Tenerife

Day 1 Saturday 12th January 2019.

Arrived at Reina Sofia airport early evening after a 5 hour Ryanair flight from Edinburgh. Took the advice of our host Slava and took a taxi to our apartment in Avenida Suecia, Los Cristianos. It was dark and trying to find our accommodation plus a parking space in a hired car would have been a challenge! Slava was waiting for us outside the apartment (he had sent a photo of what he would be wearing!), and gave us a quick tour before disappearing . I had already booked a restaurant for 8.30 that evening. In fact I’d booked it twice online so eager was I to impress Fiona with my organisation. Neil did well as the table was right in the window overlooking the beach and was really lovely venue for our first evening. The restaurant called Mezcla & Co was only a short walk from the apartment. Lovely meal was a fusion of different cuisines, interesting upmarket tapas and good service. Particularly good was the local hard goats cheese with sundried tomato/goji berry chutney, Babaganoush, Calamari thai style, and chargrilled Pulpo (octopus). A quick walk along the sea front before heading back to the apartment.

Day 2 Sunday 13th

We decided that a long walk would be in order. Headed from Playa de Los Cristianos north along the coast passing through Playa de las Americas,

20190113_105331

Puerto Colon beach, Playa de Torviscas as far as Playa El Duque, Costa Adeje before heading back roughly the same way. It was a lovely walk all by the sea, about 18 km or 25000 steps. Not sure how many calories? It is called the 'Geranium Walk' but we didn't see one geranium at all. Rather shocked by the number of holiday-makers travelling by motorised scooters? I find it hard to believe that they were all incapacitated in some way.We had a late breakfast that morning at Chiringuito Punta Vista, this was just behind the beach. And some sleep inducing Sangria and clams at the Dubai bar half way back on the walk. That evening we had our oddest and only unpleasant meal of the week. I had spotted this restaurant La Casseruola earlier in the day. It described itself as Cocina Rustica and vegetariana and as It was only 5 minutes from the flat I thought it would make an excellent choice. Unfortunately I lost any plaudits I had built up from the previous evening. Fiona can describe the meals! - Fiona - what can I say - starter was ok, roasted red peppers in oil and bread. Main course I thought I would try something different and have tagliatelle with cabbage and walnuts - well it was horrible - a very large quantity and not at all appetising. Neil had some beef thing which was like slices of roast beef with hundreds of mushrooms but not very enjoyable either. The house wine was like vinegar and the chef somewhat temperamental - all in all the worst meal i have had in a long time - such a shame really that laziness after the long walk prevented venturing to a better choice. I knew that being in Spain I didn't want to eat (bad) italian food when there is such good fish, seafood and vegetables but didn't make a stand!

Day 3 Monday 14th

Walked to the port (from where the ferry goes to La Gomera) and picked up the hire car from Cicar. We started the drive up to Mount Teide and stopped at Vilaflor a sleepy town, one of the highest municipalities in Spain (1400m above sea level). One small business there had bottles of spring water under the brands 'Pinalito' and 'Fuente Alta', drunk everywhere on Tenerife. We had coffee at a cafe which was a stopping off point for the large numbers of cyclists who use the mountain roads for training. my worst nightmare, cycling up a mountain for miles and miles but they seemed to like it! We drove through forests of Canary Island pines winding our way up to Mount Teide . Higher up, you pass through the Paisaje lunar, the 'lunar landscape', a bizarre volcanic formation unique to the Canaries, this is 20km north east of Vilaflor. The Parque Nacional del Tiede covers an area of over 135 sq km.

Stopped in La Esperanza for lunch en route to Santa Cruz. Sampled Gofio (gofio is a flour made of roasted maize, millet or barley, protein rich, and mixes well with other ingredients) and Garbanzo (chickpeas), all quite tasty. With the help of the dying satnav we reached the hotel Tabiurente in Santa Cruz. We parked in the underground carpark, which to be fair to Neil, was rather claustrophobic, but resulted in meltdown about getting in lifts. A very pleasant hotel opposite the lovely Parc Garcia Sanabria Fiona went up to the rooftop jacuzzi and enjoyed the sunshine but Neil declined the idea of 5 floors of stairs to join her. For an aperitif we went to the Café Strasse in the park, the upper level was amongst the trees and very atmospheric, heaters and blankets were provided if needed. I had a cucumber Margarita and Neil had vino Rosado. We had dinner at El Porton which was located very near the hotel. Noisy tapas place which we enjoyed, pimientos de padron, chiperones and for dessert Bienmesabe (tastes good to me). Sticky golden brown dessert with honey, almonds and lemon.

15/1/19
Walked from hotel to Plaza de Espana, had coffee and Neil got us tickets for the hop on hop off bus which included a walking tour. Samuel was our guide and we were accompanied by a Japanese mother and daughter. Started the tour in the Plaza de Espana at an impressive memorial to the Civil War, and had a discussion about the flag which is the same as the Scottish flag. The origins of the flag seemed a bit uncertain but one idea was something to do with Nelson (in 1797 Nelson tried to invade Santa Cruz but failed??). Walked to a church which dated to 1500s and was the original centre of the city. This was close to La Noria – a street which now has a different name but known by everyone by this original one. This is where their famous carnival starts, which according to Samuel is the 2nd biggest after Rio. It goes on for one month, Musicade Canarias. Walked up to the Theatre Guimera, there as a 2 sided sculpture outside with a happy and sad side Samuel said the the theatre is very accessible to all as the tickets are around 7 euros. Walked up to Plaza Principe de Asturias (named after the son of the Spanish king) and viewed a private club with a very ornate façade. We then tried to start the hop on hop off bus but because of construction work the starting point was hard to find. Stopped at Palmetum (where thousands of tons of rubbish were once rotting away a botanic garden was built), it is full of palm trees from all over the world and also offers spectacular views over the sea. From there we could view the pools which were designed by Cesar Manrique, and the Auditorio, a poor man’s Sydney opera house, but quite impressive nonetheless. Went to the TEA (Tenerife Espacio de les Artes) a very modern building in which we hoped to see work by Oscar Diminguez , the Tenerife surrealist but unfortunately we were disappointed as his works were currently in Paris. Also in the building was a large reading room, very busy with students.
Back to the hotel, a sleep, and then came upon an interesting restaurant, Picatostes. We had a lovely Tenerifan white wine, Tajinaste Seco.Neil had roast kid, and Fiona Cherne, both delicious. The bread was amazing colours and tastes, squid ink tuile and aioli dip. Fiona for once raved about a dessert, caramelised apple and Neil had his usual Bienmesabe.

16/1/19

Walked over to Parc Garcia Sanabria and admired the sculptures and had coffee and tortilla at a little cafe at the edge of the parc. Drove via the scenic route to La Oratava. An attractive town famous for the Casas de Los Balcones, houses with wooden balconies surround large squares. Has a colonial feel to it. Calle San Francisco is the street where many of the old houses are. Moved on to Icod de Los Vinos, famous for the largest dragon tree in the word (Drago Milenario) which can be viewed from the terrace of the church San Marcos. There were a number of places offering wine tasting - Malvasia, but due to driving we declined.... We had lunch, salad and beer at a small cafe in the square. Drove to Los Gigantes, which was to be our base for our last 2 nights. Arrived at Apartmentos Poblado Marinero, located next to the marina. A good terrace and sea and cliff views but the apartments were rather old fashioned and under equipped. Nevertheless we braved the wind and sat on the terrace for a glass of Cava and nibbles. Had dinner at Restaurant Jardin del Sol, hearty portions and enjoyable meal.

17/1/19

Breakfast in the apartment and walked over to a swimming pool area which was free to use for residents of the apartments. We then decided to have a lazy few hours on the Playa de Los Guios which was a couple of minutes from the apartment. A lovely unspoilt beach of black volcanic sand, which was beautifully soft. This is apparently the sunniest place on the island. You can take boat trips from the marina to Masca but time ran out for us. los Gigantes is the name for the spectacular steep cliffs .During the day it turned quite stormy with gale force winds so in the evening we went down to the nearest restaurant, La Paella and had Paella! We also had a quite interesting chat to a German couple who asked us about Brexit.......

18/1/19

We secured a late check out time and spent the morning walking along the coast, through Los Gigantes and on to Puerto de Santiago passing some seawater pools. A pleasant walk in the sunshine. We then decided to head for the airport, which was less than an hours drive away. It was a good place to stay for a restful couple of nights at the end of quite a busy and interesting trip.