We start the tour in La Zarza (the blackberry). There is a visitor center in the middle of the laurel forest with a lot of information about the indigenous people and the laurel forest of La Palma. In addition to the information center, there is also a very beautiful archaeological park, which, among other things, uses Stone Age graffiti to show how the indigenous people used to live on the island.
We follow the paths of the indigenous people and first hike through the enchanted forest – a beautiful, mystical forest in which wafts of mist often appear. In the center of this mysterious jungle lies a deep riverbed that was once created by enormous masses of water. Even today it can turn into a river during heavy rain and after the snow melts in spring.
On the mystical path we hear the rushing water everywhere and see strange tree structures that look like demons. The path takes us through three natural cathedrals – the last cathedral appears like a stadium. Fights used to take place here, such as wrestling or stick fighting. We go downhill past many springs and after about two hours the landscape changes: we can now see our destination, El Tablado. We take a break at a beautiful viewpoint, then continue past lonely farms. We are mostly greeted by older Palmeros who live there like they did 100 years ago.
We pass large adderheads into the coastal zone and have a clear view of the north coast, which is wild and rugged. It goes downhill through the Barranco Fagundo, almost to sea level. Then follows the climb to El Tablado, one of the most beautiful villages in La Palma. There we are greeted by Clair with a chilled drink – the Dutch woman has reopened the only bar there.
Option B: We hike the same route to the viewpoint of the big break. Then we go back on a hiking trail that shows us the beauty of the laurel forest again. Finally, we go to the visitor center of La Zarza and visit the exciting archaeological park.
Option A: hiking time: 5 h | +350 m / ‑900m | ca. 14km
Option B: hiking time: 3,5 h | +300 m / ‑300m | ca. 8km