Fuerteventura

The Nature Park near La Oliva in northern Fuerteventura covers over 2,600 hectares and has been protected since 1994. Its shifting dunes are the largest in the Canary Islands. The bright sand is of organic origin; it consists of crushed shells of mussels and other marine animals.

Betancuria was the capital of Fuerteventura from 1405 to 1834; the town originated from a chapel of the conqueror Jean de Béthencourt. The Church of Santa María is still the island's mother church today and was once the seat of a bishopric. After the Berber raid of 1593, which almost completely destroyed the town, it was rebuilt.

In the caves near the fishing village of Ajuy on the west coast lie the oldest rocks of the Canary Islands: sediments that deposited 100 to 150 million years ago at the bottom of the ocean, long before Fuerteventura was formed. The area is protected as a natural monument. Along the way, you'll pass a fossilized dune and old lime kilns; in the village, there's a dark sand beach.