The William Herschel Telescope was for many years the biggest and best optical telescope in Europe (until GranTeCan opened in 2009). The main mirror is 4.2 m across (165″, or 13′ 9″) which astronomers call “a good light bucket”. It’s rather old as world-class telescopes go, since it opened in 1987, but it still produced excellent science. In fact data from the WHT has been used for about 1,500 scientific…
One of the best archaeological sites on La Palma is La Zarza and La Zarzita, in Garafía. You have to walk, but it’s a beautiful stroll through woods of heather and bayberry trees. Yes, heather is a tree here – see the top photo. The whole walk takes about an hour, and first bit of the path is the steepest. It’s clearly signposted. You reach La Zarza first. Here there…
Tonight is the biggest meteor shower of the year, the Perseids. In Spanish, they’re called the tears of St Lawrence, because St Lawrence’s day is the 10th. Astrotour will be at La Polvacera basketball court. From 8 – 9 pm they’ll hold workshops and from 9pm to 11:30, observation with telescopes. If there’s low cloud, you’ll get a better view up at one of the astronomical viewpoints. Enjoy!
The Red House, Mazo La Palma’s embroidery museum is upstairs in the Red House in Mazo. (I’ll write about that in my next post.) Downstairs is a museum about the fiesta of Corpus Christi in Mazo. If you’re on La Palma for June 3rd next year, for goodness’ sake go and see it. If not, I strongly recommend the museum. Some of the things used to make the Corpus Christi…
La Palma has a long history of silk production, going back to the 16th century. In fact, at one time, silk was made in all the Canary Islands, but since the 19th century, El Paso, in the centre of La Palma, is the only place which still produces it. They use an old fashioned, labour-intensive technique, the only place in Europe which still does so. You can see most of…
A collection of old weights As well as the workshop making replica ceramics, the windmill at Mazo houses a small museum. Entry is free, but there are a couple of places you can make a donation. Upstairs is mostly a collection of old tools: an old Singer sewing machine, combs for flax, knife grinders, braziers… Oil lamps … the millers glasses, shepherd’s poles, long handled pallets for putting bread in…