It didn’t matter what Tenerife threw at us. After 9 long days sailing the West African coastline, we were going to love her no matter what. As it turned out, it was the correct attitude to arrive with.
Some Information About Tenerife
Located closer to Africa than Europe, Tenerife nonetheless, is a province of Spain and thus part of the European Union. Its population of circa 949,500 speaks Spanish, and tourism, followed by petroleum, agriculture and fishing, are its primary industries.
According to Spain-real.estate the average cost of an apartment is $339,000aud and a house $700,000aud – most reside within a few miles of the sea.
Renown for its beaches (which contain black sand), natural scenery and subtropical climate, Tenerife’s 320 volcanoes are also an attraction. Dormant Teide is actually the world’s 3rd highest when measuring from the sea floor.
Some Slightly More Interesting Information
Tenerife’s Carnival de Santa Cruz celebrations are the world’s largest after Rio in Brazil.
The banana plantations here are the northernmost groves in the world.
Like everywhere else, they have a problem with Airbnb.
Our Intentions
Having learnt from previous stops at random islands, we knew we wanted to get away from the main port area, and so we purchased a cruise organised excursion. It would include a tour of the north of the island, cheese and wine at UNESCO listed La Laguna, along with multiple photo-worthy stops. We would finish the day strolling the streets, back in the Tenerife capital, Santa Cruz.
Our Guide
I have said many times that the competence of your guide dictates the quality of your experience and unfortunately, today we scrapped the bottom of the tour-guide barrel. German Fanny meant well, but she just couldn’t cope with a bus full of slightly sea-crazed Australian tourists. Her strict German time-keeping methods failed dismally, and we watched her grow more and more agitated as we fell further and further behind schedule.
Our Tour
Taking four hours, I can’t tell you where we went. It was beyond Fanny’s capabilities to relay this information. What I can tell you is that I saw a surprising amount of grape vines and banana plantations. I had no idea they grew so prolifically here; as do tomatoes, potatoes, chestnuts, mangoes and oranges. I can also tell you that while the infrastructure is first class, its motorways should not have a 120km/h speed limit. Using the same road rules as in Spain, 120km/h on Tenerife’s winding mountainous terrain felt, at times, ludicrous.
La Laguna
La Laguna is Tenerife’s second largest city. A perfectly preserved historic city with a UNESCO listing. It’s the cultural capital and awash with distinctive characterful buildings – well, that’s what Fanny told us. Unfortunately, she didn’t do much of a job showing us. With her stopwatch working overtime, Fanny had us in and out of those characterful buildings faster than Usain Bolt running the 100 metres. I did come away thinking that it would have been a great place to linger.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Needless to say, we were not sorry to farewell Fanny with our arrival back at Port. Although a terrible guide, it’s because she was so bad that I will always remember her and our tour.
With hours before our ship’s departure, we spent the time strolling the capital of Tenerife’s streets. With a Primark and shops closing at 2pm for Siesta, we felt like we were back in Europe. Sitting down for coffee, our rusty Spanish was tested, but Darryl, who only knows the words for beer and coffee in this language, came up trumps and two cafe con leches quickly arrived.
What Next?
With 8 more days to go, the end of our cruise and thus this leg of our 3 month journey is approaching. Tomorrow we arrive in Casabanca, Morocco. Definitly a Bucket List place. See you then.
