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Bananas about barrancosBy Ginny Leonard
We got to see the summit for ourselves when we visited the Parador, the only building allowed in the national park which encompasses El Teide’s volcanic crater. Driving up from the coastal plain, the scenery changed so dramatically that we felt as if we were on a different island entirely – or, indeed, the moon, as the inside of the caldera is best described as a lunar landscape, unfriendly but at the same time hauntingly beautiful and other-worldly.
My favourite of the three islands, however, was La Gomera. Like that of Tenerife and La Palma, the scenery is so unlike anything in Britain. Five deep ravines radiate out from Garajonay, the highest point of the central meseta, just as if a giant had rested his hand on the island and left an imprint. These massive barrancos are astonishingly green, with jungles in which it is not too hard to imagine dinosaurs roaming about. (In actual fact, the ancient forests of the Garajonay National Park are relicts of the forests that coated much of southern Europe during the Tertiary Period, but you get my point.) Elsewhere on the island, there are lots of palm trees and large banana plantations. Even though we saw lots of evidence of banana cultivation, somewhat surprisingly, we weren’t served a single banana all week. Instead, I have lovely memories of juicy prawns with sizzling garlic butter, freshly caught fish and shellfish, and papas con mojo, a side dish of which I never grew tired, despite its being a staple dish, because each restaurant serves the potatoes differently, be it with a coriander sauce or a paprika sauce. All in all, Canarian cuisine is simple but very tasty.
We offer three holidays in the Canary Islands:
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Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera may all feel very different from one another, but one word can be used to describe them all, and that is ‘huge’. By that I don’t mean that the islands themselves are big. They are not. In fact, Tenerife, the largest of the three – and of the entire archipelago – measures just 2,034km², making it ten times smaller than Wales. Instead, I mean that the landscapes themselves are huge – to the point of being rather humbling and awe-inspiring. This sense of awe is particularly strong on Tenerife, where vast plains stretch to the horizon, and where the 3,718-metre summit of El Teide, Spain’s highest peak, towers above the island, visible from virtually any point. 
La Palma also has striking volcanic landscapes, or in the south at any rate, where you find expanses of black sand and richly coloured lava fields. The north is a complete contrast, feeling lush and tropical, with beautiful flowers and areas of thick jungle.
As for the accommodation, I liked the hotels on La Gomera, as they all feel very charming, but my favourite hotel was on Tenerife: the Quinta Roja in Garachico. It offers very high standards of comfort yet isn’t too big, and features such as exposed stone walls and the general blend of old and new (the bathrooms, for example, are really modern) lend it real character. There are lots of plants and other greenery everywhere, especially in the cool and tranquil central courtyard, though I have to say that my favourite feature was the rooftop hot tub, from which you can look out over the roofs of Garachico, a handsome old port not unlike Whitby (with, of course, a distinctly Spanish feel). If you like luxurious hotels, you will also love La Palma’s Parador. The bedrooms are beautifully appointed yet cosy, the huge buffet breakfasts leave you wanting for nothing, and the views out across the sea and along the coast in either direction are breathtaking – even after an entire week of inspirational panoramas.