Tenerife North

Trip dates: February 22 - 26, 2012

Day 1:

It's a long travel day. We wake up at 4 am on Madeira, to catch a flight to Lisbon. From Lisbon to Madrid. From Madrid to Tenerife. In February this is the simplest way to travel between the two islands.

Tenerife is the largest island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago which politically belongs to Spain, but geographically to the African continent. This archipelago is probably one of the best known tourist destinations in Europe, Tenerife itself receives over 10 million visitors a year. We can see this immediately from the number of people arriving at the Tenerife North airport (official name Aeropuerto Los Rodeos). The place is packed. And the north shore is supposed to be the less touristy one! I suppose it is also a good indication of how touristy this island is that there are not one, but two airports on it.

To my surprise, in this place of mass tourism, the taxi driver barely speaks any English. Later I realize that, because of the huge number of German tourists, most people working in the tourism industry seem to speak better German than English. Anyway, the driver is super nice, and with lots of hand gestures explains to us some of the must-see sites in the area.

My first impression of the island is that it's very built up. I only find that surprising because we are on the north shore. I have heard that on the south shore it is hotel after hotel, full of neon signs. But the north shore is supposed to be the classy one, the less touristy one. Perhaps I am being unfair. We just spent a couple of days on the Azores and Madeira, where greenery and flowers still prevail. Perhaps that is why it is such a shock to be back to an "urbanized" place. I am slightly worried that I will not like it here.

Our plane was late so by the time we reach the hotel it is almost dinner time. We are staying at Hotel Botanico, on the hill above the town of Puerto de la Cruz. It's a very nice hotel, and the lobby has a display of the famous people who visited. There are various royals including the Spanish king and queen, Bill Clinton, Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin and even Michael Jackson. No famous people here today though. Only lots of elderly people. The average age of hotel guests seems to be quite high. But maybe that's just because of the season. It's not the perfect beach weather right now.

Before a nice Spanish dinner we take a little walk on the hotel grounds. The garden is beautiful, reminds me very much of hotel gardens we have seen on Hawaii. And the spa reminds me very much of Thai spas. Best of all worlds, I suppose, not that we are planning to spend much time in the hotel anyway.

Hotel Botanico garden

We are here during carnival season, and, being so tired from traveling, we are missing one of the carnival events tonight, the "Entierro de la Sardina" (Funeral for the Sardine), a procession in which hordes of weeping "widows" accompany a giant sardine to a funeral pyre, where it is then cremated. This event used to denote the end of the carnival, but in more recent times was moved to the middle of it, to Ash Wednesday. Sounds like fun, but there is no way we can handle it after a long travel day. We do get to see the accompanying fireworks from our hotel window though.

Day 2:

Today we are visiting Loro Parque, a wildlife centre on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz. It is supposed to be a surprise for our 8-year old daughter, but keeping it a secret proves more difficult than I thought. Already at the airport we are surrounded by advertisements for the park. This trend continues at the hotel. It's not just some brochures. Even the "do not disturb" sign in our hotel room is a picture of the park.

We take the free hotel shuttle to town, then we take a short walk to the little train which shuttles people to the park free of charge. I am looking forward to a pleasant little train ride through town. But it's not as pleasant as I thought. There is a huge line waiting and they load us into the train like sardines. A tall Scandinavian couple is sitting across from us, and we are quite tall as well, so it is not exactly comfortable in the little train designed with children in mind. We haven't even set out yet and my leg is already cramping.

By now our daughter is seriously suspicious about where we are going. All trashcans in town seem to be covered with advertisements for the park. Are there really no other attractions around here to advertise?

There is a long line for the park ticket office so I feel very good about buying the tickets in advance at the hotel. There is one line we can't avoid however, the one to get into the park. It's not as much the number of people holding things up, but rather the mandatory picture everyone has to take with the two parrots (real ones) sitting there. The name Loro Parque means Parrot Park, and the place has the largest parrot collection in the world.

Loro Parque

We start our visit with the gorillas. They are magnificent. On display next to their enclosure is a picture of Michael Jackson's 1993 visit.

Gorilla

Michael Jackson visiting the gorillas in 1993

We visit the amazing Planet Penguin, the world's largest penguinarium with real snow and ice! I must admit, it is the most beautiful penguin house I have ever seen. A moving sidewalk takes us around, while we watch the penguins wobbling around in the falling snow. There is a diver cleaning the bottom of the tank (or whatever it's called), and some penguins seem to be very curious about the taste of his oxygen tube.

Planet Penguin

There are also puffins in the penguin house, and, quoting my daughter: "They are super cute". We have seen them in the wild in Iceland, but never managed to get this close to them.

Puffin - how cute!

And speaking of cute. We pass by the chimpanzees next.

What a hard life!

Then it's inside again, into the aquarium. As far as aquariums go it is not very impressive, except for one thing, the Shark Tunnel, which, if I can believe the internet, is the longest in the world.

The Shark Tunnel

No self-respecting aquarium is without a couple of Nemo-s

The grounds of the park are so pretty. There is lush vegetation and there are even some exotic birds wandering around freely on the grass.

This bird is just wandering around the park

Then it's time for the very funny sea lion show.

The sea lion show

Let's dance!

After the show we rush over to the dolphinarium, which is the biggest in Europe. The dolphin show is about to begin.

Let the show begin!

Dolphin tango

Jumping alone...

..and together

South end of the dolphins

North end of the dolphins

Luckiest child in the audience

Dolphin-surfing

We have one more show to see, the Orca Show. They are from SeaWorld in Florida, except for Morgan, who has been rescued in the Netherlands. Her story plays on the huge TV screen before the show begins. One of the orcas seems to be fascinated by the TV.

Our daughter is disappointed that we are not sitting in the splash zone, but we, very sensibly, decide that it is too cold for that today. Just as well. The people sitting there are soaked.

Orca watching orcas on TV

They are pretty big

Yes, they can do this

Splashing on purpose

After a pretty bad lunch in one of the self-serve restaurants we walk past some tiny monkeys and a big lizard, on our way to Kinderlandia, a playground and Orca-shaped roller coaster. It's fun, quite mild, so even my motion-sickness prone stomach can handle it.

Big lizard

Parrots galore at the souvenir shop

When we pass by the alligators they are completely still. So much so that my husband thinks they are fake. I think they are real. But we can't really tell.

I am keeping an eye on you!

We walk through a very beautiful little orchid garden, then past some flamingos, then there it is again, our favorite bird roaming the park.

Orchid garden

Flamingos

Hello again

We pass through a beautifully landscaped part of the park and past many exotic bird cages. There is supposed to be an interesting Loro Show (Parrot Show), but is is closed for renovation right now. I don't mind. Three shows for a day were plenty.

Beautiful plants in the park

And some interesting plants in the park

Loro

One of my favorite attractions in the park is the Katandra Treetops. It's basically a huge cage, where, after climbing some steps, we can observe the birds from the tree tops. I am sure this environment is also more pleasant for the birds than the usual cages. It's fun to look for them, like a mini bird-watching adventure.

Katandra Treetops - one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen

Katandra Treetops

After this morning's experience with the little train, we decide to take a taxi back to the hotel. Just in time to watch paragliders and then a pretty sunset over Puerto de la Cruz. And after dinner there is a pleasant little folk dance show in the hotel bar.

Sunset over Puerto de la Cruz

Folk show

Day 3:

Time to see some of the natural beauty of Tenerife.

Ever since we arrived, people have been pointing out to us Pico del Teide, which, at 3,718 meters (about 12,200 feet), is the tallest peak in Spain. And by "pointing out to us" I mean: pointing in the general direction of. The peak has been hidden by clouds ever since we got here, so we just have to take people's word for it that it is really there. Today we will see it for ourselves.

We pick up our rental car, then we set out on the drive to Parque National del Teide, Spain's largest national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. After a false start (we just didn't see the sign) we are driving up up up.

The first two marked lookouts are a letdown, as the view is partially obstructed by overgrown trees.

View from one of the lookouts

We drive trough a beautiful pine forest, then into the clouds and then finally...there it is! Our first sighting of Pico del Teide. I am a little disappointed at first, as it is not as rugged as I expected, but by the end of the day it grows on me. It's sort of cute.

Driving into the clouds

Our first view of Pico del Teide

Above the clouds at 1,830 meters (6,000 feet)

Above the clouds the weather is fantastic, blazing sunshine for the rest of the drive. Soon the pine forest disappears and we enter a complete moonscape. Lava rocks create beautiful formations, but there is very little else.

Moonscape

We stop at the visitor centre to pick up a map of the park. Not that we really need it, there is only one driveable road here.

We walk around a bit at Mirador (viewpoint) Minas de San Jose Norte. Like with lava fields in general, the main attraction here is what one doesn't see. No sign of life. Unless we count the scores of tourists of course.

At Mirador Minas de San Jose Norte

Parque National del Teide

Despite it's inhospitable appearance, the national park is home to 12 endemic species of plants, such as Tajinaste Rojo. They must be gorgeous in the spring, when they bloom with fiery red flowers. Only their skeletons are visible now, looking pretty much like bottle-cleaning brushes.

Tajinaste Rojo skeletons

We pass at the base of the Teide, under the lower cable car station, and now we are at 2,250 meters (7,382 feet). The ride on the cable car up to Pico del Teide only takes 8 minutes, but, judging from the huge number of cars parked there, the wait for the cable car would be much longer, so we decide to skip it. We drive on instead, toward the bizarrely beautiful rock formations south of the peak.

Lower cable car station

Parque Nacional del Teide

Parking at the rock formations is pretty much like parking on the streets of Paris. This is one of the most popular sights in the park, so, even though the parking lot is huge, so is the number of cars. Finally we find a parking spot, and the hassle was definitely worth it. The rock formations are amazing. Most famous of them is Roque Cinchado, a tall tower narrower at it's base than at it's top.

Rock formations at Parque Nacional del Teide

View from the rock formations

Rock formations

Roque Cinchado

More moonscape, then finally some greenery appears. We are driving west now, to lower elevations. We see plenty of cyclists on the way. We have seen them all day and, given the elevation changes, they have all my admiration.

Lots of lava and a couple of trees

The colors are back!

We are heading out of the park, back to civilization. The hillsides are dotted with lots and lots of cacti, flowers and even blooming trees. It must be beautiful here later in the year.

Plenty of cacti

And blooming trees

Our next destination are the huge cliffs of Los Gigantes, on the western coast of the island. To get there we must drive down down down, on a very curvy road, and my stomach is not taking this very well. I hope those cliffs will be worth it! In one of the curves we come across a little eatery. There were plenty of restaurants in the park, but we didn't eat there, so by now we are starving. The terrace of this place has an amazing view of the cliffs and the food is not bad at all.

Los Gigantes

After lunch it's the same curvy road up the hill, past some banana plantations. I can see that they are building tunnels up in the hills. A sure sign that they are building a bigger (and more straight!) road. I am not coming back until it's finished! Then it's more curves toward the north coast. The view is beautiful, but I wish these turns would finally end.

We reach the relatively straight road on the north. What a relief! The plan is to stop at Icod de los Vinos, for one reason only, to see the umbrella-shaped drago tree. Depending on who you believe, the tree is anywhere between 1,000 and 3,000 years old. For that age alone I wanted to see it, but now I can't imagine subjecting myself to the little curvy roads of the town. So, when I realize that we can see the tree from the main road, I am just too happy to drive on. By the way, umbrella? Really? More of a broccoli I think.

Drago Milenario

Nothing like a nice cup of tea in the hotel to fix my stomach. After dinner we head for the bar where a band is playing, along the lines of "Love is in the air" and "Pretty Woman". I try the local banana liqueur, strictly out of curiosity, as I suspect that it will be too sweet for me. I am right. It's terribly sweet. For our daughter they prepare some non-alcoholic cocktail complete with a loro. Yes, parrots (at least the fake ones) are really everywhere on Tenerife.

Non-alcoholic cocktail with loro

Tonight the carnival celebrations continue with a "Men's Marathon in High Heels". Sounds like a lot of fun, but it starts late in the evening and tomorrow we are having a long day.

Day 4:

I must admit that yesterday Tenerife redeemed itself in my eyes. After seeing the built up north shore, I did not expect the island to hide so much natural beauty. And today we are exploring it's beauty of the man-made kind.

We head east, to La Laguna, the 15th century town whose historic center is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites. Even though I read that we should not even try parking on the street, we (stubbornly) still do try. We find a spot just across the Cathedral, which is being renovated now, so it's not terribly pretty. I don't see any other nice buildings and I don't see any tourists, so I am starting to fear that the place is not as nice as I thought.

Cathedral - La Laguna

We conclude that where we parked is not really a parking space and decide to look for a parking garage. We find one quite easily. We also find the rest of the old town and the rest of the tourists. It really is very pretty here, and we stroll around for a while.

We start with the island's first church, the 15th century Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion. A mass is in progress, so we only see a bit of the interior. We don't have a map of the town, so we decide to just follow the flow of tourists up and down the pretty pedestrian-only streets. We get to admire a number of beautiful carved wooden balconies so characteristic of the island.

Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion

Interior of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion

Wall of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion

Cacti growing out of roofs in La Laguna

One of the beautiful balconies in La Laguna

An interior courtyard in La Laguna

La Laguna

We also do something very unusual for us, shop for clothes while on vacation. Last night the manager in our hotel mentioned that the prices of Benetton children's clothes here are unbeatable. We laughed off his suggestion, we are not going to waste precious vacation time shopping for clothes after all. But when we see the prices in the La Laguna Benetton store, we change our minds. They really are very low.

We are driving back west now, and, for the first time in four days, from the highway we get a beautiful view of Pico del Teide. So it really is visible from here!

Pico del Teide

Our next stop is La Orotava, a charming historic town only a couple of minutes drive from our hotel. It is so pretty! Unesco or not, I actually prefer this town to La Laguna.

Iglesia de la Concepcion - La Orotava

La Orotava street

One of the most famous buildings in La Orotava is the 17th century Casa de los Balcones, currently a huge handicraft store. The name makes a lot of sense, as the building is covered, inside and out, with balconies. It's very pretty, and there is a nice view of the coast from across the road.

Casa de los Balcones

Inner courtyard of Casa de los Balcones

Not that one needs to visit Casa de los Balcones to see beautiful carved balconies. They are everywhere, one prettier than the other.

La Orotava balcony

We walk over to Plaza de la Constitucion, a pleasant shady square with a lovely view and charming architecture.

View from Plaza de la Constitucion

Igreja de San Agustin on Plaza de la Constitucion

We decide to have lunch in Liceo de Taoro, the building of a private cultural society, because I have read that there is a restaurant. The building and grounds are so pretty, how bad can the food be? The answer comes pretty soon. The menu is extremely limited, and the food quite bad. On the upside, I do get to try mint-flavored chicken soup (with mint leaves floating in it). Not my favorite, but much better than the main course.

Liceo de Taoro

Interior of Liceo de Taoro decorated for the carnival

Jardin Victoria, next door to Liceo de Taoro

On the way back to the car we see more pretty buildings, more pretty balconies. What a lovely town.

La Orotava building

Now it's back to the hotel for a little rest, as we have a long afternoon ahead of us. There is one carnival event we wouldn't want to miss for the world, the main carnival parade, which takes place this afternoon. I try to arrange tickets for seats on the tribune, like I have done on Madeira, but the system is different here. I get conflicting information on whether there is even a tribune, and the individual chairs lining the road are rented out on a first come first serve basis. Apparently there are people who are keeping their places since this morning. Well, we are not willing to loose the whole day sitting at an empty roadside, so we decide to go there just before the procession starts, and see what happens.

We don't even try to take any motorized transportation to town, we just take the leisurely stroll down the hill. As we get closer to town the crowd thickens. All day today we have seen people with funky wigs, but now we are running into actual parade participants, and their costumes give a pretty good indication of what to expect. This carnival will be dazzling and this carnival will be naughty!

On the way to the carnival

A little makeup session before the carnival starts

Grabbing some drinks before the start of the parade

We reach the waterfront and the view here is breathtaking. We haven't really spent much time in Puerto de la Cruz yet, so we are happy to finally see Playa Martianez with it's beautiful black sand. A couple of people are surfing. I guess not everyone is interested in the carnival.

Playa Martianez

Of course all seats are taken, but we do find a good spot, sitting on a (slightly sharp) lava rock edge, not far from where the parade starts. We are just in front of Lago Martianez, a fun recreation area designed by the famous architect Cesar Manrique. It is complete with saltwater pools, a lake and even a casino.

Lago Martianez

Now let the fun begin! My prediction was right, the parade is dazzling. All the colors, all the sparkles! But it is also very naughty. The only thing competing in numbers with the colorful feathers are the fishnet stockings. And most of them are not on females. It's obvious that on carnival day machismo is left at home. This parade would put to shame a large drag-queen convention. Sometimes it is too hard to tell the gender of someone, especially from a picture, so in my photo captions I distinguish cross-gender dressing with quotation marks. For example "lady" does not mean lady. It means a gentleman in ladies' clothes.

"Lady" in red

Fun, fun, fun

The next generation

Lots of feathers

And lots of amazing hats

This is one of the manliest outfits in the parade, would you believe it?

The next generation

Who is taller, the child or the hat?

Feathers, feathers

I would guess: a group of Danone employees?

These guys (sorry, "ladies") are my favorites

"She" has got the moves

Isn't "she" lovely?

No age limit on the fun. At least one of them is a man. Can't decide the gender of the other

Naughty firefighter "lady"

So many feathers!!!

One of the floats

The next generation

On one of the floats

That headpiece must be heavy

Isn't "she" cute?

Finally a bunch of guys acting like guys

"Lady" in red

One of the floats - my daughter's favorite

More feathers, on real ladies this time

Only the beer-bellies and hairy legs give these "ladies" away

Isn't "she" cute?

"Lady" on bike

Pretty in pink

I am almost certain that she is female

Law and order....in drag

Finally a manly outfit!

While the men are wearing tutus, the women are wearing this

Only one of them is female

Which one is mommy and which one is daddy?

Lovely Snow White...with mustache

This goes on for some 3 hours, colors, sparkle, loud music and dancing. Some in the parade hand out free candy, some free beer. A couple of nurses (well, they are dressed as nurses) hand out free condoms. It looks like the party will be going on all night, but we had enough. We climb the hill to our hotel, ears still ringing from the loud music. The most popular song of this carnival season, Michel Telo's "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", will be playing in our heads for weeks.

Day 5:

After breakfast we hang out in the pleasant hotel garden, soaking in a little more sun before heading back to grey and cold Paris. Today we have a nice view of Pico del Teide, and the garden is full of butterflies. Lovely.

Hotel Botanico garden

The only direct flight to Paris leaves from the southern airport (Aeropuerto Reina Sofia). Luckily there is a highway all the way, so it only takes about an hour to get there. And at least we will get to see the east coast of Tenerife, which we haven't visited at all.

The area around Santa Cruz, Tenerife's capital, doesn't seem very attractive, it's seems industrial and built-up. But, while not a great gem for tourists, the town is an important shipping port (one of the deepest in the world), and has a rich history. Apparently this is where Admiral Nelson lost his right arm during a battle. The rest of the east coast is extremely dry, basically a desert, but the interesting rock formations make it quite pretty.

We make it to the airport in good time, which is just as well, because the lines are absolutely huge. Did I mention the word mass-tourism?

I have such mixed feelings about Tenerife. Our visit was a lot of fun and the island surprised us with quite a natural beauty. But I can't help feeling that something was lost here. Terms like over-development and lack of planning come to mind. And I only visited the less built up, less crowded north. Can't imagine what the south must look like.

Itchy Feet - Welcome!

Coming soon

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Tenerife North

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