The Unesco-listed sights to visit on a Canary Islands cruise
Forget mobile phones – the centuries-old Silbo Gomero whistle communicates across the valleys of La Gomera. Cruise passengers can learn about the whistle – a heritage recognised by Unesco – as well as exploring the Canary Islands’ biosphere reserves and cultural landscapes which have long intrigued naturalists and historians and are now conserved by Unesco and protected under the Geneva Convention.
La Gomera: a truly cultural experience
Whistling was a necessity on La Gomera before roads and phones, and the Silbo Gomero whistle continues to be handed down the generations.
The language, communicated across deep ravines by more than 20,000 islanders, was recognised by Unesco as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
Visitors can learn about the whistle on tours of La Gomera, where it is included in the school curriculum and replicates the islanders’ Castilian Spanish; two whistles replace the five Spanish vowels and four represent consonants, distinguished by pitch and whether they are interrupted or continuous.
Hikers will also appreciate the spider’s web of paths in La Gomera’s Unesco-protected Garajonay National Park, home to misty, ancient laurel forests.
A 14-night Canary Island History cruise on Black Watch sails from Southampton. From £1,599pp, departs March 3, 2020 (0800 0355 242; fredolsencruises.com).
Lanzarote: a natural work of art
Artist César Manrique safeguarded the natural heritage of Lanzarote and its northern territory received its Biosphere Reserve title in 1993, a year after his death. This year the island celebrates the 100th anniversary of Manrique’s birth and his vision in architecture, art environmentalism, which repelled rampant development.
The moon-like terrain in Timanfaya National Park was used in training Nasa’s Apollo 17 crew where some 360 volcano cones rise from the granular black sand. Hikes are often arranged to see the extraordinary, striated formations and the Fire Mountains, formed during eruptions in the 1730s and cover 19 square miles.
A 14-night Canary Island Paradise cruise on Saga Sapphire sails from Southampton. From £2,116pp, departing February 7, 2020 (0800 50 50 30; saga.co.uk/ocean-cruises).
Tenerife: otherworldly landscape of the stars
Tenerife’s superstar is Mount Teide National Park, with a dormant volcano in a Unesco World Heritage Centre. As the road winds through vineyards and forests, the temperature drops about one degree every 150m. At around 1,750m, it’s a heavenly experience to emerge above clouds into blue skies. In the Valley of Ucanca, cacti cling to lava in freakish shapes – it’s no wonder that One Billion Years BC and Clash of the Titans were filmed in this eerie wilderness.
Be sure to book for the eight-minute Telefonica cable car ride to the 3,718m summit, the highest peak on Spanish soil.
The town of San Cristobal de La Laguna is also a Unesco World Heritage Centre. The grid layout of its 15th-century buildings was a blueprint for settlements in the Americas.
A seven-night Colourful Coasts cruise on Marella Explorer sails from Tenerife. From £855pp, departing London Gatwick November 15, 2019, includes flights (0203 451 2682; tui.co.uk).
La Palma: clouds in an enchanted forest
The whole of La Palma, ‘La Isla Bonita,’ is a Unesco biosphere reserve, featuring spectacular walks in Los Tilos, where clouds hang from branches and moisture drips from giant ferns in what feels like an enchanted forest.
Cruise ships offer four-wheel-drives into the Cumbre Nueva mountains while another sight not to miss is Valle Aridane, home to the town of El Paso, with colourful mosaics by local artist Luis Morera, once a pupil of César Manrique.
The largest telescope in the world at Roque de los Muchachos scans the planet’s clearest skies and at the Pilar viewpoint, cruise passengers on late moorings can look through telescopes to view the stars and planets.
A 12-night The Canary Islands cruise sails from Southampton. From £1,156pp, departs October 20, 2019 (0344 3388 650; cunard.co.uk).
Gran Canaria: unique, 100 times over
Often described as a continent in miniature, Gran Canaria is dominated by the towering Tejeda Caldera, which sends rainwater zig-zagging down ravines to the sea.
A Unesco Biosphere Reserve, which covers almost half the island, includes six rural communities linked to traditional activities.
More than 100 unique floral species make botanists regard the island with the same fascination that zoologists have for the Galapagos. The altitude and sharp relief create microclimates with thistle and euphorbia emerging at the arid heights and palm trees, salt cedar and willow groves thriving in the valleys. The rich biodiversity is also reflected in the island’s waters, home to bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins, as well as loggerhead turtles.
An eight-night Morocco and Canary Islands cruise on Star Flyer sails from Malaga. From £1,705pp, departs October 22, 2019 (0845 200 6145; starclippers.co.uk).
Fuerteventura: tourist-friendly and eco-friendly
Sahara sand helps to form endless stretches of white beaches on Fuerteventura, but the island offers so much more than a lounger-and-parasol escape. The Unesco Biosphere Reserve on the Canaries’ second largest island is home to an outstanding diversity of ecosystems and marine species. The sand blows 160km from Morocco, but alongside the semi-desert areas is a protected marine environment attracting sperm whales, dolphins and turtles that reproduce on its beaches.
A 14-night Moroccan Gems & Canary Islands cruise on Seabourn Odyssey sails from Lisbon. From £5,499pp, departs April 8, 2020 (0344 338 8615; seabourn.com).
