Stamp of the Day: Tenerife with El Teide

This stamp is a map of the island of Teneriffa/Tenerife, part of the Canary Island Archipelago in the Atlantic. The islands belong to Spain, just like Madeira to the north. EH posted a picture of the week of the volcano El Teide (Tejde) in the background, and here it is on the map too. Teide is 3700 m tall (over 12 000 feet), the tallest point in Spain, and has often snow on top despite being in the subtropical area of the world. 4 million years ago there was just see here, and the island has been created by volcanic eruptions since then.

When we were small we had a children's book about Barna Hedenhös (The Children Hedenhos from 1953), who took their stone age timber raft and sailed to the Canary Islands, where people sailed in boats made from giant banana peels, and all were afraid Tejde would wake up and spit out lava, people climbed ladders to reach their houses on the steep cliffs, and people communicated by whistling in the valleys. I have very vivid memories of this book.