Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The Canaries Nobody Knows
Gully Wells, writing in Conde Nast Traveller, in many senses follows in the footsteps of English explorer, Olivia Stone, who wrote, "Tenerife and Its Six Satellites", published in 1887 - a time when "... no other English people had then traveled through the archipelago." Almost hard to imagine that now.
I giggled at Gully's thoughts on Stone: "I tried to imagine her stumbling across this blackened wasteland in her long serge skirt, clutching her hat, and scribbling away, as the locals shook their heads in amazement at la mujer Inglés."
Mainly, because I imagine they are still shaking their heads at another far less intrepid one, who coincidentally shared the same surname (originally), and who writes internet her diary while stumbling around one of Tenerife's quiet corners to this day. I hasten to add that I do not own any long serge skirts.
It is pleasing, but perhaps unexpected, to those who think Tenerife is all about mass tourism, that a writer for such an upmarket publication, after visiting five of the seven islands, lists Tenerife as one of their favorites.
In Tenerife, after visiting the two stunning colonial towns of La Laguna and La Orotava, concludes that her absolute favorite colonial town was Garachico, of which, she says, "I started up a cobbled side street during siesta time, when every house was closed up tight, and the farther I climbed away from the cafés and shops on the seafront, the more the town seemed to sink back in time."
It is a gorgeous article, which successfully imparts the real charm that the islands still possess, but which has, for too long, been missing from their descriptions.
The Canaries Nobody Knows
