Masca and Garachico

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Masca and Garachico

Why do people build towns in inaccesible places?

After having spent a lot of time in Germany, Italy, and on the Canaries, I've stopped asking
myself that question.

It seems that people do that for a number of reasons, being in a defensible position being
the leading candidate.

But Masca defies all logic. It's on an extremely steep slope, on the side of an immense
volcano, has limited, difficult access to the ocean, and you have to risk your life just to
get to it. So...why?

Because it has a western exposure to the sun and grapes grow very well there in the rich
volcanic soil. Period. Masca is a really good example of the extremes people will go to to
grow grapes and make wine. And I'm not even sure they do that there anymore. Now it is more
reliant on the tourist traffic. So much so that we could not find a parking place and had to
drive on through, back up the opposite mountainside, stop at a cafe hung out in the middle
of nowhere and take pictures from there.

Garachico, on the other hand, was a bit more interesting, and certainly easier to get to.
In the 1600s, Garachico was one of the main ports on Tenerife, back when it was next to impossible
to get overland from one side of the island to the other. However, in 1706 Tenerife erupted from a new
location, below El Teide, and buried most of the harbor in lava. Now it's a quiet little town
with a really friendly feel, surviving in the shadow of the mountain that destroyed it way back
when. It never recovered, but, it's beautiful and it wears its memories on its sleeve for
tourists like us to discover, relive in our minds, and remember.