Canary Islands - Tenerife

Who can put their hand up and say they know where to locate the Canary Islands?  Probably not many of you.  We definitely couldn’t before we started planning this trip, but we needed to find somewhere to chill out in between tours.  Located off the coast of northwestern Africa, the Canary Islands are the southernmost region of Spain.  There are 7 rugged volcanic isles with the biggest one named Tenerife.  That is where we flew into and have not regretted our decision (apart from a couple of days of not feeling well with mild doses of traveler's diarrhoea)

If you like the hot weather, cheap eating and drinking, the ocean with its many water activities, along with an interest in volcanoes then one of the Canary Islands is for you.  As they are so far away from New Zealand, not many Kiwis venture this way and yet again, we are a near extinct species on a tropical island.  If you don’t count the many people here from the UK, who speak English but still can’t understand them, LOL! we still haven’t found any other tourists from the Southern Hemisphere.

For over a week we have been spoilt with warm temperatures (thankfully not nearly as hot as Egypt), a pool to cool down in, several beaches nearby, countless restaurants and bars to eat in and numerous shops to browse in.

In the middle of Tenerife is Mt Teide, whose summit is the highest in Spain at 3 715m, and third highest volcano in the world.  It last erupted in 1909 and is the most visited natural wonder of Spain.

Travelling on a bus, we didn’t get quite to the summit but close enough to see where many films and tv series have been shot eg:  The Rings of Power, a prequel series to the Lord of the Rings.  The hot, sandy and vast environment was the perfect backdrop for Rhun, in Middle Earth.

During that bus tour we also stopped at Vilaflor, and had a delicious lunch at Icod de los Vinos, were we got to see the famous 800-1000 year old “Drago” Tree.

A wee siesta on the bus before stopping at Garachico, known as the ‘prettiest’ town in Spain.  It also had these awesome rock pools for swimming in.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for a dip as I would have liked to have shown them how to do a proper Kiwi manu!

Before travelling even higher into the mountains to the wee village of Masca. 

I would just like to point out what a terrific job the bus driver did of navigating one of the most notoriously dangerous roads in Spain.  If you think the Crown Range has some tight turns, they aren’t compared to some of the ones on this road where he had to do some 3 point turns to get around them, and the cars coming the other way had to do some reversing back to let the bus through! Spectacular views that I did not miss!

A definite highlight of the week was a 5-hour sailing excursion along the coast to see the spectacular cliffs of Los Gigantes, have a dip in the sea in Masca Bay, all the time looking out for some dolphins and whales, which did make an appearance.

The nightlife in Tenerife is a busy one.  After a delicious Spanish meal at one of the many restaurants eg:  seafood paella,

you don’t have to venture far before you find either a comedy show, karaoke or any variety of music.  It is a small world, Mrs Smith’s (Rosie's relief teacher) Aunty was performing as Adele at one of the bars.  She was great but her husband, Paul, encouraged Rosie to get up and sing a Crowded House song on the karaoke.  I’m afraid to say that Neil Finn would not have liked this particular version of ‘Weather With You’. LOL!

And that is another chapter of our journey completed.  If you are planning a trip in this part of the world, definitely visit the Canary Islands.  It has definitely ticked all the boxes for a week's chill out time before the next adventure.