A small rock in the Atlantic: 13/02/2011

Friday 18 February 2011

The Cistercian Convent in Breña Alta

The Convent of the Holy Trinity, Brena Alta

The Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there.

The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for a Catholic friend who was losing her eyesight. The seeds are big enough that you can feel your way through the prayers, and she was delighted. At the time, the shop was still in the older part of the building, and to my eyes, very exotic. The room was rather dark, and seemed darker because of the wooden panelling. The nun who came to serve me stayed behind a tiny barred window, as though she were in jail – until she saw that I had a toddler with me. Then she disappeared, and came round to my side for a good coochi-coo.

The shop of the Convent of the Holy Trinity, Brena Alta

The new shop is much airier, as you can see. They still sell rosaries and religious medals, but they’re best known for their biscuits, pastries and fruit liquors. Since they’re handmade, they’re a bit on the expensive side (these were €4.50), but they’re delicious. My mother-in-law always used to say, “God knows what they put in them, but they taste divine.”

Biscuits from the Convent of the Holy Trinity, Brena Alta

The shop’s open from 9:30 – 2 pm, from 3 pm – 6pm and 7 pm – 8pm. Take the road from Conception towards Velhoco, and then drive up the narrow lane almost opposite the La Graja restaurant. It’s signposted “Monasterio el cister”. After about 300 m you’ll find the entrance on your right. It’s signposted again, but much less prominently.

View Larger Map

Labels: biscuits, Breña Alta, Cistercian, convent, food, Holy Trinity

Bookmark with:

Monday 14 February 2011

The Caldera de Taburiente

The Caldera de Taburiente from the Roque de los Muchachos

The heart of La Palma is the Caldera de Taburiente.

Caldera is a technical geological term for the crater at the top of a volcano. In fact the term comes from La Palma: all the volcanic calderas in the world were named after ours. So it's really a pity that, since then, the scientists have found out that the Caldera de Taburiete isn't a caldera. It was actually formed by erosion and a gigantic landslide.

However it was formed, the Caldera is spectacular. In most places it's eight kilometres (five miles) across, and many of the rim walls are 1,500 metres high and almost sheer. I haven't seen the Grand Canyon yet, but people who've seen both frequently say that the Caldera looks bigger. You see the Caldera is just on the edge of what your brain can understand, whereas it just gives up when faced with the Grand Canyon.

The Caldera is surprisingly hard to photograph well, because you loose the sense of scale. This photo was taken from the observatory late one morning, and the scale mostly comes from the aerial perspective - the way distant objects are bluer. On this day there was just the right amount of dust in the air to give a sense of scale without hiding more distant details. I like the way the sunlight catches the cloud waterfall.

It's even more beautiful from inside, although that does mean a long hike. You can stay at the Caldera campsite for a couple of nights to give you more time to explore.