Curiosities of the Canary Islands
This book is an invitation to see the Canary Islands with fresh eyes. Not as a postcard backdrop, but as islands full of stories that often remain hidden. Many are quiet. Some sit quite literally by the roadside, unnoticed. Others still carry traces of people whose everyday lives have long since disappeared, yet remain present if you know how to look.
These chapters explore the overlooked, the distinctive, and the things that sometimes linger in the shadows: old teleclubs that once held villages together; salt pans and windmills that still echo the rhythm of earlier times; forgotten trades; camels that were once working animals rather than decoration; tomatoes that shaped entire stretches of coastline; colours, scents, landscapes and traces you won’t find in any travel guide.
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Each chapter is a small pause along the way. A step closer to what truly defines these islands: their quietness, their quirks, their contradictions, and their warm, sometimes rugged heart. These are observations, memories and small discoveries — told without haste, with respect, and with the wish to preserve something that might otherwise go unnoticed.
This book is for everyone who loves the Canary Islands and for those who wish to truly get to know them for the first time.
Perhaps some will find something familiar within its pages.
Perhaps others will discover something entirely new.
Both are welcome.
I have been living and working on Lanzarote for many years,
where wind and lava set the pace.