Lepanto is the Italian name for the Greek port of Naupaktos, where a famous naval battle took place in 1571 in which a coalition of Christians trounced the Ottoman Empire. (Actually, there were also battles in 1499 and 1500, but since the Europeans lost to the Turks, we tend to quietly forget them.) And for some reason they stage a re-enactment in Barlovento, every two years, as part of the…
I went with my friend last week to photograph a leaning dragon tree in Puntagorda, and we found a tame chough there. I think it makes a good living from tourists. And then we went to have a look at the ravine, and I brushed gently against a prickly pear. Of course I got hundreds of spines on the shoulder my T shirt, and I couldn’t think of driving back…
A pre-alert means don’t panic yet, but check before you go out. High winds are expected tomorrow (Thursday) in the eastern Canaries: Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuertaventura, and the day after (Friday) in all the islands. They expect gusts up to 75 km/h / 46 mph. That’s Force 8 on the Beaufort Scale: “Twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road.” So Friday might not be the best day for…
I’ve been wondering how many people they thought they could get up at the Roque, given the need for things like parking and toilets. According to Canarias 7 (in Spanish) the answer is “perhaps 2,000”. The idea is to transmit the concert to huge, open-air screens in each of the Canary Islands, and also in Madrid and London, and maybe Paris and Brussels. Jean-Michel Jarre and Brian May are said…
Fitting another mirror segment to MAGIC II The MAGIC gamma ray telescope is getting a twin. MAGIC II will work together with MAGIC 1 as a two-telescope array. The first thing you notice about MAGIC is that it’s huge. The mirror is 17 m (55ft) across. This is because Gamma rays never reach the earth (unless they come from an atomic bomb). What the telescope is looking for is something…
The first church on this site was built in the 16th century, when this was the centre of the village. Since then, the population moved uphill, leaving the church rather isolated, and the church has been rebuilt twice (the current building dates from the 19th century), and finally fell into disuse and ruin. It was replaced with a newer one, in the new centre of the village, in 1951, but…