Tag: Spain

Tenerife Part 2

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Here’s part 2 to the Tenerife trip! There are tons of pictures, so I hope you enjoy.

Monday – Island Tour

On Monday we decided to take the Mt. Teide and Masca Valley Tour in Tenerife, which was my favorite part of the trip. It was just over 30 pounds and the tour lasted about 9 hours. If you’re going to Tenerife, staying in the south, and have a day available, I highly recommend you take a tour to see the entire island. The south looks kind of like the planet Mars, but the more north you go, the greener it gets.

  • Pool created from molten
  • view of the city
  • rainbow
  • houses in trees
  • beautiful view
  • tight traffic
  • Rainbow over city

The tour started pretty early in the morning. We were the first stop, so we were on the bus before the sun was even up. After everyone loaded up, we hit the road to go to Mount Teide (an active volcano!). On the way to Mt. Teide, we stopped at this little hole in the wall restaurant so everyone could use the bathroom. The tour guide mentioned this drink that’s, for the most part, only served in Tenerife. It’s called Barraquito, and is a liqueur coffee that uses Licor 43.  We continued our travels to the volcano and made it past the clouds. We were literally above the clouds! When we finally made it to the volcano, we got out and took plenty of pictures. The tour gives you a little while at each section, so you don’t get to do too much. If you want to do any of these places for long periods of time, I’d suggest renting a car or something. It was really cool being next to it and I kept thinking to myself, if this thing were to erupt right now, we’d be goners. Luckily for us, it hasn’t erupted since 1909.

  • landscape above the clouds
  • next to the volcano
  • Shaun and Gian
  • view of the covered city
  • beautiful landscape

We then went to a town called Garachico. This town was hit badly by an eruption hundreds of years ago, but that created a whole new culture for it. Everything looks like volcanic debris, so it’s a charcoal-like colored area. The eruption created some really cool natural rock pools that people swim in. We didn’t get to dive in because the tour was short, and because it was raining. Not like we would have anyways – no one wants to be wet on a bus.

The bus stopped at a little restaurant where we had lunch for pretty cheap. I want to say we ordered beef or something, but I can’t remember. The island is also known for its bananas, so they passed them out for dessert. I would have preferred them a little riper, but hey, it was an experience. Also, we got extra food thanks to Gian and Davoo speaking Spanish! The tour guide was extremely happy to hear they were from Puerto Rico and wanted them to have a good impression of Spain. It stuck!

  • Masca
  • #selfie
  • winding road
  • greenery at the volcano
  • us a little scared

We briefly stopped at Vilaflor, a small little town, but only to go to a souvenir shop. We didn’t buy anything there, but they did have tons of samples that we tried. All kinds of salsa made from exotic fruit. Afterwards, we went to El Drago (the Dragon Tree), a really..really old tree (looked more like a bush). Apparently it’s somewhere between 650-3000 years old. That’s a really big difference though ha. It was raining and I think we were behind on time, so we only saw it from the road. We got out and took pictures though (yes, on the road while cars were in motion.)

The coolest part of the trip was going to Masca Valley. It’s by far the most beautiful part of the island with stunning sceneries, rainbows everywhere, and one heck of a drive to get there. There is one road up and down, and typically, the locals go up one way and down another. When you have tourist that aren’t familiar, they go the wrong way causing messy traffic. There were plenty of people who couldn’t maneuver their cars, so they had to get out and let the bus drive move the car out of the way for them. It was a lot of work!

  • megs trying to not fall
  • linds posing
  • volcano baby
  • group photo!
  • street pic
  • covered city

Anyways, we made it to the top and it was gorgeous. You can see out to the ocean from certain angles and the sun shines so brightly up there. We went to a gift shop at the top which wasn’t too ridiculously priced, so I was happy about that. Check out the photos because they were awesome.

Tuesday – Check out

By Tuesday we were worn out. We really took the time to relax, catch up on sleep, and stuff our faces with the remaining food we had left over. We really lucked out because the Airbnb host was super nice. She allowed us to keep our stuff at the place after checkout while we searched for a printer. There were no stores that could print our boarding passes and the local library had closed down. Fortunately for us the host offered to take Gian and Davoo to a store that printed. It wasn’t walking distance, so we were grateful.

#Lessonslearned – If the country is safe, try not to stay in the touristy areas. Vacation spots aren’t as authentic, and you may not get the full experience and culture of the country.

Tenerife Part 1

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I decided to split this into two separate posts because it ended up being longer than expected!

Our second trip outside of the United Kingdom was to Tenerife over U.S. Veterans Day weekend (10 – 13 Nov). Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands and the most populated. We flew into the Tenerife South Airport because it was cheaper and touristy. The original flight was from 0640 to 1120 but we had a schedule change to 0830 instead. We then had another schedule change which ended up being 0930-1410. I’m glad that we had the change because no one wants to be at the airport at 0400 in the morning. I heard that RyanAir does this often, so be aware if you book with them.

  • View of Tenerife from the plane
    View of Tenerife from the plane
  • food
    Food from the restaurant
  • Red Mountain
    Red Mountain

Saturday – Touchdown

When we landed, we headed straight to the Airbnb which was in El Medano, about 10-15 minutes from the airport. It was beautiful and spacious: right outside of the beach, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and not too far from the center of town. We were starving so we walked down the street to this restaurant called “The Metro King” that sold these humongous burgers! I wish I had a picture of it because they were gigantic.

After eating, we roamed the town to find some things to do later on. It was getting kind of late so we picked up some food from a local grocery store and headed back to the Airbnb. We sat on the patio, had a few drinks and laughed, and enjoyed the warm weather. We played some games (in Spanish!) that the Airbnb host had around the house (Pictionary, taboo, etc.). Surprisingly we did better than expected. During Pictionary we ended up in a heated discussion about some of the verbs which was hilarious because the arguers were on the same team. We lost.

Sunday – Nature

We were outside for the majority of Sunday – hence the subtitle. We hit the beach for a few hours which was amazing, but let me tell you, that water was FREEZING. Anyone who knows me knows I hate the cold and I don’t really like water, so cold water just doesn’t do. I got in to about my ankles and gave up. Instead, I bathed in the sun while everyone else bobbed up and down in the water like ice cubes. While they froze their booties off, I just did what I do best and people watched. There was a topless lady not far from me, an older gentleman dating someone way younger than he was, and a family that let their kids run across the beach naked.

After everyone decided that the water was finally cold enough, they joined me on the beach and we started to play random beach games. Tons of sand pictures were drawn and cartwheels were flipped. Davoo and I got into some Olympic challenge (as usual) where we crab walked, handstood, and other simple things. Somehow Gian and Davoo got to wresting on a beach and Megs drew a circle around them as a ring. Gian should have easily defeated him but I think he was just scared to try. I wrestled Davoo and was also scared, but only because I almost body slammed him to the ground which would have basically ended his life. I played gently instead. I won, of course.

  • Flavored Icees
    Flavored Icees!
  • Red Mountain
    No Turning back
  • us
    Handsome fellas
  • half beach
    view climbing up

After going back to the house and probably eating, we decided to hike up Red Mountain. While on the way there, we stopped on the boardwalk and got some snacks (liquor icees) which were pretty good. Now, before I go on about this mountain, let me tell you that these pictures do not do it justice. We thought this was going to be a small little hike up and down a hill, but boy were we wrong.

When we were walking to Red Mountain, I thought it wouldn’t be that bad because there were people running the trail, breathing like it was no big deal. They clearly had been training for that mountain for months because we couldn’t walk it without gasping for breath every few minutes. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but there were definitely parts of the mountain that you basically had to climb up. Half of our party decided that they wouldn’t continue to the peak. It was absolutely beautiful at the top of the mountain though. It was surrounded by beaches, but we were so high up that the people on them looked like little specs. Gian, Davoo and I were chilling on the top (because after you climb a mountain for 45 minutes that’s what you do!) when then Megs and Linds joined us! I was happy that they continued because we were so close to the top and the view was spectacular.

I thought going up the mountain was bad, but going down was even worse! The path was nothing but rocks, dirt, and sand, so the slightest moves and you were sliding down the hill. There was a moment when I slid, and as I ungracefully glided down the mountain, runners continued to move like it was nothing! My pride was hurt.

  • beach
    view from up high
  • the guys
    Tripleta
  • Paella
    Paella

In total, from the Airbnb to the mountain and back, Google says it took a little over 3 hours. That was one heck of a hike.

I’d like to say we ended the day at a restaurant on the water where we ordered Paella. We were in Spain, so obviously we were going to have Paella. It was good, but it wasn’t as amazing as I wanted it to be. It was probably that the service sucked.

#Lessonslearned – If you’re traveling with a group and you see tickets are cheap, buy them. We paid nearly half for our tickets than some others on the trip.