El Hierro, Canary Islands

The Volcanic Rim of the Canaries and the Old World


Garoe Tree
The Miraculous Garoe Tree, El Hierro's historic water source.
Lava Dip
Friends bathe on the volcanic beach of Tacoron, south of El Hierro.
Juniper or Sabina
A juniper tree twisted by the force of the trade winds that lash the Canary Islands.
West Esplanade
Clients on the terrace of the Mirador de La Peña restaurant-bar, created by César Manrique.
Orchilla Colors
Desert shrubs on the slope before the Orchilla crater.
El Golfo's open air
Guests enjoy the incredible view of El Golfo from a balcony at the Mirador de La Peña.
Donkey Herreño
Donkey confined by a secular wall of El Hierro.
Cactus on Lava
A cactus emerges from the lava in the Geopark that occupies much of the volcanic south of El Hierro.
Orchilla West
The setting is beyond the Orchilla lighthouse and the tip with the same name.
Today of Fireba
Visitors admire the Hoya de Fireba crater.
Orchilla twilight
Cliffs at one end of Valle de El Golfo.
Rope Lava
Encordoada Lava enriches the Southern Geopark of El Hierro.
Hermitage of La Peña
The bright yellow of the hermitage of La Pena, over the Valle del Golfo
tacoron for two
Couple has fun on a surfboard on the volcanic beach of Tacoronon, south of El Hierro.
Time Sculpture
Geological cut from the top of the Valle del Golfo.
Viewpoint of La Peña
The characteristic architecture of César Manrique, at the Mirador de la Peña, above the Valle del Golfo.
The Ultimate European South
La restinga, the southernmost village of El Hierro and southernmost in Europe.
Viewpoint of La Peña II
Architectural detail of the Mirador de La Peña.
El Valle del Golfo
Unusual view over the Valle del Golfo, with the Atlantic in the background.
Today of Fireba
The crater of Hoya de Fireba, one of hundreds on the island of El Hierro.
Until Columbus arrived in the Americas, El Hierro was seen as the threshold of the known world and, for a time, the Meridian that delimited it. Half a millennium later, the last western island of the Canaries is teeming with exuberant volcanism.

On an island like El Hierro, neither the Atlantic nor the volcanoes and lava disappear for long.

We turn our back on the capital of Vila de Valverde. We walked away along a half-country half-wild road, with a floor of a mixture of sand and ash scattered a little everywhere.

Andrea Armas, hostess in Hierro, makes the observation: “want to bet? Let's run into my colleague. It's time for her to leave and she goes home this way.” In fact, a few hundred meters ahead, the prediction is confirmed. Andrea greets her colleague and keeps her in a short conversation on occasion.

In fact, were it not for the recent promotion of La Graciosa to the eighth Canary Island, El Hierro would be the smallest in the archipelago. And yet, it could never have housed and satisfied the two civilizations that, it is estimated that from 1405 onwards, confronted each other in it.

Andrea takes us to the Garoé Tree Interpretation Center.

Inland, it enlightens us on the importance of that shady tree, the slopes around it and the moment when the Europeans reached the coast of El Hierro.

Garoé Tree, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

The Miraculous Garoe Tree, El Hierro's historic water source.

The Miraculous Garoé Tree and the Inevitable Occupation of the European Conquerors

Since at least the first half of the XNUMXth century, Castilians, Aragonese, Galicians, Catalans, Portuguese and others sought to explore the archipelago and claim the riches they could find there.

In 1405, when Lanzarote and Fuerteventura were conquered from the Majos (Maxos) indigenous people, Norman Jean de Bethencourt turned to El Hierro.

When disembarking, he found no resistance. It is likely that the Bimbache natives of El Hierro already feared the incursions of bearded navigators arriving in large boats.

Accordingly, when they spotted them approaching the coast, they had taken refuge in the only place on the island where they could survive: the top of the Garoé tree and caves around the slope, a set that the Andalusian Franciscan Juan de Abréu Galindo nicknamed him Tigulahe, but today, in El Hierro, no one seems to know him by that name.

At the time, this was the only permanent and reliable source of water, fed by the damp mist that the trade winds carry there, held back by flooded pits, foliage and a dense network of roots that intertwine between these pits.

For some time, the water source of the Garoé – which means river or lake in the Berber dialect – allowed the Bimbaches – also of Berber origin – to avoid contact with the men of Bethencourt and hope that the dryness in the rest of the island would force them to disband.

This retreat was possible for some time. When the settlers returned with reinforcements, the Bimbaches were no longer able to hide. Apart from surrendering to their fate as slaves, they were still forced to share their precious water with invaders.

The most famous local legend adds a flurry of romance to the story.

The Legend of Passion and Betrayal of Agarfa and Tincos

Andrea tells us that, according to legend, the Europeans found the hiding place of the Bimbaches because, somewhere in the story, Agarfa, a native young woman, had fallen in love with Tincos, an Andalusian soldier.

The traitor Agarfa thus revealed the hiding place of her own. Caused the capture of Armiche, the mencey (king) of the Bimbaches and made possible the occupation of El Hierro by the Spanish Crown. If more melodrama lacked, he ended up dying at the hands of the beloved conqueror.

We inaugurated a short trip to the northwest side of the island, still with our backs to the Villa de Valverde that the colonists later founded, the smallest capital of the Canaries and the only one removed from the seafront.

Iglesia de La Concepcion, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

The Iglesia de la Concepción has long blessed Valverde the capital of El Hierro.

El Hierro has always been one of the most remote and unprotected islands. At a time when the attacks of the Berber pirates followed one another - and also tormented the islands of Porto Santo and the Madeira – remove the villa in elevation it will have left the Norman and Castilian settlers a little more rested. This, while pirates and other enemies remained the colonists' main concern, of course. This was not always the case.

We return to the asphalt. We cross the rural scenery of the interior of the island and the Barrancos de La Pasada and Los Muertos, this one, already in the middle of Camiño de La Pena.

We stop again at the yellow Chapel of the Virgen de La Peña, the Canarian incarnation of the Virgin Mary, patron of Fuerteventura.

From there, the Camiño de Jinama departs, one of the routes used for centuries by the inhabitants of El Hierro, a trail more than goats, especially on windy and bad weather, treacherous and deadly.

The Unforgettable Amazement of Valle de El Golfo

We approached the wall that closed the road in front of the hermitage. Unexpectedly, in the glimpse that followed, El Hierro granted us an amazement that we will forever cherish in our memory

Forward, downward, a massive slope stretched obliquely from the top of the island to the Atlantic in a jagged lava fajã.

El Golfo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Unusual view over the Valle del Golfo, with the Atlantic in the background.

With the almost setting sun, peeking out from behind a blanket of clouds, overflown by kestrels with an eye on everything, in the company of indifferent goats, the scene dazzled us. And we had no idea of ​​the sweeping event that gave rise to it.

The Youngest and Most Active Volcanism in the Canary Islands

It is estimated that El Hierro emerged from the Atlantic about 1.2 million years ago. It is thus one of the youngest and most volcanic islands in the Canary Islands. Your intense volcanism it is well expressed in its 500 open craters and around 300 others covered by lava flows has shaped and continues to shape the island.

When it rose from the sea, it is believed that the result of three major eruptions, El Hierro was crowned by a cone high above 2000 meters, 500 meters above the current zenith.

What is left of this cone, today, the main volcano on the island, is called Tanganasoga, a term with obvious origins of bimbach.

In the millions of years that have passed, several downfalls have followed each other. The last one, 15 thousand years ago, gave rise to an avalanche with a volume between 150 and 180km3 and the panorama of Valle de El Golfo that kept us incredulous.

Terrace of the Mirador de La Peña, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Guests enjoy the incredible view of El Golfo from a balcony at the Mirador de La Peña.

In the 80s, using architectural and cultural elements from El Hierro, and as a tribute to the geological sumptuousness of the view, the multifaceted artist Cesar Manrique endowed a section of the seafront at Risco de Tibataje with an elegant Mirador de La Peña.

In addition to a viewpoint, this monument is also a café-restaurant-terrace where we had the privilege of dining.

In the meantime, the sun sank into the ocean. Turning on the electric lights reinforced the row of houses and the pattern of winters (greenhouses) of bananas that sat on the solid lava below.

Jinama and his Camiño. A Vertiginous Way of Life

The villages of El Golfo and the Camiño de Jinama that leads there from the highlands of the north of the island were created as a result of the “changes”.

This expression translates a transhumance that took place twice a year: once in winter, so that the animals could take advantage of the pastures. Another, in midsummer, according to the vintage.

El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Donkey confined by a secular wall of El Hierro.

The Camiño de Jinama was, therefore, going up and down again and again, on foot, on a donkey and in the carriage of other animals essential to rural life.

Its preponderance lasted until, at least, 1950, when the current HI-5 road was inaugurated, connecting the various villages established there, Frontera, Sabinosa, Llanillos, Merese, Toscas, Tigaday, Belgaras.

Row of houses in El Golfo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Casario de Frontera and several other villages along the road that crosses the El Golfo valley.

The twilight faded. He left El Golfo signaled by the mottle of its little lights. Shortly afterwards, we retired to the shelter we had on the island, also lit by them.

We welcomed the following morning as a continuation of the island charm in which El Hierro kept us. We pass by the viewpoint of La Llania. From there, above a lush laurisilva forest, we can see El Golfo from a more centralized perspective of its semi-boiler.

The Volcanic Domain that the Herrenhos Continue to Challenge

Next, we spy on Hoya de Fireba, another crater. Unusual as it may seem, from then onwards, the volcanic degree of El Hierro only increased.

El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Visitors admire the Hoya de Fireba crater.

Andrea leads us below the southern tip of the island, in search of the facilities of the island's Geopark, so decreed by UNESCO for geological merits that hardly deserved discussion.

At one point, we found ourselves surrounded by a sea of ​​solidified lava, in such a profusion of craters and chimneys that it seemed impossible to pinpoint which ones were responsible for the massive flood that extended to the southern depths of El Hierro.

Stringed Lava, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Encordoada Lava enriches the Southern Geopark of El Hierro.

We took refuge from the oven heat in the refrigerated interior of the center. There we watched video excerpts of the last scare because, even made by Hierro, many inhabitants of the island passed by.

2011-2012 and the Volcanic Activity that Threatened to Expel the Natives

In October 2011, similar to what happened in 1957-58 with the Capelinhos volcano in Faial, an underwater eruption about 2km south of La Restinga, gained dimension and impetus, at times, with water jets that reached 10 to 15 meters high.

The 600 inhabitants of the village were evacuated.

Meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions from the Tanganasoga volcano and earthquakes have increased. The authorities feared another collapse of the El Golfo slope and even new eruptions of an emerging chimney in that part of the island.

Families were also evacuated from there. the authorities prepared for the worst. And to evacuate all the inhabitants of El Hierro.

After a fluctuation in activity, finally, in March 2012, despite the opinion of several volcanologists, the authorities declared the eruption extinct.

Since then, there have been some outbreaks of activity but nothing to generate the panic of 2011. El Hierro has resumed his life.

La Restinga: a Hot Southern Threshold of Europe

From the Geopark facilities, we descend to La Restinga, once a fishing village with the emblematic status of the extreme south of Europe, but to which the transparency of the sea and underwater ecosystems attracted hordes of divers eager to explore the volcanic Atlantic offshore.

La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

La restinga, the southernmost village of El Hierro and southernmost in Europe.

We lacked the time.

Having lunch at one of the local restaurants, we pass by Tacoron Beach, a natural cove cut into the lava expanse of southern El Hierro. There, we dived for a few laps of relaxation, which refreshed us from the brazier that continued to envelop us.

El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Friends bathe on the volcanic beach of Tacoron, south of El Hierro.

We zigzagged back to the HI-410 road that departed from there towards the far west of the island. In El Julan, we confirmed that, below and around, we had only solid lava.

We pass by the sanctuary of Our Lady of Los Reyes. From that far-fetched church, we advance to El Sabinar where we praise the notorious savannahs of El Hierro, junipers that the mighty Alisios helped twist in a profusion of incredible plant waves.

El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

A juniper tree twisted by the force of the trade winds that lash the Canary Islands.

Punta de Orchilla and its Lighthouse at the Old End of the World

The sun was again insinuating itself to the horizon. With the minutes counted to reach Punta de Orchilla in time for its disappearance, we hurried as far as the vertiginous road allowed, aware of the eminence of the old Meridian point, in force in El Hierro for over 200 years.

Transferred in 1884 to Greenwich, so this, instead of Orchilla's, has the correct coordinates.

We anticipate the sunset long enough to walk around and enjoy the backwater of the eponymous lighthouse, considered the most remote in Spain.

Soon, we installed ourselves next to a cross detached from the high threshold of the tip, in honor of the souls who crossed the Atlantic. On the verge of another smaller cross that immortalizes Carmelo Heredia Olmos, the first lighthouse keeper to light the Orchilla lighthouse, in 1933.

Orchilla, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Silhouetted by the grave of Carmelo Heredia Olmos, the first lighthouse keeper at the Orchilla lighthouse.

The setting turns the cross and the tower of Orchilla into silhouettes. When darkness sets in, the lighthouse's greenish light signals the civilizational fringe of El Hierro in the Atlantic and in the world.

Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Fuerteventura's Atlantic Ventura

The Romans knew the Canaries as the lucky islands. Fuerteventura, preserves many of the attributes of that time. Its perfect beaches for the windsurf and kite-surfing or just for bathing, they justify successive “invasions” by the sun-hungry northern peoples. In the volcanic and rugged interior, the bastion of the island's indigenous and colonial cultures remains. We started to unravel it along its long south.
Lanzarote, Canary Islands

To César Manrique what is César Manrique's

By itself, Lanzarote would always be a Canaria by itself, but it is almost impossible to explore it without discovering the restless and activist genius of one of its prodigal sons. César Manrique passed away nearly thirty years ago. The prolific work he left shines on the lava of the volcanic island that saw him born.
La Palma, Canary IslandsSpain

The Most Mediatic of the Cataclysms to Happen

The BBC reported that the collapse of a volcanic slope on the island of La Palma could generate a mega-tsunami. Whenever the area's volcanic activity increases, the media take the opportunity to scare the world.
Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Island Cape Verde

A "French" Clan at the Mercy of Fire

In 1870, a Count born in Grenoble on his way to Brazilian exile, made a stopover in Cape Verde where native beauties tied him to the island of Fogo. Two of his children settled in the middle of the volcano's crater and continued to raise offspring there. Not even the destruction caused by the recent eruptions deters the prolific Montrond from the “county” they founded in Chã das Caldeiras.    
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

island of salt, Cape Verde

The Salt of the Island of Sal

At the approach of the XNUMXth century, Sal remained lacking in drinking water and practically uninhabited. Until the extraction and export of the abundant salt there encouraged a progressive population. Today, salt and salt pans add another flavor to the most visited island in Cape Verde.
Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde

Boa Vista Island: Atlantic waves, Dunas do Sara

Boa Vista is not only the Cape Verdean island closest to the African coast and its vast desert. After a few hours of discovery, it convinces us that it is a piece of the Sahara adrift in the North Atlantic.
Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde

Santa Maria and the Atlantic Blessing of Sal

Santa Maria was founded in the first half of the XNUMXth century, as a salt export warehouse. Today, thanks to the providence of Santa Maria, Sal Ilha is worth much more than the raw material.
Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Up and Down the Estrada da Corda

Santo Antão is the westernmost of the Cape Verde Islands. There lies an Atlantic and rugged threshold of Africa, a majestic insular domain that we begin by unraveling from one end to the other of its dazzling Estrada da Corda.
Fogo Island, Cape Verde

Around the Fogo Island

Time and the laws of geomorphology dictated that the volcano-island of Fogo rounded off like no other in Cape Verde. Discovering this exuberant Macaronesian archipelago, we circled around it against the clock. We are dazzled in the same direction.
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

São Nicolau: Pilgrimage to Terra di Sodade

Forced matches like those that inspired the famous morna “soda” made the pain of having to leave the islands of Cape Verde very strong. Discovering saninclau, between enchantment and wonder, we pursue the genesis of song and melancholy.
Pico do Arieiro - Pico Ruivo, Madeira, Portugal

Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo, Above a Sea of ​​Clouds

The journey begins with a resplendent dawn at 1818 m, high above the sea of ​​clouds that snuggles the Atlantic. This is followed by a winding, ups and downs walk that ends on the lush insular summit of Pico Ruivo, 1861 meters away.

Valencia to Xativa, Spain

Across Iberia

Leaving aside the modernity of Valencia, we explore the natural and historical settings that the "community" shares with the Mediterranean. The more we travel, the more its bright life seduces us.

Matarraña to Alcanar, Spain

A Medieval Spain

Traveling through the lands of Aragon and Valencia, we come across towers and detached battlements of houses that fill the slopes. Mile after kilometer, these visions prove to be as anachronistic as they are fascinating.

La Graciosa, Canary Islands

The Most Graceful of the Canary Islands

Until 2018, the smallest of the inhabited Canaries did not count for the archipelago. Arriving in La Graciosa, we discover the insular charm of the now eighth island.
PN Timanfaya, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

PN Timanfaya and the Fire Mountains of Lanzarote

Between 1730 and 1736, out of nowhere, dozens of volcanoes in Lanzarote erupted successively. The massive amount of lava they released buried several villages and forced almost half of the inhabitants to emigrate. The legacy of this cataclysm is the current Martian setting of the exuberant PN Timanfaya.
Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Volcano that Haunts the Atlantic

At 3718m, El Teide is the roof of the Canaries and Spain. Not only. If measured from the ocean floor (7500 m), only two mountains are more pronounced. The Guanche natives considered it the home of Guayota, their devil. Anyone traveling to Tenerife knows that old Teide is everywhere.
La Palma, Canary Islands

The "Isla Bonita" of the Canary Islands

In 1986 Madonna Louise Ciccone launched a hit that popularized the attraction exerted by a island imaginary. Ambergris Caye, in Belize, reaped benefits. On this side of the Atlantic, the palmeros that's how they see their real and stunning Canaria.
Vegueta, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Around the Heart of the Royal Canaries

The old and majestic Vegueta de Las Palmas district stands out in the long and complex Hispanization of the Canaries. After a long period of noble expeditions, the final conquest of Gran Canaria and the remaining islands of the archipelago began there, under the command of the monarchs of Castile and Aragon.
Tenerife, Canary Islands

East of White Mountain Island

The almost triangular Tenerife has its center dominated by the majestic volcano Teide. At its eastern end, there is another rugged domain, even so, the place of the island's capital and other unavoidable villages, with mysterious forests and incredible abrupt coastlines.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
The Zambezi River, PN Mana Pools
safari
Kanga Pan, Mana Pools NP, Zimbabwe

A Perennial Source of Wildlife

A depression located 15km southeast of the Zambezi River retains water and minerals throughout Zimbabwe's dry season. Kanga Pan, as it is known, nurtures one of the most prolific ecosystems in the immense and stunning Mana Pools National Park.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
by the shadow
Architecture & Design
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Aventura
Volcanoes

Mountains of Fire

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Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Ceremonies and Festivities
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Mannequins and pedestrians reflected
Cities
Saint John's, four days in Antigua

The Caribbean City of Saint John

Situated in a cove opposite the one where Admiral Nelson founded his strategic Nelson Dockyards, Saint John became Antigua's largest settlement and a busy cruise port. Visitors who explore beyond the artificial Heritage Quay discover one of the most genuine capitals of the Caribbean.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Lunch time
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
Cuada village, Flores Island, Azores, rainbow quarter
Culture
Aldeia da Cuada, Flores Island, Azores

The Azorean Eden Betrayed by the Other Side of the Sea

Cuada was founded, it is estimated that in 1676, next to the west threshold of Flores. In the XNUMXth century, its residents joined the great Azorean stampede to the Americas. They left behind a village as stunning as the island and the Azores.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Las Cuevas, Mendoza, across the Andes, Argentina
Traveling
Mendoza, Argentina

From One Side to the Other of the Andes

Departing from Mendoza city, the N7 route gets lost in vineyards, rises to the foot of Mount Aconcagua and crosses the Andes to Chile. Few cross-border stretches reveal the magnificence of this forced ascent
Cobá, trip to the Mayan Ruins, Pac Chen, Mayans of now
Ethnic
Cobá to Pac Chen, Mexico

From the Ruins to the Mayan Homes

On the Yucatan Peninsula, the history of the second largest indigenous Mexican people is intertwined with their daily lives and merges with modernity. In Cobá, we went from the top of one of its ancient pyramids to the heart of a village of our times.
ice tunnel, black gold route, Valdez, Alaska, USA
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Sensations vs Impressions

Aloe exalted by the wall of the Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe
History
Big Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe, Endless Mystery

Between the 1500th and XNUMXth centuries, Bantu peoples built what became the largest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa. From XNUMX onwards, with the passage of the first Portuguese explorers arriving from Mozambique, the city was already in decline. Its ruins, which inspired the name of the present-day Zimbabwean nation, have many unanswered questions.  
Facing Ponta do Passo.
Islands
Ilhéu de Cima, Porto Santo, Portugal

The First Light of Who Navigates From Above

It is part of the group of six islets around the island of Porto Santo, but it is far from being just one more. Even though it is the eastern threshold of the Madeira archipelago, it is the island closest to Portosantenses. At night, it also makes the fanal that confirms the right course for ships coming from Europe.
Northern Lights, Laponia, Rovaniemi, Finland, Fire Fox
Winter White
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

Unique to the heights of the Earth are the northern or southern auroras, light phenomena generated by solar explosions. You Sami natives from Lapland they believed it to be a fiery fox that spread sparkles in the sky. Whatever they are, not even the nearly 30 degrees below zero that were felt in the far north of Finland could deter us from admiring them.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
Devils Marbles, Alice Springs to Darwin, Stuart hwy, Top End Path
Nature
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Incandescent Mouth, Big Island Hawaii, Volcanoes National Park, Lava Rivers
Natural Parks
Big Island, Hawaii

Searching for Rivers of Lava

There are five volcanoes that make the big island of Hawaii grow day by day. Kilauea, the most active on Earth, is constantly releasing lava. Despite this, we live a kind of epic to envision it.
Kiomizudera, Kyoto, a Millennial Japan almost lost
UNESCO World Heritage
Kyoto, Japan

An Almost Lost Millennial Japan

Kyoto was on the US atomic bomb target list and it was more than a whim of fate that preserved it. Saved by an American Secretary of War in love with its historical and cultural richness and oriental sumptuousness, the city was replaced at the last minute by Nagasaki in the atrocious sacrifice of the second nuclear cataclysm.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
Characters
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
La Digue, Seychelles, Anse d'Argent
Beaches
La Digue, Seychelles

Monumental Tropical Granite

Beaches hidden by lush jungle, made of coral sand washed by a turquoise-emerald sea are anything but rare in the Indian Ocean. La Digue recreated itself. Around its coastline, massive boulders sprout that erosion has carved as an eccentric and solid tribute of time to the Nature.
Passage, Tanna, Vanuatu to the West, Meet the Natives
Religion
Tanna, Vanuatu

From where Vanuatu Conquered the Western World

The TV show “Meet the Native” took Tanna's tribal representatives to visit Britain and the USA Visiting their island, we realized why nothing excited them more than returning home.
Back in the sun. San Francisco Cable Cars, Life Ups and Downs
On Rails
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
Pachinko Salon, Video Addiction, Japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

Pachinko: The Video Addiction That Depresses Japan

It started as a toy, but the Japanese appetite for profit quickly turned pachinko into a national obsession. Today, there are 30 million Japanese surrendered to these alienating gaming machines.
Daily life
Arduous Professions

the bread the devil kneaded

Work is essential to most lives. But, certain jobs impose a degree of effort, monotony or danger that only a few chosen ones can measure up to.
Tombolo and Punta Catedral, Manuel António National Park, Costa Rica
Wildlife
PN Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Little-Big National Park

The reasons for the under 28 are well known national parks Costa Ricans have become the most popular. The fauna and flora of PN Manuel António proliferate in a tiny and eccentric patch of jungle. As if that wasn't enough, it is limited to four of the best typical beaches.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.