The Canary Islands

They're definitely not for the birds; prices are low and beauty is everywhere

Author: By Marcia Scott Harrison, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, November 30, 1997

Page: M1

Section: Travel

Well, why not? Turns out this escapade is invitingly cheap, and only six flying hours from New York to Madrid with a short a hop to Tenerife. Today, a package deal of $749 can get you to the Legendary Atlantis, as Tenerife is nicknamed, for six nights, with free buffet breakfasts.

Irresistible. My whirlwind ``shakedown cruise'' to four islands -- Tenerife, Lanzarote, La Gomera, and Gran Ganaria -- was great, and I ended up spending less than what it cost for a week's accommodations at a B & B on Martha's Vineyard this summer.

This exploration took me 60 miles off the northwest coast of Africa. On the charter out of New York, I checked the map showing 13 islands, seven inhabited, with a total surface area of 4,350 square miles. It occurred to me en route that I didn't know a single soul from the United States who had been to the Canary Islands. I wondered why. (I did know that astronauts had trained in a secret mission in the Canaries by walking on miles of volcanic craters to prepare for landing on the moon, a fact relayed by my cousin in space savvy Houston.)

My first question upon arrival in Tenerife was to ask my sailing friend, ``So where are all the canaries? Ho! Ho! The Canary Islands were named so because Roman explorers found huge packs of wild dogs inhabited the islands -- dogs as in canine. Thus, the canaria islands. ``Well, that's why I'm here . . . to find out these details,'' I said

Here was my promised land of Eternal Spring. A blissful 80 degrees, no humidity, no bugs. And, wow: Tenerife mountains with nerve-racking roads causing ``shut your eyes'' and ``don't look down'' warnings as we drove along ``certain death'' cliffs. Peering down upon terraced valleys and then up to volcanoes rising from the ocean like fantasy castles was an adventure.

I found Tenerife a garden of delights with lush green leaves as big as elephant ears, the fragrance of tropical flowers in the air, and bright orange blossoms signaling like traffic lights, fire-red poinsetta trees lining the roadsides, birds of paradise in every garden, and banana plantations.

On this maiden voyage, I would learn more about Columbus than I can recall from school. Columbus, it seems, had more than provisions in mind when he chose to stock his ships via stopovers in the Canaries. His mistress lived on the island of Lo Gomera, a charming and secluded spot to rest and prepare for his New World expeditions. He also tied up at Gran Canaria for ship repairs and perhaps added on kegs of the island's sugar cane rum to ease the stress of his brave adventures.

Spain conquered the islands from 1478 to 1496. European naval attacks continued to pester Canarians, and the Dutch admiral Van der Does destroyed the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1599. The British admiral Lord Nelson lost his right arm in a battle off the coast of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in July, 1797. These precious islands were the stuff of poetry in ancient Egypt and Greece, referred to as the Garden of Hesperides and the Elysian Fields.

The Canaries have long been the traditonal holiday retreat of Europeans, predominantly Germans. Brits are second, followed in volume by tourists from Sweden, Holland, Finland, Switzerland, and France. The average temperatures of 67 in January, 70 in June, and 75 in September, with no energy-sapping humidity, are enticing. January averages nine days of rain with zero rain falling in June, July, and August.

As for volcanic eruptions, they predictably occur only every 90 to 100 years. The lava is there to be studied by scientists and amateurs alike, with some craters offering eight types to ponder.

Tenerife is the largest of the Canaries at 794 square miles with pine forested mountains. Volcanic lava has produced sparkling jet-black beaches. Alternating golden beaches reveal movielike cozy lagoons. The city of Santa Cruz has tidy streets that existed in the 16th century when only 1,000 people lived in relative isolation. Today, more than 200,000 inhabitants enjoy the flower-lined plazas, outdoor cafes, and modern city lifestyle. The first airport opened in 1930 and a second was built in 1978. There are no trains, just buses. Gasoline is three times as expensive as in the United States.

I picked the Hotel Mencey in Santa Cruz, a Ciga hotel, at random, and it turned out to be the perfect location. Minutes away is a botanical garden park of sculpture, fountains, and foliage-covered walkways. On the corner of the same block is a small casino, convenient as a Store 24. This big hotel is in a quiet residential area. European styled and newly restored, the Mencey is fancy yet friendly.

Always seeking spots off the beaten path, I found a bakery and tiny cafe with a courtyard in the old part of the city. Frequented by locals, the Taoro Confiteria y Cafe at Calle Leon 5, La Orotava, is a delicious spot for lunch and rest/snacking for trekked-out tourists. In a park, I came across the 50-foot face of a clock made with flowers. As I people-watched from park benches decorated with ceramic tiles, it was clear the pace of life here is markedly slower with ritual mid-day shutdowns and late-night dining habits. Cathedrals are everywhere, with crosses like antennas tuned to heaven. Butterflies waltz down the sunny streets, and chirping birds zoom and flit about. Come night, the neon entertainment in Santa Cruz is hot!

Worth remembering was a grilled beef and lamb dinner we had at the El Monasterio Restaurant. Also, while touring one morning, I was attracted to the architecture of the Hotel Jardin Tropical, a white stucco Spanish-style place with private patios. We stopped for breakfast, which is a real production for vacationing Europeans. Some 150 buffet items were offered, and I overheard only German spoken between mouthfuls as guests enjoyed this huge morning meal before their traditional brisk walks.

I missed the June Corpus Christi Festival that locals brag about. That's when the residents of La Orotava decorate the streets with flowers and intricate plaza-wide colored sand paintings that resemble the finest Oriental carpets.

Tenerife is the principal wine- producing island of the archipelago, and 50 percent of the island is covered in vineyards. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the wine was shipped to England and the British colonies in the Indies. The quality was acclaimed by Shakespeare, via Falstaff.

There's also Loro Parque, a tourist attraction where you can see the plumage of the world's largest parrot collection. Here, in addition to the 500 birds, I saw a 1993 photo of Michael Jackson, who visited Tenerife on his world tour just to see the parrots. There are also about a dozen gorillas in the park, along with a bat cave and an aquarium. I was impressed with a plexiglass shark tunnel that visitors walk through. It's almost as if you could reach out and brush their teeth!

The orchidarium at the park was likewise delightful, replete with rare pink Lady Slippers. We had lunch there at an outdoor restaurant where a fine steak is served somewhat theatrically on a sizzling slab of volcanic rock.

At the Montana del Fuego, or Fire Mountains, we went to the restaurant El Diablo. Walking to the entrance, you can feel the heat through the soles of your shoes. Geysers of boiling water shoot out from holes dug to entertain tourists. The scary geothermal energy is felt at a depth of 35 feet, where the temperature is 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit. The restaurant steaks were cooked over an enormous grill using natural volcanic heat.

I was told that back in the days of attacks by maurauding pirates on this island, the volcanic tunnels of Lanzarote served as hiding places for the natives. An amazing cave is the Auditorio James Del Agua, created into an enormous auditorium seating 600 for theater productions. Close by was a weird cave, filled with water and totally dark, named Jameos de Agua, so remote from sunlight that blind crabs are its only living inhabitants.

Not to be missed in Lanzarote is the home of the late internationally famous artist and sculptor Cesar Manique (1919-1992). Manqique, born in Lanzarote, defiantly built his home into the petrified lava flow. Upon his return from New York in 1968, he began his domestic architectural project, a wild two-story configuration built over five huge volcanic bubbles.

Now a museum, this dream house with outdoor sculptures goes underground, where the five bubbles are connected by passageways carved out of the rock. There's even a swimming pool built into a roofless lava bubble. Named the Taro de Tahiche, the project blends Manique's vision of fusing art and nature. his paintings are on display, along with his collection of works by Picasso, Guerrero, Delgardo, and Gonzalez.

I certainly didn't expect to be riding camels in the Canaries but I did -- on a sea of lava. By the sea, I caught glimpse of the whitewashed coastal holiday home of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia, modest by royal standards. VIP's such as former USSR President Gorbachev and his wife also holiday on Lanzarote.

I found this island more like a nature preserve than a jet-setting playground. Totally untouristy, the whole island is connected by one road. If you're looking for peace and quiet and a place to gather your wits, this is the answer. I dubbed La Gomera the time-warp island. The sheer cliffs of the coast are met with pounding surf, and the higher one climbs the better it gets, looking down on whitewashed villages and terraced valleys or out across the sea to Mount Teide.

With 24-karat beaches, no rush, no traffic, no nonsense, all is neat and natural. I entered this sanctuary of sorts via the tiny port of San Sebastian where the Church of la Asuncion, built in the 1400s, still stands. The town well reportedly provided water for the Columbus's ships for his four major voyages that began here.

Often you don't know what you're looking for until you see it. This was the case when I discovered the Old World Parador de San Sebastian de la Gomera. This very old, small mansion, restored to perfection, offers relative privacy, with a swimming pool. A parador means an inn or stopping place, and there's a chain of 85 state- owned paradores in Spain and the Canary Islands. The purpose is to provide accommodations in areas that would not be profitable for private business, and they make use of old palaces, convents, and castles. At $85 per night, San Sebastian de la Gomera will be my hideaway when I return.

Every October since 1595, a Naval Festival has been celebrated there, marking the date of the Canarian victory over the British admiral and buccaneer Sir Francis Drake, a piratical type who is perched in my family tree, perhaps genetically propelling me on these exotic jaunts. Also, the international Atlantic Regatta, connecting Gran Canaria with the Caribbean in Barbados and Santa Lucia, leaves from Gran Canaria the last week of November.

Gran Canaria is more agricultural than the other islands, producing a type of barley and raising cattle. The island also has archeological interest tied to the Monastery in Valeron where priestesses, guardians of a Sun God, lived and worshiped the sun, leaving evidence of Solstice and Equinox celebrations. A visit to the Canarian Museum revealed mummies of native Guanches and the most important collection of aboriginal Cro-Magnon skulls in the world -- more than 1,000 of them.

Hell-bent on the trail of Columbus, we went to the port area of Los Palmas. Columbus rested and repaired his ships in this spot which is also known as a favorite hit for pirate attacks in the 16th century. In the old quarter of Vegueta, we stepped into his house, the Casa de Colon, a museum/exhibition hall with a collection of objects and documents from Columbus, including an original portrait and the original drawing of the Santa Ana.

A visit to the Hostelry of Cruz de Tejeda in the mountains in Las Palmas in the northeast of Gran Canaria for lunch provided a taste of local food in a good stew made of sausage and chick-peas. Cheese made in the town of Santa Maria de Guia, named quesco de Flor has a unique flavor because it's made from ewe's milk and the flowers of the wild thistle. We also sampled a species of fish called vieja unique to this part of the Atlantic, stewed and served with a mayonnaise-type sauce and tasting like lobster. Everywhere potatoes are served baked with a coarse salt covering the skins -- a so-so variation on the theme of potatoes.

Along the coastal areas, the cliffs are saturated with honeycomb style hotels and apartments, yet I also saw some tents pitched in tiny coves along the way and few ``Rooms for Rent'' signs in what appeared to be really low rent boarding houses. In the Puerto de Mogan marina, I noted private boats from Gibraltar, Southampton, Sydney, Varel, Stutgart, and Nuremberg. We found a wonderful restaurant, the Club de Mar, serving delicious parrotfish, fried squid, salad with goat cheese, and those ``wrinkled potatoes'' again, plus vanilla ice cream with ground almonds and palm tree honey.

Need I say more?

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Spanish Heritage Tours, 116-47 Queens Blvd., Forest Hills, NY 11375. Phone 1-718-544-2752 and 1-800-221-2580; fax 1-718-793-4278

Fall-winter prices: Eight days and six nights in the Canary Islands from $749, including air fare, accommodations, transfers, hotel taxes, and service charges. There departures each Sunday from Kennedy Airport in new York.