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La Gomera is the second smallest of the Canary Islands. The whole island counts nowadays about 24,000 inhabitants, and the capital city is San Sebastián de La Gomera. La Gomera has an area of 369 square kilometers and its highest peak is called Garajonay, 1,487 meters high, located in the Garajonay National Park. The climate in La Gomera is mild throughout the whole year, with few fluctuations and an average temperature of twenty-two degrees all year long (with maximum peaks of 35 °in the summer months and a minimum temperature of 18 ° in April), which makes it an ideal destination in every season. La Gomera is an excellent nature-based tourism destination, with lots of activities related to sport, culture and history.
Diffcult to say whether you are in Europe or in the Caribbean: beautiful clear sea and the green landscape made of palms, agaves, banana trees. In the green valleys there is abundance of avocados, cilantro, mangos, dates, "mojo" (hot pepper), tomatoes, papayas (try the papaya smoothie in the "zumerias" of the island, guayabas and luxuriant bougainvilleas, hibiscuses, sterlitzias and poinsettias, which make this island a tropical green paradise on Europe's doorstep. La Gomera presents the perfect combination of sea and mountains (reaching the 1500 meters), where miradores open up on breathtaking views, as the famous Mirador de Palmarejo, designed by the artist Cesar Manrique on the road to Valle Gran Rey. Valle Gran Rey is worth a visit because of picturesque fishing villages with colorful boats and some of the finest beaches on the island. Under the rocks, on the doorstep of a lush valley, you can take the boat for the trip to Los Organos , a huge organ sculpted in basalt cliff that you can only fully enjoy from the water, on the northern part of the island.
La Gomera is a paradise for sports lovers: scuba diving, surfing (very popular is playa de Santa Catalina, in the north-east part of the island), deep-sea fishing (tuna and marlin in abundance) and sailing, tennis, mountain biking, horseback riding, golf. In the south of the island there is the Golf Resort Tecina, considered one of the most scenic golf course in the world. In addition to the powerful vegetation, it offers an extraordinary view on the ocean and the best view of the volcano Teide from the island. Last but not least, La Gomera island is ideal for walking and hiking: you could walk around for a whole week without ever walking the same paths. The island’ surface has indeed many marked trails. They are the same paths walked in the past by the Gomeros who, in order to overcome the difficult communications throught the mountains invented a "sound language" based on powerful whistles that allowed them to communicate even at very large distances, still known by few: the "Silbo" , recognised by UNESCO as immaterial human patrimony,
La Gomera is a rocky island with a green heart: the Parco Nacional de Garajonay which, with its 4000 hectares, covers about ten percent of the island’ territory. This national park takes its name from the legend of an unfortunate love between two young lovers, Gara and Jonay. It was the first natural park to become UNESCO’s World Heritage in 1986, which at that time included only historical and artistic sites. At the center of the park we find a true jewel: the forest of laurel plants, one of the oldest forests of the planet hosting numerous species of laurel, plus hundreds of different other plants - ferns, lichens, shrubs, lianas, mosses. It is a breathtaking forest that stays green all year long thanks to the effect of the trade winds. The trade winds, combined with warmer breezes give life to a permanent mist, called "horizontal rain", typical of this forest.
The Guarapo is the delicious palm honey typical of La Gomera . It is extracted from the bark of the 170000 typical Canary palms that grow on the island, more than all the pals of the Canary archipelago together . This sweet lymph is here combined with any food , on pancakes , fruit salad , ice cream , in the grappa ( in this case is called " Gomeron ").The guarapo also greatly accompanies the goat meat and cheese , other specialties in the gomera cuisine such as fish soups , the green sauce ( the “mojo”made with parsley ) , the " almogrote gomero " ( a typical pâté made with cheese, tomatoes and chili ) the " papas arrugadas " (" wrinkled " potatoes cooked in very salty water ) ,the “gofio” made from toasted barley, maize and wheat, grouper in banana salsa, avocado gratin , rabbit meat , chicken, wild boar , goat , the abundant fish . And, last but not least, the tuna , the true King of the gomeran kitchen: you can eat it raw or cooked , here it is always fresh .
Wandering through San Sebastian you can come across several places that speak of the time spent by Christopher Columbus on this wonderful island before travelling towards the Americas in 1492. There is a small museum witnessing this history, Casa de la Aguada , where supposedly Columbus lived during his stay in La Gomera. On this island he loaded the famous caravels with supplies of food before starting the trip which changed human history: "On Thursday 6th September 1492, the discovery of Americas started here"
Nowadays, you can easily reach La Gomera by boat through one of these two companies: Fred Olsen and Naviera Armas. Both companies operate daily from the port of Los Cristianos (in the South of Tenerife) to the Port of San Sebastián de La Gomera, offering a comfortable journey of 60 minutes. The cheapest option is the compnay Naviera Armas. The island of La Gomera, can also be reached by plane from Tenerife North (through the airline Binter) in about 30 minutes.
