Not so long ago I learned that people dedicate their time to take pictures of the most distant places from their location. Is it possible to see the Alps from the Pyrenees? It seems the answer it yes.

In the beginning

It all started in the Canary Islands. During my first week there I could see the mount Teide from the highest part of Gran Canaria. The question was then: could we see it everyday? From any place? What about the other islands?

Another day in the bus going from San Mateo to Cruz de Tejeda, a guy was saying that you can see sometimes Fuerteventura and even Lanzarote from there.

Visibility and weather

What’s fun is that the locals use the visibility of the atmosphere to make weather forecast.

Si se ve Fuerteventura, agua segura (o agua en 3 días)

which means: if you can see Fuerteventura, for sure you’ll have water (i.e. rain). I think they have something similar in La Palma, when they see clearly Tenerife. But is that true? My experience there makes me say that it’s not really working 100% of the time: when it works, people say: do you see, it was true!, while when it fails, they just forget it.

Spotting the Islands

When I was trekking near the top of the island, I always look for the other islands. Here are some examples, all from Gran Canaria. I must admit I could never see Lanzarote from Gran Canaria, and could not even find a picture of it.

Fuerteventura

La Gomera

El Hierro

Going further

As said in the intro, there are groups dedicating their time to this hobby, one of the best page on the topic is probably http://beyondhorizons.eu/, as they not only show nice mountain pictures, but they also explain the optical phenomenon and provide some advices concerning the photography.

The current World Record is about 450 km, really amazing.