Places Like This Are Shown in the Movies

Places Like This Are Shown in the Movies The northern coast of El Hierro. Punta Grande Hotel When we pulled up to a small, austere building made of volcanic stone, we had no idea that this was Punta Grande—the smallest hotel in the world, listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It has just four rooms. And when the guests go out, they lock the front door themselves. But we had yet to see any of that; all we saw was a house on the edge of a precipice and a rocky shore split in two by some unknown force. You can walk to the hotel along a path from the town, but it is better to turn onto the trail and get quite a surprise: on one side, the trail drops away into a well, with the sea roaring at the bottom. If you stand directly above the well, you find yourself in the middle of a small arch connecting it to a narrow fissure, where, deep inside, the water rages. A long ocean swell, having gathered strength, charges headlong into the gorge and crashes against the walls of the well somewhere right beneath your feet. Apparently, by calling the number on the sign, you can even book yourself a little room in this record-breaking hotel. Charco Azul We would obviously call it the Blue Bowl. A short drive from Punta Grande, we turned towards the sea at a signpost, without the slightest idea of what awaited us. An empty car park, a reminder politely asking people not to leave rubbish lying around. A properly constructed steep descent and several platforms among the rocks. After exploring the left-hand side of the natural complex, we found rocks overgrown with yellow seaweed, foaming blue water, and a small black arch above the waves. We veered right—and there it was, Charco Azul. You walk into what seems like a large cave and... squeeze your eyes shut, dazzled by the panoramic view of the breaking sea. Like living wallpaper pasted across the far wall. At high tide, the ocean foam reaches all the way to the blue pool, separated from it by a rocky barrier. This rounded bowl of seawater begins beneath the vault of the grotto, while its other half peeks out into the blue Canary Islands sky. The ancient Romans would have built baths here. Or simply bathing pools: nature has created such easy access into and out of the water on both sides of the bowl. You can climb both into the cave and onto the isthmus separating the charco from the surf without even scraping your knees. Swimming here is pure bliss, because until now you had only ever swum in places like this while watching the BBC. Either we were very lucky or it is always like this here, but on both our visits we managed to have the place to ourselves. Only a few people came for a swim, then quietly vanished among the jumble of lava. A photographer also arrived with an enormous camera on a tripod. Our swimming clearly did not fit into his plans, so, with a friendly smile, he moved off towards the left-hand edge of all this beauty while, from the right, our thoroughly dived-out crew made their retreat.