Do it, but do it later

Above was recently published by the tourism department of La Gomera's island government

Irish tourists in Spain: GET OUT BY THURSDAY !

Tánaiste calls on Irish tourists in Spain - who want to fly home - to do so by midnight Thursday

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, has today held talks with his Spanish counterpart as well as the Chief Executives of Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

Following the talks Simon Coveney TD said, “I understand the deep concern about returning home from mainland Spain or the Canary and Balearic Islands in the coming days. We have been working closely with our colleagues in the Spanish government and have an orderly plan in place with Ryanair and Aer Lingus supported by the Spanish government.”

"My Spanish Foreign Affairs and Transport counterparts have assured me that Spanish airports remain open and the country is not bringing about a flight ban. They further assure me that Spanish airspace remains open for Irish airlines to bring citizens home. I reaffirmed Ireland’s solidarity with Spain at this difficult time and thanked their frontline authorities for dealing with this unprecedented challenge.”

The Tánaiste also held a conference call with senior management from Ryanair and Aer Lingus as well as senior officials from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ireland’s Embassy in Madrid.

The Tánaiste said, “Following my discussions with Ryanair and Aer Lingus I am calling on all Irish tourists who wish to return from Spain to do so by midnight this coming Thursday March 19th. Both airlines are allocating bigger planes to the routes in order to accommodate passengers and both airlines have waved booking and seat fees for anyone who wants to change a booking from a later flight to one in the coming days.”

Key points

• The Spanish government has assured Ireland that airports and airspace remain open

• Irish airports and airspace remains open

• Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus have been in contact with customers via email and social media channels on how to book

• Customers should book or make changes to existing bookings directly with them

• We continue to advise Irish citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Spain

• Spanish airports are asking passengers to travel to the airport in small groups and at their allotted time

• Do not travel to a Spanish airport unless you have a booking

• Anyone returning from Spain should follow HSE advice

• We look forward to resuming the close links between Ireland and Spain in the coming weeks

• Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice and contact information is available at https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/

SEE PREVIOUS POST: SPAIN LOCKS DOWN...

Spain locks down from Monday 8am

Spain has put its inhabitants under lockdown from Monday morning 8am, March 16th 2020, as part of a 15-day state of emergency plan to combat the coronavirus.

The government declared that all Spaniards and those permanently resident in Spain must stay at home except to buy food, go to the pharmacy, to the hospital, visit banks, go to work or in emergencies, the decree issued on Saturday by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his ministers states. 

“Physical presence in commercial premises should be limited to what is strictly necessary,” Sanchez said, adding that crowds must be avoided, and consumers and employees must maintain a meter of distance between one another in order to avoid contagion. “I am also announcing that in order to ensure the supply of goods, the Health Ministry will be able to impose the necessary orders for the provision of the market,” Sanchez said. “The Health Ministry will be able to impose obligatory personal requisitions.” The prime minister added that the Spanish government would guarantee the supply of foodstuffs.

All bars, restaurants, conference centres and all leisure and sports activities - including cinemas, theatres, swimming pools or football grounds - will be shut down.

All retail activity is suspended apart from businesses selling foodstuffs, pharmacies, tobacconists, suppliers of IT equipment, newsstands, hairdressers and dry cleaners.

All public transport will be curtailed, with airline, train, bus, ferry and boat operators told they need to cut their services by at least half and that any plane, train, bus or other means of transport can only be a third full.

Employers will have the obligation to let their workers work remotely and judicial proceedings will be suspended.

Spain's Interior Ministry will control all police forces, including local and regional ones, under the 15-day emergency rule, which may be extended further.

The health and transport ministries will also have nationwide reach, taking over some local or regional powers.

Spanish prime minister Sanchez said the lockdown will begin on Monday at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) while all other measures have entered into force as soon as the decree was published in the official journal. ''We will have the Armed Forces at our disposal – the Army is prepared for this.''

In an earlier move all cruise ships were banned from entering Spanish ports.

Note: All these measures will also apply in the Canary Islands.

Tourists will be allowed to return home  ...and if they stay they'll have to remain in their accommodation, too.

Carnival in Playa de Santiago 2020

Playa de Santiago will hold their annual carnival from tomorrow, March 5th 2020.
The main parade will be on Friday from 6:30 pm, followed by dancing to DJs and salsa bands all night...

Sixes and Twos

Spotted in Barranco del Ingenio, near Vallehermoso, in La Gomera's north-west a while back

Carnival programme 2020 VGR

Note: The carnival parade is on Sat. 29th of Feb. from 5:30pm

Carnival 2020 in Valle Gran Rey

This year's carnival of Valle Gran Rey takes place from the 24th of February to 1st of March 2020 and the main venue and stage will be in the harbour of Vueltas. The theme is television, but anything goes really, as usual...

Light at the end of the tunnel for tunnel illumination

The entrance to the first tunnel near Arure

The two long and dark tunnels on the main and only  road (GM-2) to/from Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera's south-west will now get badly needed lighting after several serious accidents within and years of promises that came to nothing. The Canarian government has finally allocated 1,2 million Euros for the illumination of both the tunnel of Arure, which is 430 metres long, and the nearby tunnel of Yorima of 630 metres lenght. Additional emergency lighting will also be installed and the electrical supply cables will be laid underground to avoid impairing the breathtaking views in the area. The project has already been put out to tender and a speedy installation is expected, with the works to take 19 weeks to completion once a contractor has been selected.

Rare concert in new venue

A rare concert by Diego Barbeito aka 'Capitan Amor' is happening this Sunday, January 12th 2020, at 7:30 pm in a new venue in Valle Gran Rey. The former disco 'Quasimodo' has reopened as 'Club 432' after many years of closure. It is right at the beach of Vueltas in the basement of the apartment block that also houses the pensioners social club (formerly 'Bar Nº2'). Diego Barbeito is an excellent Argentinian Tango musician and artist, who as 'Capitan Amor' performs his own modern electronic rock-pop compositions and songs. He has been living and working in Valle Gran Rey for many years with his Argentinian wife Manix and they both also teach classic Tango dancing.

A tango workshop and concert will take place in the same venue the following Sunday, January 19th 2020 (see below).

Season's greetings to all

Valle Gran Rey Christmas programme 2019

Above the programme for the Christmas season in Valle Gran Rey. First there's the annual 'Noche en Blanco' with live music and late shopping in Vueltas this Saturday. A similar event takes place a week later in La Playa. The New Year's Eve fiesta happens in La Playa this year and then we'll have the main Los Reyes Christmas fiesta from the 5th to the 7th of January 2020 in El Guro.

Music shop in La Gomera

The island of La Gomera now has got a music shop again after the last one closed down more than a decade ago. The new venture called MusiGomera is located in the capital San Sebastian de La Gomera very close to the historic main church and offers a wide variety of musical instruments from percussion to ukuleles and also sells accessories and amplification.

So stop ordering through the internet and support this important service for musicians.

(Ed. a few years later the music shop sadly is gone)

Keep the fingers crossed !

Lower Valle Gran Rey with the port of Vueltas (top)

Yesterday the parliament of La Gomera approved a government motion calling for the reopening of the ferry service between Los Cristianos in Tenerife and Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera which had recently been suspended indefinitely by shipping company Naviera Armas (see previous post). The motion also calls for the port of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey to be included in the list of Canary Islands ports with an 'obligatory public service' (Obligación de Servicio Público, OSP) by the Canarian ministry for transport, which would mean that a ferry connection will have to be provided.

Further, the approved motion also calls on the port authority to further improve the harbour of Vueltas and integrating it better into the town.

In an interview La Gomera's president Casimiro Curbelo also said that ferry company Armas was already actively looking 'in all of Europe' for a suitable ship to charter with which the ferry connection can be reopened viably.
In 2018 the service transported more than 170.000 passengers and 30.000 vehicles, most of which would have passed through the national park in the mountains had the ferry not been there.

Just after the announcement of the suspension of the service about 1.200 signatures for a petition in support of the ferry line were collected in Valle Gran Rey in a very short time and presented to the local mayor.

Keep the fingers crossed...

Bad News

It has recently been announced by the ferry company Naviera Armas that the ferry service between Los Cristianos in Tenerife and Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera has now been suspended indefinitely. The direct service between the two ports by high speed catamaran was introduced two years ago, but since this summer only sailed at weekends. The company has also stated that it will study the viability of a similar ferry service to be reinstated in the future, possibly with a smaller vessel. 

This is sad news for Valle Gran Rey and bad news for the forest in the national park which is experiencing higher volumes of traffic since the ferry stopped operating as all goods and traffic have to go across the mountain through the park on that road now.
Read more with an update ...

Major Reggae Festival in Valle Gran Rey

A major Reggae event is coming to the port of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey this Saturday, Sept. 28th 2019 from 8 pm. Several bands will perform during the night. The fifth edition of the 'Reggae Can' festival is touring the Canary Islands and is the largest event of its kind here. This year the theme is 'Reggae Against Plastic' and no single use plastics will be allowed at the event. No cover charge and all are welcome.

A previous 'Reggae Can' event.  Image: eldia.es (click for more info)

September 11 tragedy 35 years ago in La Gomera

The whole world now remembers 9/11, but in La Gomera the date is remembered for another very sad incident which happened in 1984. On the 11th of September 35 years ago today twenty people died in a forest fire near Roque Agando, a landmark rock formation in La Gomera's mountains above the village of La Laja where a forest fire had broken out. The spot is on an exposed ridge and the victims were trapped there when the wind suddenly changed direction trapping them in fire and intense heat. Among the victims were local volunteer firefighters and several people from Tenerife, including a former mayor of Puerto de la Cruz. The tragedy is one of the worst fire-related disasters in all of Spain ever and the sad-looking rusty steel monument (see my archive image above, the monument has since been repainted) near the spot lists all 20 names of the victims. The area around Roque Agando, which stands at the eastern end of the national park, was ablaze again  during the devastating fire of 2012, but thankfully there were no casualties in that major fire.

Spectacular rescue in Argaga yet again

Above images were taken by the Spanish police early in the morning on Saturday, August 3rd 2019, during a spectacular rescue of a mountain hiker who had become trapped in a cliff of the notorious  Barranco de Argaga area near Valle Gran Rey, which is however part of the municipality of Vallehermoso. The trapped hiker had to spend the previous night in the precipitous location to await daylight and rescue by the Guardia Civil mountain unit police helicopter. In the first image (and the close-up of same below it) a rescuer had already been set down near the trapped man to assess the victim's state of health. Luckily he was unharmed and was then brought down to the heliport of Valle Gran Rey.

Please stay away from Argaga, as numerous accidents and even deaths have occurred there. Read more...

Free reggae concert on the capital's beach

Jazz concert in San Sebastian de La Gomera

A free concert of jazz music tomorrow on the main square of La Gomera's capital 

Canaries in the Canaries

A wild canary taking the evening sun on a tree in La Gomera, Canary Islands. (Picture: Damien Enright/Irish Examiner

I overheard the following conversation in a pub in rural Ireland yesterday:

''I'm just back from a holiday in La Gomera''
"Where is that ?''
''Oh, it's one of the Canary Islands - but strangely I didn't spot any canaries there.''
''That's peculiar. I am just back from a holiday in the Virgin Islands...
- and I didn't find any canaries there either.''