Duration: 5 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Languages: English, Spanish & German
If you want to discover the history of the island’s ancient inhabitants, this is your guided hiking route on La Palma. We will visit the Cultural Park of La Zarza, where you will be able to see several cave engravings of the island’s aborigines, los “Benahoaritas”, and we will also walk along the nearby paths. And if we also add a visit to a local winery that has received several regional, national and international awards for its wines, this plan has all the necessary ingredients to make it an unforgettable experience. Also we will eat typical food with the delicious wine.
We will pick you up at one of our official stops and head for the La Zarza Cultural Park, located in the municipality of Garafía, in the northwest of the island of La Palma between the neighbourhoods of La Mata and Llano Negro. There you will find one of the best-known archaeological sites of La Palma, which is made up of two stations: La Zarza and La Zarcita. The La Zarza station is made up of 29 engraved panels and the La Zarcita station has 18 panels. It is one of the most important archaeological resources in the Canary Islands. This place was frequented by los “Benaoharitas”, the aboriginal people of Palma, because it was used to perform rites related to fertility and water.
This Cultural Park is located in the middle of a thick forest of ferns and laurels that connects with several trails with which you will be immersed in the leafiness of its forests. We will take one of them and go into a lush laurel forest following the riverbed of the ravine where, depending on the season, we can find several waterfalls or boilers, hence the name Caldera del Agua. During the tour, you will hardly be able to see the sky because of the dense vegetation that reigns in the area and under your feet you will have, most of the time, a carpet of leaves of various shades that will accompany you throughout the tour in a setting worthy of a fairy tale film.
After immersing ourselves in the picturesque laurel forest, we will return to the bus to visit one of the most renowned wineries on the island of La Palma, Bodega El Níspero, also located in the municipality of Garafía and led by Eufrosina Pérez, one of the first female winemakers on the island of La Palma.
Once at the El Nispero winery, you will learn first-hand about the cultivation of grapes and their subsequent transformation into wine. In addition, you will have the opportunity to taste several of its wines, some of which have received several awards at regional, national and also international level. With the experience and learning generated after a lifetime at Eufrosina wineries, she has been able to create a wine that will awaken new flavours in your palate. Also we will taste all the flavours of the local food.
Having tasted one of the best wines of the island and a typical meal, we will return to the bus to start our way back to the origin. During the journey we will make some stops, including at the Mirador del Time, known for its spectacular views. This viewpoint offers one of the best views of the island: el Valle de Aridane, covered by banana plantations and crossed by a deep ravine, the Las Angustias ravine (Barranco de Las Angustias), which ends in the beautiful Puerto de Tazacorte.