Canary Islands

Can you imagine living in a paradise where winter is never coming? The Canary Islands are such a place. Just three hours south by plane from Madrid airport, this archipelago is located just one hundred kilometers off from the Sahara coast in western Africa. Its privileged location assures that its temperature stays stable throughout the year between 18º and 24º. January is as good a time as August to take a dive in the sea in the Canary Islands. This has also been an area of intense volcanic activity, and volcanic eruptions have been behind the genesis of each island, millions of years ago. You will find volcanoes of all sizes anywhere you look in this archipelago. What is more, in the larger islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria the tall volcanic mountain ranges in the island’s center area acting as barrier against the wind and prompting the creation of microclimates, so that the weather in the north can be completely different than in the island’s south. But it is precisely the intense activity of the forces of nature through magma discharges that have created here a landscape of intense and uncanny beauty. Few things are comparable on this Earth to taking a stroll down Teide National Park in Tenerife or around Timanfaya National Park in Lanzarote. The original Spanish explorers that discovered the islands in the 15th century were awestruck by the islands’ allure and by their perfect climate to grow good crops and called the archipelago las islas afortunadas (the fortunate islands). This happened right before the Spanish discovery of the Americas, and thereby the Canary Islands played a main role in the Spanish expansion as a midway stopping point for vessels heading west. In fact, many Spaniards of Canarian origin took part in the conquest of the Americas, and this an important reason why the Spanish spoken in many Latin American countries sounds very similar to the Spanish spoken in the Canarias, or why some of the traditional Canarian dishes can also be found in some evolved state in the Hispanic countries to the west. If you take a walk down any Canarian town, you might also notice this American influence: you are clearly in a European town, but the architecture, the customs, the way of speaking and the overall warmth and easygoing attitude of the people may remind you of the Caribbean. If you decide to buy your home away from home in the Canary Islands you will indeed be afortunado. You will be living in paradise all year long, and, with seven different islands with distinct personalities to choose from, you can even decide what shape paradise will take. All the islands have airports and ferry ports that connect them together, so it is really convenient to visit them all. The airports in El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera are inter-island only, though. Most of the international residents are settling in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, with the larger expat communities of Brits, Italians, Germans, Belgians and Norwegians clustering in different towns of these islands. In these three islands, you may decide to settle close to your next of nationality in the larger resort towns and enjoy incredible beaches, sea sport facilities, hiking trails and access to fantastic National Parks. Alternatively, you may seek one of the many traditional Canarian towns that also abound in these islands and live a life in closer integration with the native community. Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro have not yet become the target of mass tourism. However, all of them offer an intrinsic beauty and a distinct personality of their own that will make you fall in love with them. In these more secluded corners, you may feel the fortune of owning a piece of paradise of your very own.