What a pity we didn’t know about it sooner! In February 2014, coinciding with the visit of the filming crew for Ron Howard’s latest movie, In the Heart of the Sea, British travel writer Linda Cookson from The Independent magazine also decided to visit the island. She wrote an extensive article about La Gomera. We’ve translated our favorite parts so you can enjoy them:
At first glance, the small island of La Gomera – located in a chain of islands known for their superb climate – might seem like a strange choice to tell stories of heroism in the midst of tempests.
But Howard and his team clearly knew what they were doing. The second smallest of the Canary Islands, just an hour’s ferry ride from Tenerife and without an international airport, La Gomera is a world apart from the mass tourism of its larger neighbors. With only a handful of discreet resorts, there was little risk of the Essex crew stumbling into a parade of neon signs or jet ski rental ads. Instead, the rugged coastline of dramatic volcanic cliffs seems almost eerily timeless—and (crucially for the movie) impossible to date. Inland, the mountainous heart is blanketed in a dense, humid forest of ancient trees draped, like druids, in beards of moss and lichen. It is as pristine and untamed as you could hope for.
With the island still relatively new to tourism, the overall atmosphere is refreshingly innocent.
La Gomera is also looking to the future. While the island is a recognized hiking paradise, its more accessible attractions—wild beaches and idyllic mountain villages—are a well-kept secret. There’s a lot of excitement among Gomeros that this major, potentially global showcase will attract new visitors to fall under the quiet spell and living history of the island. (After all, as everyone wanted to tell me, San Sebastián was Christopher Columbus’ last stop before his epic ocean voyage in 1492. And where else would you find El Silbo, an indigenous whistling language developed to communicate across steep terraces?)
I hope you’ll enjoy the full article as much as I did. It’s a shame the writer didn’t have much time to explore the rest of the island. She could have discovered countless treasures in Vallehermoso, Agulo, and Hermigua, to name just a few examples. If it had been us, we wouldn’t have strayed far either from where all the Hollywood-style action was happening. Maybe next time!
Click here to enjoy the full article (in English).
