The island of Tenerife hides various secrets and legends, but also true and curious facts, many linked to the symbol of the island, Mount Teide. If you are planning to visit this gigantic extinct volcano and its national park there are some curiosities that could make the visit even more interesting.
Some curiosities about Teide and the Teide National Park.
Stage for several Hollywood movies
In 1966 they shot the film, “One Million Years BC“, the film shot in the Teide National Park was played by the famous actress Raquel Welch. Other films shot here are “Ulysses against Hercules”, “Mission Stardust”.
Much of the American film "Clash of the Titans" was filmed here. The second series of the film was also shot almost entirely on Mount Teide.
The shadow of the Teide
The Teide has the largest shadow in the world cast on the sea. This wonderful effect can be seen from the volcano itself at sunset or sunrise. Its shadow extends over a large part of the sea and even covers the other islands of the Canary archipelago.
The Teide's shadow is conical, although the volcano is not a regular cone. It is an effect caused by perspective. Given the inclination of the sun's rays (almost parallel to the surface), the shadow stretches a lot, distorting the shape of the Teide and converting it into a perfect cone.
Other curiosities
Teide was chosen as the second most impressive volcano in Europe, after Etna, by users of the "TripAdvisor" internet portal, which made a list of the ten most powerful European volcanoes, for their beauty and destructive power.
Teide National Park is the most visited national park in Europe and the second most visited national park in the world with over 4 million visitors.
Next to the Parador de Las Cañadas is a small chapel dedicated to the Virgen de las Nieves, and it is the highest Christian temple in Spain.
On June 24, 1989, the Spanish radio program "White Space", live on Radiocadena (now Radio 5), organized the "UFO Alert" event in the Teide National Park, in order to achieve some kind of contact with aliens. . The event was attended by about forty thousand people.
In 2011, a team of UK researchers visited Teide National Park in June to test a method for searching for life on Mars. They also tried to find places to test the new robotic vehicles that will walk the red planet.
The British musician Brian May, the guitarist of Queen, studied various astronomical phenomena in the Canadas del Teide in Izana. It is in this national park that he wrote the song "Tie Your Mother Down"