Micro Continents of the Canary Isles

Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria – names that may be familiar to many holiday-brochure browsers. And the holiday expectations are familiar too - revolving around that holy trinity of sun, sand and sea. The tourist industry, for this far-flung Spanish archipelago, has been constructed to funnel sun-seekers fast, from their north European homes, to the toweled pool-side sun-beds. That focus is a shame, however, because these splintered volcanic shards, lying off of the coast of Morocco, are fascinating and breathtaking - packing a continental-sized diversity into their tiny areal extents.

The primal urge of geology is the common denominator for the Canary Isles. Each island is the surface expression of the rude thrusting of volcanic forces, along the margins of the North African shelf. That violence has created some stunning landscapes, still occasionally rumbling and hissing cones into the cold Atlantic.


Check out Lima's full article Micro-continents of Splendor and Sun – the Canary Isles @ Travelsphere