grown in the south of Europe in the tertiary period. Not far from Los Sauces is the Los Tilos Forest, which is announced by UNESCO with a biosphere reserve. 3Dells and trees are growing, which are rightfully true values and alive fossils. Especially for tourists hiking routes are laid here. From such places, you can note the Halgen Reserve, Kubo de la Galga and the Barranco Del Agua gorge, located in the northeast of the island. Fans of eco-tourism will certainly appreciate these places in dignity. About these excursions, you can also find out in the tourist office.
Not far from Barklovitto is an ethnographic center La Zarza. where you can see evidence of the existence of ancient inhabitants of La Palma Island. Here there are petroglyphs carved on the rocks, in some places of the northern part of the island, in such as, Don Pedro, Juan Adalid or Fate Far. In the municipality of Villa de Mazo, where the Archaeological Park Belmako is located, there are ten caves with weak pictures belonging to Benorites. This drawings were found on Canarians in the eighteenth century.
Similar petroglyphs, which were found in Ireland, are dating three thousand two hundred and a year before our era and are older than the Egyptian pyramids in Giza.
Not only for volcanologists, but also to lovers, probably will like visiting TENEGUíA and SAN Antonio volcanoes, the last eruption of which was a little more than forty years ago. The heat of subsoil is still felt, while visiting these places.
Be sure to go to the capital of the island, the town Santa Cruz de la Palma , with its magnificent architecture and narrow streets. The city center decorates the beautiful stone fountain of the eighteenth century and the monument to Liberal and the priest El Salvadoru.
Immediately on the square you can see the Savior Church with a High Bell Tower, which was built in 1503. And on the contrary, the town hall is located built in 1569.
The pride of the capital is the fortress Castillo de Santa Catalina,
erected in the sixteenth century to protect the city, from the attack of French pirates. She was able to resign not to one famous Corsair of that time. On the territory, except for residential premises, there was a garrison of fortress, warehouse and prison.
The city is the Maritime Museum Museo Naval de Santa Cruz de la Palma where you can see a copy of the Santa Maria ship, in which Columbus went to conquer the shores of America.
The north of the capital, in the town of Velok, is the Sanctuary of the Snowy Mother of God, which is the patroness of the island. The altar is made of Mexican silver, and the image of Virgen de Las Nieves was made back in the fifteenth century and is considered the oldest on the Canary Islands. The iconostasis was made a little later, in the sixteenth century. The church stores part of Flemish paintings and sculptures of the 16th and 16th centuries and represent a large historical value.
Going to La Tooscience or Buraks, you can admire interesting trees that are called dragon.
These are pretty bizarre plants and a lot of legends are associated with them. The resin of these trees is red, like the blood of the dragon, from which their name went. Some trees have such big hollows that even a person can fit in them. In antiquity, the resin was used for embalming, and now from its fruit, local residents make various decorations.
Of course, this is not all the sights and interesting places of the island of La Palme. There are many beautiful beaches and picturesque places that you will be able to tell you more at the tour desk of the hotel or resort, where you will have to relax, and I just introduced you to some of them so that you understand what to miss this island There will have to have, and there is always an excursion you are interested in.