Friday May 29, 2026
Hi Folks! We made it to Europe! Well, not quite, but the Canary Islands are part of Spain! Today we were docked at Santa Cruz de La Palma in the Canary Islands. People don’t come to this Canary island for the beaches, they come for the nature and hiking. It is also known for its avocados and bananas, Yum! But most visitors do come from Europe (except us!).
Today we did a 5 hour tour called “Caldera de Taburiente” and guess where we went? Caldera de Taburiente National Park! But we went to lots of other places as well. We stopped right outside the pier on a hillside for a view down to the ship and port. We stopped at a cigar factory where the workers are all from Cuba and are all from the same family.
What was wild was the different weather on two sides of the island. Near the port on the East side it was cloudy and cooler. On the North and West side it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Crazy!
We also stopped at an Agroturismo named Finca La Principal and had some local cheeses and refreshments. The setting there was beautiful. We drove by the youngest volcano on the island that erupted in 2021 where 7,000 people were evacuated and 3,000 lost everything. Our last stop was a beautiful Catholic Church named Virgin de las Nieves.
But the most amazing stop of all was when we were 7,000 feet high in Caldera de Taburiente National Park. The mountains were breath-taking, the skies were all blue with no clouds and the air was crisp and pollution free. So refreshing to be there!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking. We chilled in the late afternoon and got ready for dinner. I’ll do another update tonight.
The Wandering Italian 