Wednesday's port stop was the island of Tenerife, not far from Lanzarote geographically, but it could not be more different. It is smaller, less volcanically active, with much higher peaks and more lush vegetation. People also paint their houses in whatever colours they like.
Our tour was a bit shorter today, but took us to the other side of the mountains at the northeastern end of the island. Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital city and our port, is at the narrow end of the island.
That didn't mean the trip from one coast to the other was short, though. As the crow flies, the distance may not have been great, but the extremely winding road we took to get there was quite a wild ride at times, reminding us of a combination of Swiss mountain passes and the infamous Road to Hana in Hawai'i.
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| Many small residential areas are built up on hillsides like this |
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| ...and even higher up the mountains. We're getting closer to the clouds here |
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| On the way back down after crossing the summit on the trans-island road. Yes, those concrete slabs are the only things between the vehicles and a sheer drop! |
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| You can see just how high we were as we descended to the area of Taganana |
After a short refreshment stop at a restaurant up in the hills, where we sampled some local snacks, we headed down to the beach, Playa de San Roque, on the other side. As we came out of the restaurant, there was a fine mist of rain, which we soon figured out was more like the clouds having come down to meet us, since once we got back to sea level, nothing was wet any more.
The beach sand was very dark, and although some from our 2 buses descended from the street to walk there, we had no idea how badly it might stick to the soles of our shoes.
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| The beach at Playa de San Roque was beautiful. It is also good for surfing |
Once we had visited the beach, we boarded the buses again for the return 40 minute trip across the Massiv de Anaga and through the Anaga Rural Park, and back toward Santa Cruz. The road was only built fairly recently to give the people of Santa Cruz easier access to the other coast, instead of having to drive all the way around the coastal road. It is 29 km long in total, although we probably traveled about 20 of them in each direction. The road splits near the top to go to another town along the coat from Santa Cruz. According to some driving bloggers, it is one of the curviest and possibly most dangerous roads in the world to drive or motorcycle.
We arrived back in Santa Cruz and headed for the original capital city of the island, San Cristobal de la Laguna. It is now part of Santa Cruz proper, but the historical city centre is still intact and lively. The University of La Laguna is based in this area, with more than 25,000 students. This is one of the best universities for studying Marine Biology and Astrophysics, because of the geographical location of the islands and the proximity of some of the best telescopes.
Our buses dropped us off near the town market, where we wandered around for a little while before setting out on a short walking tour in the town centre.
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| Of course, everyone is preparing for Christmas. These pink poinsettias are really pretty. |
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| Baked goods |
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| Nuts |
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| Seeds and spices |
Some of the views on our walking tour:
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This passage is decorated for Christmas. The wooden tower at the far end of the building is connected to the abbey which is still home to 12 working nuns. |
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| Some very nice Christmas decoration in a window |
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| This is a typical courtyard from a house in the old town, although this one is part of a municipal building. |
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| The fountain in the middle of one of the old city parks |
And from the very old to the extremely modern, our last quick photo stop near the port was at the Auditorio, the concert hall of Santa Cruz. Some say the design was partly inspired by the Sydney Opera House, but other than the rounded shape, it isn't very similar at all.
Once again, a very interesting introduction to Tenerife in just a few hours. We only visited a small portion of the island. There is also a national park in the area around the largest volcano on the island, Teide, as well as a number of beaches and other small communities.
After leaving Tenerife we began the 6 day voyage across the Atlantic, taking the southerly route toward San Juan. We're just hoping that the weather and seas are better than the last time we did a transatlantic cruise on Crystal Symphony that ended up being 5 days of high winds and high waves.
So far the internet has not been the greatest. We've had to work on the blog early in the morning or late in the evening to be able to upload photos, so it may not be until after the 6 days are done that we manage to post more about the ship and its amenities.
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