Once upon a spring… we got together with two friends who all wanted to go somewhere for few days in May. We didn’t have any specific destination in mind, just to get out somewhere and discover a new spot on the Earth. Tenerife it is – we closed our discussion. Tenerife is the biggest island of the Canary Islands that belong to Spain and lie in the Atlantic ocean, approximately 100 km from the African coast. The islands are of volcanic origin, which you notice when you see the landscape – somewhere it reminds the moon landscape and somewhere the beaches are covered with black sand. You will also find the highest point of Spain on this island – it is a volcano called Pico del Teide (3718 m above the sea level) which is situated in the national park El Teide.
The flight from Brussels took about 5 hours. At the airport, there are several car rentals, so we picked up a car and went to the hotel on the South-West side of the island. One of my friends found a wonderful hotel just at the coast. First of all, our reservation was not visible in their system. When they discovered it, they mistakenly gave us a very small room with no view. Their way to say sorry was a very elegant and generous one: we ended-up in a spacious apartment for 6 people with a very long balcony with a great sea view. No worries, we have already forgotten any bad experience with this hotel! 🙂
As you can see on the above pictures, the wake-up was lovely! Directly after breakfast we start our journey of discovery. The first day we head to the Eastern side of the island. We pass by the pyramids in Güímar. It is an etnological park with six rectangular pyramids built from the lava stone. When and by whom they were built is a mystery and there are some speculations around.
We continue direction North – to the beach Las Teresitas. The weather changed so we had a swim and some cocktails, as there is a bar with latino music – bailamos!!
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In the evening we are having a nice walk in the capital called Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. We are stopping for a dinner and because they have no veggie meal, I am going for a fish – grilled sole. Well, quite salty for me.
The other day a visit of the national park El Teide is on our agenda. Today I will finally see a volcano! I am so happy, you can’t imagine! And the guys are motivated too 🙂
We are getting higher and higher above the clouds – the air, the uncompromising blue sky – this is something that you do not see in Belgium. Yes, I am happy here and now! I am enjoying every single moment and hoping that it will not be finished soon…
Finally, there is the volcano Pico del Teide! It is actually a complex of two volcanos: Pico del Teide (3178 m – third highest volcano in the world) and Pico Viejo (3134 m). The volcano was last active in 1909.
The color of lava depends on its composition and age. With the time it oxidize and gets reddish.
When buying the tickets for the funicular in order to get to the top, we are being informed that we cannot go to the very top unless we had registered online. Of course we did not! What a pitty! I am sad, but we are discussing with Loic and coming to the conclusion that this is not our last time on Tenerife. So, next time then! 🙂 The funicular is taking us up and we are enjoying an amazing view of the crater.
This interesting plant is Echium wildpretii, Bugloss in English. It is a local endemic plant and grows up to 3 meters.
It feels so good to be here, even though a bit cold and when running, breathing is not that comfortable, but I love the deep blue color of the sky.
It is very close to the top, but unfortunately we cannot go beyond the fence, as we hadn’t register on the internet. Well, let’s take it as a lesson and let’s prepare more in detail next time.
We are taking the funicular and going back downhill. Back to the car and driving through the “moon landscape”.
And of course, we have to mark that we were here 😉
Going more downhill and saying bye to the volcano.
Arriving to Puerto de la Cruz, a small city with a nice historical centre.
The third day we are heading to the West coast. We are passing by the banana plantation and omg, so many bananas on such a small place… they even produce banana liquer which we tasted later on in a restaurant.
We are arriving to the cliffs Los Gigantes, their height is around 500-800 meters.
We are stopping in Puerto Santiago, where is this lovely beach with black sand.
Continuing direction to the South. For the rest of the day we plan to have some swim at Los Cristianos and Las Americas.
Our last dinner is close by the hotel. We are having sangria and again sole with vegetables and rice. I have to admit that the few days spent here taught me to eat fish more than ever before.
The last day we decide to stay close to the hotel, so we go to the nearest beach El Médano, close toLa Montaňa Roja. It is very windy and our stuff are flying away, so we are having some fun. What is depressing, is the fact that we see the airport from the beach and the planes taking off and we know that in few hours it is our turn.
The time has come, we are heading the airport and saying bye to the sun, blue sky, palm trees, aloe vera and all sort of succulent plants around the road. In few minutes the plane is taking off and we all know that one day we will come back and discover more from this amazing island.
Thanks to my friend Pavel for some pictures 🙂
1 comment
What an amazing sky 🙂