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| Black volcanic rock and low shrubs dominate this big danged rock in the middle of the Atlantic |
El Hierro, nicknamed Isla del Meridiano (the "Meridian Island"), is the smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands (an Autonomous Community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a population of 10,162 (2003). Its capital is Valverde. At 268.71 square kilometres, it is the smallest of the seven main islands of the Canaries.
----Wikipedia
Once Paul and I first visited the Canary Islands about three years ago, he has been determined to come to all seven of them. And El Hierro is the furthest west and the smallest. And also the least visited of all of them. This island is basically a huge volcanic rock in the middle of the ocean with ruggest terrain and weather that changes every few...meters?
We arrived last night and are staying on the east side of the island in the area called El Golfo (the gulf) and La Frontera. This area is the most hospitable area and is seafront, although there aren't that many places I would brave getting into the rough waters. This area has fascinating geology. There is evidence of at least three major landslides that have affected El Hierro in the last few hundred thousand years. The most recent of these was the 'El Golfo' landslide that occurred about 15 thousand years ago, involving collapse of the northern flank of the island. The landslide formed the El Golfo valley and created a debris avalanche with a volume of 150–180 km3. This is the area where we are staying.
Paul rented a nice little casita for us to stay in.
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| Home sweet home ala Frontera |
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| The living room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Master bedroom. There are two small single rooms as well. |
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| Green granny bathroom |
This place is small but has a private pool and a separate laundry area and even a barbeque...although it's hardly pool weather. It has been ranging from about 50 to 60F with much overcast skies. The weather here is pretty unpredictable and seems to change often dependent on the altitude which ranges from sea level (obviously) to about 3500 feet on a relatively small island.
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| View at sea level! |
We ended up circumnavigating the island today starting with the volcanic beaches on the south end of the island. In the process, we were adopted by a cat.
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| Mr. Feline did not find us lacking |
There was also a white sand beach which is the only one on the island. None of the beaches I have seen look overly friendly for swimming (not to mention the weather), but there are some naturally occuring pools and we have seen some hearty folks out in those.
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| Two years ago we went to White Sands, New Mexico to celebrate our anniversary Today we do the same at a very different white sands. Most beaches here are black. |
We wound around from the white beach up a very scary single lane road without guardrails . Talk about vertigo inducing height! We headed for two goals today: The original zero meridian and the lighthouse on the westernmost shores of Spain: Faro Ochillo.
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| Paul stands at the memorial for the original meridian zero Most early European maps used this site NOT Greenwich. |
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| A lonely light. Not open for visits. |
Unbeknownst to me until we started preparing for this trip, El Hierro was used in various parts of Europe for more than 500 years as the prime meridian commonly outside of the future British Empire. Already in the 2nd century A.D., Ptolemy considered a definition of the zero meridian based on the western-most position of the known world, giving a few maps with only positive, eastern longitudes. In 1634 France, ruled by Louis XIII decided that Ferro's meridian should be used as a key reference of maps, their considering the island's historic meridian and status as the western-most known land of peoples of the "Known World." The Paris elite considered El Hierro to be exactly 20° west of the Paris meridian (1⁄18th of its relevant parallel of the globe). Old international maps (outside of Anglo-North American realms) often have a common grid with Paris degrees at the top and Ferro degrees (offset by 20 from Paris) at the bottom. The prime meridian changed in 1884 at conference in Washington, DC in which the prime meridian was reassigned to Greenwich, England by vote. As far as that goes, Greenwich is NOT at exactly zero degrees. It's been there ever since.
From this point, we travelled back uphill to see La Ermita Virgen de los Reyes---the Hermit Virgin of the Kings. Hermit virgins are very popular around here and they often go get them in the summer and take them from their remote mountain locations and leave them in the big city until fall. I guess even a hermit virgin needs a day out.
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| St. Ermita Virgen de los Reyes |
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| Sanctuary |
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| The Hermit Virgin is pretty in pink |
The roads are narrow but in reasonably good condition. There are many fascinating plants, including the area called El Sabinar where the juniper trees are gnarled and bent toward the ground.
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| One example of bent juniper. Some literally have their crown on the ground. |
We were treated to many elevation changes, weather changes and incredible views along the way.
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| Canarian pine. These were more stunted than their counterparts on La Palma |
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| Looking down from about 3000 feet onto the ocean....Yes. We are ABOVE the clouds |
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| Almond trees outside the small city of El Pinar where we had a light lunch |
We completed our circumnavigation by going to a very famous lookout point called El Mirador de Pena. This is not only a lookout, but a restaurant designed by architect Cesar Manrique, who is from Lanzarote and well recognized in Spain. What a view!!!
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| View out onto the ocean from the restaurant |
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| Beautiful place to see the sunset over Frontera. |
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| Punta Grande just below the viewpoint. |
We managed to get back right before it got dark. And now we are headed to a very nice local restauarant, La Maceta. We ate there last night too (not many choices in this small town and island.) The pork was great as was the Gin Loe.
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| Paul and Jean Toe Nick |
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| Thinly sliced pork cooked to perfection |
“In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness; we are each the uncompanioned hermit and recluse of an hour or a day; we understand our fellows of the cell to whatever age of history they may belong.”
― Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs
Paul's Ponderings: What a fascinating day out....I've had the pleasure of being in some remote places, including some close to home, but this island seems REALLY REALLY remote. Did I say it was REALLY remote?
Most of the Canaries have no "collar" around the island, meaning no real tourist beaches, etcetera. This island is the ultimate example of that.....it's all rock and no beach to speak of.
We spent the day visiting the original zero meridian (who knew about that), a nearby lighthouse, some incredible pine forest with trees that looked like sculptures, wind swept crazy leaning ancient trees, insane roads with no guardrails up and down, rain/wind/cold/hot, tiny villages, a landmark architectural building overlooking a thousand foot drop, waves, calm ocean, turbulent ocean, places where giant chunks of earth fell into the sea 100,00 years ago, and more. Get the picture? That's a kind of start, but doesn't do it justice. What a crazy interesting part of the world.
Driving here is notable on the south end of the island....I spent the whole day thinking "holy cow, what if we meet an oncoming car?". It's that narrow with huge climbs and descents with very little safety margin. Obviously we made it!
Columbus spent 17 days here before sailing to the new world here as I understand it and looking out from on high, it's easy to see why this was thought to be the end of the world as humans knew it. We saw maps of these islands dating back centuries on La Palma and it's pretty clear that the area was well explored and mapped even in the 1500s, which is also pretty interesting to know.
We've now been on five of the seven Canaries and this is by far the most unique and remote place we've been. I don't know that I'd spend a month here, but it's pretty fantastic. Due to its situation, it's both a world heritage biosphere and an island that is approaching being 100% green energy. Quite a combination.
We've had the pleasure of eating dinner for two nights as well at a place near where we are staying in La Frontera, right on the sea, with wonderful food, good El Hierro wine, and a friendly staff. That's a wonderful bonus. More to come as we wind our way around here over the next few days.
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