Letters from the Atlantic

I am often asked which of the eight inhabited Canary Islands I like best of all. I can never answer the question, because each island is different and beautiful in its own unique way. I make a point of visiting each of the islands over the year. I love them all; each have their own unique character, culture and traditions. Let me give just one example.   One of the smallest Canary Islands is La Go...

“It began with a dream…” was the opening sentence in the first chapter of my first book, which told the story of how my partner, David, and I found ourselves living and working in the Costa Blanca and the Canary Islands after careers as teachers in the UK. Like so many before us, we needed a change of pace and lifestyle and some sunshine; Spain was beckoning and had been for several years.  © Barr...

New DNA technology has enabled anthropologists to further investigate the origins of the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. This archipelago, which is made up of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa, is located off the north western coast of Africa, midway between Morocco and Western Sahara. The study of its early indigenous peop...

Agatha Christie visited the Canary Islands in search of a tranquil and recuperative environment to help her calm a troubled mind. In February 1927, at the age of 36, she visited the Canary Islands to recover from a number of events that had taken place in her life and were having a serious impact upon her mental health. © Barrie Mahoney 2012 This article is part of the book 'Expat Survival' by Bar...

I have watched neighbours struggle and become obsessed with the after effects of red rain in the Costa Blanca. At first it was rather amusing to watch the frenetic activity on neighbours’ patios after a rain storm. Patio furniture, tiles, steps, banisters and balustrades all had to be carefully washed and scrubbed within minutes of the rain stopping. After all, this red dust from the Sahara was pr...

The house shook as lightning shot across the sky, lighting it up rather like it does with fireworks on fiesta days, but this was not to be from the joy of fireworks. Rain beat down and the wind blew violently against the closed shutters and doors with a mighty force that seemed not to be of this world. I tried in vain to switch on a light, but the power had failed. © Barrie Mahoney 2012 This artic...

My first encounter with ‘The Big Beast’ came shortly after moving into a new housing development in the Costa Blanca. Obtaining a reliable electricity and water supply were both considerable challenges, but none more so than getting a telephone. I recall standing in endless queues with other equally frustrated expats of all nationalities, and sometimes the shop closing before anyone was available...

Tradition has it that on New Year’s Eve in Spain and the Canary Islands, twelve ‘lucky grapes’ known as ‘Uvas de la Suerte’ grapes have to be eaten around the stroke of midnight. It is important to eat one grape at a time with each stroke of the clock and, of course, washed down with liquid refreshment, usually a lively Spanish bubbly wine called Cava. It is believed that this tradition came from...

Who likes trifle? It is strange how the Christmas and New Year period reminds us of times past. I guess that as we get older, incidents and memories that seemed so unimportant and irrelevant to us years ago, gain in both colour and importance as time passes. For me one of these delightful memories is my Mum’s Christmas trifle. © Barrie Mahoney 2012 This article is part of the book 'Expat Survival'...

Gay Pride is always a huge event in Gran Canaria – after all, it is the second largest Pride event in Spain and one of the biggest such events in the world. The very first Gay Pride in Maspalomas took place in May 2001 and we have seen the festival get bigger and better each year. Each year thousands from the gay community worldwide, have fun in the sun, culminating in the shows and street parade...

This ‘shot’ is often a local Canarian Honey Rum, known as Ron Miel, which is made from a centuries old tradition of blending aged rum and honey. It is a sweet drink, but not as sweet as you might at first think, and certainly not as sickly to the taste as some liqueurs. It also includes a remarkable ‘kick’ if you drink too many, and it may also be wise not to accept your ‘shot’ if you are the driv...

I am not a violent man, and I detest violence of all kind. However, I do make an exception for just one day each year in the Canary Islands - Dia de Los Indianos (Day of the Indians). © Barrie Mahoney 2012 This article is part of the book 'Message in a Bottle' by Barrie Mahoney.  You can find out more about the author and this book by clicking here

I admit to being a proud European. Although English born and bred, and I still love the United Kingdom, including Scotland if it remains part of the Union, I do not regard myself as being particularly English or British, but European. I know it is not a particularly popular concept at the present time, but I am proud to be European. © Barrie Mahoney 2012 This article is part of the book 'Expat Sur...

Visitors to the Canary Islands and Spain will notice that the flying of flags is a popular pastime. Public and government buildings, as well as many private organisations, usually proudly display three flags in the Canary Islands: the Spanish flag, the Canary Islands’ flag and the flag of the European Union, and we even have another that is specific to the island of Gran Canaria. Yes, despite the...

This book reflects upon the experiences that David and I encountered on our return to the UK, during a time of Brexit uncertainties, rapidly followed by lengthy Covid lockdowns, amidst a rapidly changing political and social landscape with a potential war in Europe on the horizon.  © Barrie Mahoney 2023 This article is part of the book 'Travelling Hopefully' by Barrie Mahoney.  You can find out mo...

One of the many things that I love about our island in the sun is the ‘live and let live’ attitude of most of its people. No, I don’t mean the thousands of tourists, but the true Canarian people, those who were born here and have stayed in this little corner of Paradise. As long as it is broadly legal and does not interfere with anyone else, in the main, anything goes. For many of its present day...

I felt a special affinity to this part of London. The Canary Islands are now my home and I am well aware of the banana trade and the impact that it made upon Canary Wharf. Bananas from the Canary Islands were once unloaded right in the centre of what is now London’s vibrant financial district, which takes its name from the No. 10 Warehouse of the South Quay Import Dock, built in 1952 for the Canar...

We stood in white-faced silence as the woman vet continued to tap enthusiastically on her keyboard, whilst making that sharp sucking in of breath sound that I do so detest in Spain - it always means trouble. We then entered the fantasy and frightening world of surgery - complete with anaesthetics, drugs, treatment and recovery times. Did we also want specialist heart and blood tests before the ope...

An introduction to 'Travelling Hopefully' by the author, Barrie Mahoney  After many years living and working in Spain and the Canary Islands, Barrie and his partner David return to start a new life in the UK. Challenges that they had not expected were waiting for them; Covid lockdowns, political and health challenges were just the start of it. The UK had shifted significantly to the right of polit...

As with many things, the Spanish do this in another way, and maybe this illustrates just one side of the Spanish psyche that I find fascinating, charming, and often amusing, in my adopted country. A new craze by Spain’s anti-bank protestors is sweeping the nation. As an alternative to the angry UK’s direct-action protestors that are engaged in street violence or fire bombing offices, angry citizen...

The dates of Easter change each year and so the date of Carnival across the Canary Islands also changes, so that although the capital cities of each of the Canary Islands have the biggest parades and open-air entertainment, many smaller towns also hold their own Carnival parades. These parades have large floats that carry many in amazing costumes who often throw sweets or even offer those watching...

Those who have moved overseas from the UK, and particularly to Spain, Portugal and France, will quickly discover many wonderful bakeries. Forget the plastic bread on sale in the supermarkets, but that wonderful bread baked in relatively small quantities by people who recognise that it is the taste of real bread that buyers are looking for. I like a simple, freshly baked loaf of bread, preferably w...

Many will have read stories and been taught about one of the UK’s national heroes, Horatio Nelson; that brave son of Norfolk who taught the Spanish a thing or two during his famous battles, his “mesmerising personality”, complicated love scandal and heroic death.    The stories surrounding Nelson are, of course, based upon the British point of view. Are they true? How about looking at Nelson from...

... All this puts into context the number of pensioners who have been caught smuggling drugs from the Canary Islands in recent months. Apparently, drug smugglers prefer to recruit elderly and disabled people to carry out their drug running operations, because no-one would suspect an elderly, innocent-looking granny of carrying drugs in her bra, or that smart looking elderly gentleman of carrying a...

The Canary Island of Fuerteventura is usually associated with beautiful beaches, breath-taking scenery and plenty of wind to indulge in some of those energetic water sports. The island is also particularly popular with German and British tourists, but very little is known or discussed about the darker side of Fuerteventura’s history, involving Nazi Germany. This is the story of Villa Winter, and d...