Month: February 2024

Today about noon we caught a plane from El Hierro to Gran Canaria

On our way to the airport we watched a helicopter hovering over a boat and lowering swimmers into the water. You may have read about African migrants landing on El Hierro. We don’t know but we thought what we were seeing might be a migrant boat being intercepted. On the other hand it might have been a training mission.

Our flight was short, less than an hour. Once we landed we picked up our rental car and drove to Casa Leon Royal Resort where we are tonight. It is an absolutely stunning place to stay. It’s all inclusive with stunning views and an infinity pool that we will have to try out tomorrow.

The window of our room at the Parador on El Hierro looks east so we got to see the sunrise this morning.

Mid morning we went into the little town of Valverde, the capital of the island. We parked and walked to the tourist office where we got a road map and a map of trails on the island. The lady in the tourist office recommended a trail for us to do.

From Valverde we headed up the crest of the island. There were a couple of fascinating viewpoints that described how El Hierro produces almost all their power from renewable sources. They use wind power to provide energy and also to pump water to a volcanic caldera at the top of the island. When needed the water then flows through pipes downhill to a hydroelectric plant.

We stopped for groceries and then drove to the top of the island where we took a wonderful two and a half mile hike.

Back at the Parador dinner was excellent.

Today we left Fuerteventura and flew to the westernmost of the Canary Islands. To get there we flew through Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands.

We spent about two hours in Tenerife and then flew to the island of El Hierro. The airport is very small. We called the rental car company and eventually they showed up with our car.

It was about a 20 minute drive to our hotel, a Parador at the end of the road. El Hierro only has a permanent population of about 11,000 people. It seems very quiet. It’s almost like we are the only tourists here. Being at a new Parador is kind of liking coming home. This is our 87th Parador. Our room is overlooking the crashing waves. It feels very peaceful.

We had been discussing whether to have beer or wine for our welcoming drinks and decided on wine.

For dinner we ate in the Parador restaurant.