Back to Tenerife and on to Broadstairs.

On Tuesday, we had plenty of time in La Gomera before our crossing back to Tenerife. Once again, it was a holiday, this time for Shrove Tuesday and so bus services were limited to one a day and did note return to San Sebastián in time for us to catch our ferry.

Having packed our cases and paid the bill, we went out into the streets. Signs of festivities from the night before were everywhere with flour covered doors and walls. We went into the church.

Down by the seafront, children were again in their fancy dress waiting for the festivities to start. Bouncy castles were being pumped up and children bouncing before they were really ready.

The town hall had its flags flying and In the port, there was another German cruise ship, not as big as some of those we had seen before.

We had not walked down this part of the coast before, so went to see what it was like, while trying not to spend too much time taking photos of waves.

 

After that, we then climbed up to the top near the Parador and followed a different branch of the road that we had not been along before. We had set a time limit for when to turn back, but gave up when we reached a spot where there were not going to be much more to see for a while. Then returned to the hotel to collect our bags and wait for the ferry.

 

We arrived on Tenerife in the early evening and, having sorted ourselves out, went out to find food. We were very pleased with our choice and enjoyed top quality, innovative and interesting tapas. This was part of the menu

Afterwards, we walked along the front to Playa des Americas - it made us think of Los Vegas

The flight to the UK was in the early afternoon and so we went out for a coffee before catching a bus to the airport. Our flight was on time and now we are in the air, heading for Gatwick and then Broadstairs.

 

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A long walk into the centre of the island

Monday was the one chance that we had to take a bus into the centre of the island and walk (Sunday and Tuesday(a national holiday having restricted bus services. We ticked off one of the places on Pat's list, the Alto de Garojany in the centre of the island. The Garojany national park was designated in 1981 in order to preserve the laurel forest. Five years later, it became a UNESCO site of special interest. We arrived at the bus station and the bus headed out of town. We were travelling to the fourth of 15 stops. Some of the views on the way up in the bus:

When we reached our bus stop, we took a small detour before heading for the peak.

We found a view point with a small church (above) and a very good view of the mountain La Fortelaza de Chipude which was known to the aboriginal people of this area as a sacred site.

Then we headed for the mountain, which involved a scramble up the steep hillside. In due course, we reached a path, making the walking much easier.

Some flowers as we walked:

Eventually we reached the top, with its 360 deg views.

On the way back, we had to make a decision: to go back the way we came where we could catch the bus back, or to walk on by another route to a different bus stop which we thought would be an easier walk. The critical factor was time. We decided on the latter option and arrived at the different bus stop with plenty of time to eat our banana sandwiches. (We have feasted on bananas in the Canaries, they are absolutely delicious. How will I ever eat a banana that isn't from the Canaries?). The way down to the bus stop:

Then the bus journey back to San Sebastián.

So now it was time to recover from another 10km walk, start to pack the cases and go out to eat.

 

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La Gomera

The journey from Los Cristianos on Tenerife to San Sebastián de la Gomera took 50 minutes. The ferry was full with many people not carrying luggage, so probably just there for the day.

When we arrived, we spotted a fisherman feeding fish.

San Sebastián is very small and our hotel is in easy walking distance of the dock. Some scenes of the town.

 

Once installed in the hotel (happily an apartment this time) we set out the find lunch. Everything was very busy and when we finally found somewhere with room, we saw the reason: a German cruise ship was in port. San Sebastián is so small that it wouldn't take more than an hour to see everything, so drinking beer in the bars is really the only thing to for those not on an excursion.

After than, we took our usual rest, a little longer than normal having been up so early, and woke to the sound of drumming in the street. Carnival!

18 floats passed down our tiny street, we didn't follow down to the judging. Later, when we went out to eat, the restaurants were full of little Roman soldiers, batmen, penguins and Mickey Mouses.

The next day, Sunday, we called into the tourist office to collect maps and bus timetables; we had decided to manage without a car this time and this was a good decision. In general, all bus routes go from the coast to the centre of the island and then out again to a different part of the coast. The result is that there are not too many buses, but you can get everywhere that the terrain allows.

The Parador hotel is perched on top of a cliff overlooking the town. We had considered staying there and, having seen it, it is on the list for the next time. We decided to eat there in the evening and booked a table. Meanwhile, we had a cup of tea in the shady garden.

From there, we continued along the cliffs in the direction of the lighthouse.

By now it was past lunchtime and as we descended, we could hear that there was a park nearby and the clinking of glasses, so we settled down on the wall of the park, watching the children play a ball game we could not identify and eating a sandwich.

Some photos from the walk up and down

After a rest, we set out to climb the hill close to the town. We took a steep path up the hill and then crossed to join the road on the way down. Views from the walk

On the way down on the road which winds around

The it was back up to the Parador for dinner. It was a record day; we had walked more than 16km.

 

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Vilaflor to Los Cristianos.

After all the excitement of El Teide, we were looking for a quieter day in Vilaflor. First we walked around the village. There were two churches, one more interesting that the other. This was was founded in 1550 by Pedro Soler and is called San Pedro

The other church, which was next door was mid renovation and less interesting; it also seemed to be called San Pedro.

We noticed a lot of terraces apparently without anything growing. It looked as though they may be waiting for vines to be planted, but, no, they were for potatos.

Views of the village.

In the afternoon, we went for a walk in the countryside up Montaña de Los Lirios (1550m). This turned out to be a very steep climb up on roads at the beginning but was easy walking along woodland tracks. At the summit, there were various holes in the ground.

The views towards the sea are the rocks of Medano, which we would see the next day and La Gomera, our last island on this trip.

Flora on the walk

The next day, we moved on via various seaside resorts to our next overnight in Los Cristianos, the port for the ferry to our third and last island of the holiday, La Gomera.

Our first stop for a cup of tea was Charco del Pino where we managed to spot a potato field with potatoes growing in it. We climbed up the 'mountain' (36m) which is a volcano, Chiñama. It seems to be a local meeting place, a man in a wheelchair was pushing himself up, presumably for the exercise and there were dog walkers at the top, while the dogs were racing up and down the hill, getting their exercise and having fun.

At lunchtime, we stopped in El Medano, a busy seaside town. Eventually, we found a parking spot close to the sea. The weather was clearly perfect for wind and kite surfing. From the sea front, we had a good view of what appeared to be a competition taking place.

After lunch nearby, we walked through the town and onto the beach at the other side where all the windsurfers gathered

Ahead of us was the Montaña Roja nature reserve with its two peaks.

We walked up the smaller peak, Montaña Bocinegro passing some interesting rocks on the way

Views from the top

And us, rather windswept, on the way up

Then we dropped the car at the airport and took a bus into Los Cristianos, from where we would take the ferry to La Gomera the next morning. I had been expecting Los Cristinaos to be focused on being a port, but it was a large resort with a huge shopping area stretching along the sea front. We walked a long way, avoiding the restaurant touts along the way. We noted a large number of disabled people in the town, which clearly specialises in being wheelchair friendly, and, from old photos, still does.

We ate in a French restaurant and the headed for our hotel - we had a relatively early start.

 

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El Teide

The plan had been to move from La Orotava to Vilaflor on Wednesday and go up El Teide, the third largest volcano in the world on Thursday or, if weather dictated, Friday. In the event, John looked at the routes available to us and decided that we might as well go through the El Teide national park, passing the cable car to the top of the mountain, giving us a third option. The crucial decider would be the weather. As we left La Orotava, there was cloud around, but it wasn't long before that burned back and it looked like there would be a good chance to get up to the top (or as far as we were allowed to go).

Some views on our way up and featuring the mountain, El Teide.

As we entered the National Park, we stopped for a short break and picked up a map from the visitor centre.There was a walk there into what might almost be a garden (the first row of photos).

Further up towards the mountain, we stopped where everyone else was stopping (a car park is a good indication that there might be something interesting). The 'sand' really is the colours in the photo and the area is large. Some of the rocks here have clear traces that this was once lava and presumably these are from the 1909 eruption.

As we approached the cable car station, we would see the pylons and the station at the top. Along the road, there were many stalagmite type rocks - we would see these everywhere.

Finally we reached the base of the cable car. On such a perfect day, needless to say that it was full and in the car parks, everyone was hovering spotting those about the leave. Fortunately, we find a spot quickly, walked up the hill and joined the queue waiting to buy tickets. While you can buy in advance, it doesn't really work when you have just a couple of days and no idea what the weather will let the car run. Fortunately, we were at the beginning of the batch of people in our car and so were near a window.

When we reached the top station at 3550m the temperature was 1 degree, but out of the sun and wind, it was comfortable enough. A number of paths are open to visitors and others to those who have booked in advance reach the crater. We walked first one path and then another. At that height, one easily gets out of breath and so Pat didn't get as far as John, but quite far enough! The views were breathtaking (if one had any breath to spare).

We then descended and continued on to our next stop, Vilaflor where we would spend the next two nights.

On the way, we passed the Parador (Paradors are a chain of hotels run by the Spanish state which are either in histori al or in prime sites). This is the El Teida Parador

The mountain is Guajaros, the fourth highest peak in the Canaries. If I had known precisely where the Paradore was, we would have been staying there!

By chance, on our way to Vilaflor, we spotted the perfect light on El Teide

We arrived at hotel in Vilaflor and ate in the hotel that evening. Enough excitement for one day!

 

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La Orotava and Garachio

First stop today was in the town. La Orotava is known for its buildings. We set off to see the sights before moving on to our second destination of the day.

What we didn't know was that today, February 2nd is a bank holiday on Tenerife. This explained why it would take two days to get our laundry washed not to mention the post office closure. The festival celebrates the discovery in 1594 of a statue of Mary holding a child and candal.

Some of our photos

Left to right:

1. Casa Ponte Fonte; Molinos de Agua

2. Inglesia de Los Concepcion; Casa de Los Balcones

3. Casa Montiverde; Musée de las Alfonbras

More photos from La Orotava: the first was once a watermill providing power to grind grain.

In the afternoon, we went on to Garachio, a village further down the coast and noted for fish restaurants. It has a rock!

We climbed up the village so that we could get good views of the village below. Garachio was very busy on a bank holiday with restaurants doing a good trade. However, when we returned to La Orotava in the evening, there was little choice of restaurant for us.

This was our last night in La Orotava, the next stop is to be Vilaflor near to the El Teide national park

 

 

 

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