Tenerife, Canary Islands
a.k.a. "The Canaries"
The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago located 100 km West of the coast of Morocco. Population: 2,128,647 (2015). Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and is a very unique place...it reminds me of Maui because of the mountains and volcanic landscape, but the terrain is MUCH more hilly with very few flat sections, which made driving fun! All the islands combined are only 7493 sq km. The name "Islas Canarias" is likely derived from the Latin name meaning "Island of the Dogs" as it apparently had a lot of dogs. Although, some say the "dogs" were actually a species of monk seals (endangered) and no longer present in the Canaries. Silly me, I thought it would have been named after a canary - the bird! All of the Canary Islands are volcanic in origin. At 3718 m high, the Teide volcano peak on Tenerife is the highest mountain (The 47,000 acre park is a World Heritage Site) in Spain and 3rd tallest volcano on earth (on a volcanic ocean island). As you can see from this sign, it is teeny-tiny compared to the largest volcano in our Solar System - Olympus Mons - on Mars.
We arrived in Tenerife to an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day (+25 Celcius). Our hotel, H10 Conquistador was in a fantastic location in Las Americas, on the ocean (with a fantastic boardwalk for miles and miles). I highly recommend the "privilege" option because it includes a beautiful outdoor patio area on the 6th Floor with fantastic 270 degree views, a hot tub, free drinks and an indoor area with couches and tv. We went 1/2 board, which for us turned out to be a good choice - included breakfast and either lunch or dinner and with the privilege club, free drinks (9 am - 8 pm). The hotel room itself was small, but had a nice big balcony with a great view of the sunset over the Atlantic ocean. I'd recommend the hotel, but it is a little "old" in terms of the structure itself and the guests. I felt a little bit like I was in a Florida retirement village, but we didn't mind that - it also meant very few children.
Our first full day we headed out in our rental car to explore the island. It was a fantastic day driving all around the coast and in the mountains! I LOVE mountains! The winding, twisty roads are all part of the fun! We went by Santa Cruz and stopped at a black-sand, local "nudy" beach! We didn't know people were nude until we started walking on it and taking pictures of the beautiful cliff backdrop!
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| Poinsettia plants in Santa Cruz - you see lots of them in the city |
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Playa de las Teresitas - fantastic views from here! It looks like a great beach too. White(ish) sand is imported... most of their beaches are naturally black volcanic sand.
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| Beautiful...and my handsome hubby! |
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| Other side of cliff in above picture |
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| Playa de Las Gaviotas - Northeast of Santa Cruz |
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| Same beach as above - yes, those are nudists in the background, but it was about the water, the black sand and the cliffs! |
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| This shows the beautiful layers of colour in the landscape (somewhere along the highway on our road trip around the island) |
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| I just love the beautiful views everywhere you turn! The clouds were moving in VERY fast...it was a unique site to see. The temperature in this area was about 14c... a cool 8 degrees cooler than by the ocean. |
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| Not much room on these mountain roads...especially for buses! |
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| View of Mt. Teide coming into Puerto de La Cruz |
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| Craig's favorite "tree" along the route... looks more like a REALLY big weed to me. |
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| My favorite cactus plant - reminds me of swans necks. Hey, apparently they call them "Swans' Neck Agave"... there you go! (agave attenuata) |
Botanical Gardens - Puerto de la Cruz
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| I love these flowers from Brazil |
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| Botanical Garden - didn't get the name of this one |
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| Funky tree in the Botanical Garden |
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| Stretching turtle in the Botanical Gardens in Puerto de la Cruz. Good balancing act also! |
We did a LOT on our first day with the trip around the whole island (or as much as you can by car). As well as the beach and botanical garden we also stopped at Loro Parque (Parrot Park). Not only is this a great zoo, but it's a lovely tropical garden also. I always have mixed feelings about zoos because I feel sad for the caged animals. The Gorilla in particular at this zoo made me feel a little sad (they have a beautiful area, but still). He was gorgeous though! I could have watched him for hours.... just so human-like. Of course, the killer whales, dolphins and sea lions are so entertaining and intelligent too!
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| My gorilla friend... there are 7 gorillas in this park and their home is very well done and even includes constant ventilation and in-floor heating! There is just glass separating us here...hmmm. |
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| Shark tunnel |
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| Penguin area |
Our second full day in Tenerife we took the beautiful drive up to Mt. Teide (volcano - 7500 m or 24,600 feet from base on ocean floor) seeing some amazing views along the way with lots of twisty, narrow roads followed by a cable car ride and a breathy hike. It is important to note that if you want to hike completely to the top of the volcano, you need a trail pass, which you have to purchase in advance. I wish we had known this. However, having said that, even the small hike we took from where the cable car dropped us off was a bit challenging because the air up there is so thin (lack of oxygen). Because of the altitude we were both sucking wind a bit and had to make little pit stops. We didn't realize it, but we started heading down the walking path to the bottom (which would be about a 5 hour hike apparently) and soon realized we would have to walk back up to take the cable car back down! lol
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| Cool rock formations on the drive up to Mt. Teide |
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| Mt. Teide - cable car is on the right side of the peak |
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| On walking trail at nearly the top of Mt. Teide |
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| Gorgeous views! |
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| Hot air coming from this hole in the ground... Craig's warming his hands because we went from +24 c at sea level to zero degrees Celsius near the top.... you can see in this picture how far we still are from the top. |
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| I had to borrow Craig's jacket ... I was a wee bit chilly! We had brought gloves and sensible clothing for going up there, but I forgot it all in the hotel! Ooops! |
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| I was a bit of a bad girl and climbed up here for the photo... it was calling my name, I had to go! |
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| A self-timer shot of the two of us as we were unknowingly heading down the mountain path |
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| Love the landscape! So unique. |
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| I couldn't decide between this photo and the one above, so you're getting both. |
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| Now we were back down and near the base of the mountain where these cool rock formations are. |
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| Thank you random tourist for taking our photo of the rock formations near Mt.Teide! |
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| A single goat on the side of the mountain at a lookout point on our way down from Mt. Teide |
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| Love this view...so varied. |
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| View at night from the privilege lounge /patio area on 6th floor |
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| Same as above... just a little more towards the sunsetting |
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| Hot tub on the same patio area on 6th floor |
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| Craig taking advantage of the free booze! |
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| Siam Water Park - waiting for it to open! |
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| One of the rides at the water park... you can just see the inner tube |
Monkey Park
(Breeding centre for endangered animals in Arona - near Los Cristianos and Las Americas)
If you want to get up close and personal with some monkeys, this is a wonderful place to do so. Be careful though...some of them aren't so friendly! If in doubt, just ask the person there because they know each personality. In several places online it said it was ok to bring in grapes and bananas to feed them, but we were NOT allowed to do so because they said they were fed a very special diet. You have to buy food there - it's a mixture of apples, peas, carrots and green beans. We were told to arrive early when they were still hungry because by midday they just wanted to sleep in the tree tops.
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| We love monkies...so we just had to go to Monkey Park! |
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| Red-footed something... I neglected to get the names of the monkeys. This ones' face reminds me of a bat! |
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| Love his pose and expression! |
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| I'm not sure why these little guys are all over the ground, but they were very sweet and gentle. My Mom would have HATED these "rodents" running around her feet! |
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| Lemur - I think this is a "ring-tailed lemur" - In the wild, found only in Madagascar. This one was very gentle and had soft little paws. Can you tell I'm loving it!? I was trying to get him to come up in my lap, but he wouldn't. He only liked the peas and beans. |
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| Craig's a brave money feeder |
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| and guinea pig feeder too! |
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| Not AS brave with the birds... he swore that the bird just wanted to bite his hand and not take the food! |
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| The beautiful flowers found all over the island - a great pop of colour in the volcanic landscape |
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| A cute little tapas bar "Tas-K" in Los Gigantes. That's Craig waving in the back left! |
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| Los Gigantes |
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| We referred to these as the "grow-ops", but a lot of them were banana tree plantations |
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| very large cacti |
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| Latin night at the buffet! |
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| Spanish night entertainment |
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| Walkin' the beach... |
Surfer dudes and dudettes
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| Just enjoying a little fun on the swing in the sun! |
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| REALLY enjoying some awesome king prawns on a beachfront patio! Yum! |
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| I'll leave you with these two sunset photos from our hotel |
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| Lots of beautiful sunsets... it's how we liked to end our afternoons |
