Cave at Charco Azul on El Hierro in the Canary Islands
Visitors to El Hierro are probably well-seasoned travelers looking for the remote and the rugged, a place barely blipping on the tourist radar. This isle, the most southwestern of the Canary Islands chain, is distinguished by a shoreline of volcanic rocks and high cliffs. The Atlantic Ocean sends waves crashing into the primeval landscape, the sea water sometimes settling into cave pools such as this one.
Its remoteness helped lend El Hierro a notable claim to fame: For hundreds of years it was the site of the prime meridian, a line of longitude used by many European navigators and map-makers. Basically—from the 2nd century when the geographer Ptolemy marked it as the prime meridian, until the 18th century—this island was considered the end of the world. ~ author unknown
Its remoteness helped lend El Hierro a notable claim to fame: For hundreds of years it was the site of the prime meridian, a line of longitude used by many European navigators and map-makers. Basically—from the 2nd century when the geographer Ptolemy marked it as the prime meridian, until the 18th century—this island was considered the end of the world. ~ author unknown
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Cave at Charco Azul on El Hierro in the Canary Islands
photo by Reinhard Schmid
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