A tour in Tenerife
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Fri 23 Nov 2012 19:13
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This posting is somewhat overdue and we have had
several emails asking if we are OK as it has been quiet on here.
Everything is fine and we are touched to learn that there
are people actually reading this Web Diary. We have been tied up
with various things including a trip back to the UK and now we are back on board
the boat.
Now to go back a few
weeks:-
Friday 23 November 2012
Being overjoyed that our rigging wire has passed
muster we hired a car and did a little tour of the north
of Tenerife. It took a good 40 minutes to battle our way
out of the city of Santa Cruz and to find a petrol station but eventually, after
a little tension, we got on the road to Tenerife's famous Mount Teide. We
were surprised to find the island is so green (at least in the
northern half) and the road took us first above the cloud base and eventually
above the tree line.
Up in the trees, the islands of La Palma and La
Gomera in the distance to the west:-
 Mount Teide:-
 Looking east above the clouds across the other side
of Tenerife towards Gran Canaria:-
 During one of our viewing stops Lin decided she had
found the makings of our first Christmas decoration for the boat this
year:-
 We drove to the cable car with the intention of
going up Mt Teide but once we discovered the price per person we decided we
could survive without the experience. We drove instead to the north east
end of Tenerife to the old town of La Orotava. It's first churches
and houses were built in the 16th century and the narrow streets in the
centre are 17th and 18th century townhouses with carved wooden balconies.
The place had a really pleasant feel to it and made a perfect lunch stop.
We were still quite high up the mountain side so it was fleece weather:-
 OK, anything below 22 degrees is fleece weather for
Lin but it was cool for both of us.
A life-like statue:-
 One of the carved balconies:-
 Some impressive artwork on the floor in
progress. Made with the different coloured sand in the boxes in the
foreground:-
 Lin surrounded by giant 'hibernians' (I
always forget the name hydrangea):-
 All in all it was a good day. Often it is too
easy to only see the harbours of the places we visit unless we take the time
to step ashore and take bus rides, which we love, or hire
cars.
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