Wandering Around Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands

Santa Cruz de la Palma is the capital of the island of La Palma and is built along an old lava flow coming from the Caldereta (small caldera) volcano just south of the city.  The city has a population of around 13,000 people and is known for having the first democratically-elected town hall in Spain.

Our ship is docked near the ferries to Tenerife and La Gomera.

Ferries around the islands

We leave the port and wander through the town in a light rain, viewing the great balconies on the houses along the way, typical architecture of the Canary Islands built during the 16th and 17th centuries, reflecting a blend of Spanish, Portuguese, and Moorish influences.

Walking through the city

Views of the balconies

As we follow a street parallel to the sea, we get occasional glimpses of the sea on the far end of the pavement.

Glimpses of the sea

We emerge from the residential area to find a replica of the Santa Maria, one of Columbus' ships, now housing the Naval Museum.

Santa Maria

We wander into a park across from the Santa Maria and find cactus, statues, and murals overlooking the water.

City park

We start back toward the harbor and walk along the inviting beach, spotting more great balconies on houses facing the water, a symbol of the city's prosperity as a crucial colonial trading port and a legacy of its rich maritime history, including being a port authorized to trade with the Americas. 

Along the beach

View of the volcanic hills surrounding the city

More great balconies

We continue along the beach toward the harbor, watching the strong surf and finding a few more great sculptures.

Beach and surf

A few more sculpture

We reach the harbor and our ship and sit and watch the ferries arrive, unload, load, and depart for other destinations in the Canary Islands.

Back in the harbor

Soon, it is time for us to depart for the next island destination, leaving the Canary Islands and heading to Funchal, Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal (one of two, the other being the Azores), 463 km (288 miles) north.

Volcano Hiking in Santa Cruz de la Palma

On September 19, 2021, after weeks of seismic activity, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma erupted, with lava flows destroying over 3,000  properties, including homes, churches, and banana plantations.  The eruption lasted 3 months and was declared over on Christmas Day, 2021.  This event significantly impacted the island's landscape, infrastructure, and population.  We have an opportunity to hike on the ash and lava flows to an overlook of the volcanic crater, with views that showcase the lava flows that transformed the landscape and towns of the island.

We start at the top of the hills, above the volcano and descend over layers of ash.  Entry is by guided tour only and our small group starts down the trail in the fog and passing rain showers.

Entry to the area

Starting out

Hiking over the ash above the volcano

Trail through the forest

Approaching the volcano crater

Lava flows over the town (with rainbow)

Soon we leave the forest with its floor of ash and trees that survived the eruption (and grew new limbs) and start across the fields of ash toward the crater.

Crossing fields of ash

We reach a viewpoint close to and overlooking the crater, which still has steam rising from vents in the rocks.

Looking into the volcanic crater

Land around the volcano

After a short period admiring the crater, we start down on the far side of the volcano (many layers of ash, but no lava on this side).

Descending across more ash

Soon, we round the corner and are descending across lava flows toward the road that was rebuilt on the lava as it cooled (initially, cars were forbidden to stop on the warm lava road and people were not to walk on it).

Descending across lava

After reaching the bottom and the road, we stop in at the Caldera de Taburiente Visitor Center to view detailed topological models of the island's geological evolution.

La Palma and its volcanos

Other exhibits in the center highlight the volcanic formation of all the Canary Islands.  Each of the islands emerged between 20 million years ago and 1 million years ago and volcanic activity has continued since then, with the last eruption (on which we just walked) four years ago.

Canary Islands

This hike has been cold, wet, black-ash sandy (in our shoes), and a lot of fun!  We'll get to contrast this with a later hike on Lanzarote over the lava from a volcano that erupted in the mid-1700s and early-1800s.