Category Archives: Tenerife

More from Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

February 28, 2025Tenerife, Travelmodel ships, Molly Malone, Puerto de la Cruz, seated Jesus, wall art, wooden balconieskarenfranza

Feb 23 – So, for our last days in Puerto de la Cruz, we walked along the beach, browsed in the shops, visited churches, ate good food, and acted like the tourists that we are.

More of the lovely carved wooden balconies

This statue of a fishmonger at the water’s edge reminded me of my Irish Grandpa singing Sweet Molly Malone

…crying, “cockles and mussels alive alive oh!”

When we turned the corner, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who was thinking of Molly Malone

There are armaments to defend the Puerto

…and a seaside museum of ship photos and models

In the same museum, we came across another image of a seated, tired Jesus

…and one dressed like Elvis (?) singing Johnny Cash

At the supermarket, the lady in charge of slicing the Iberian ham would not let me take a picture of the hams, so I had to sneak around the corner and snap surreptitiously!

We watched the paragliders swoop overhead

…until one landed right on the sidewalk, to the amazement of everybody

And finally, all the way across town, wall art!

The little images are Bo Peep and her sheep

The city is setting up for Carneval celebrations – see El Teide in the background?

Feb 26 – 90 minutes on the bus got us back to the southern part of the island where the airport is. We had a no-drama flight to Newark and actually caught an early flight home to Virginia. Our dog still loves us. We loved Tenerife!

Jardín Botánico, Tenerife

February 25, 2025Tenerife, TravelJardin Botanico, Puerto de la Cruzkarenfranza

Feb 21 – This morning we fortified ourselves with an extra cup of coffee, and set out to find the Botanical Garden. It isn’t too far, but it’s uphill all the way.

Welcome to Jardín de Aclimatacion de la Orotava

…and should this be considered one tree? It looks like a bunch!

Lots of varieties packed into a small space – just one city block

Jim watched to see if someone would trip over the tree roots…

Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

February 23, 2025Tenerife, TravelEl Teide, Puerto de la Cruz, volcanic beachkarenfranza

Feb 19 – One more leisurely breakfast, then we packed up and walked to the bus stop for our ride to the bus station. We knew right where to find our next intercity bus, and hopped on a minute before it pulled away. 45 minutes later, we arrived in Puerto de la Cruz.

This city is the northernmost destination of our trip, and also the warmest, with daily highs around 72 – 75F. Puerto de la Cruz is all about the beaches. We walked to our new very modern apartment and settled in. We are one building away from the Atlantic, and the surf here is robust, with the soothing sound of breakers that will lull us to sleep at night.

The view from our terrace looking toward the Atlantic

The view looking the other way toward El Teide. Remember when we were at the top of the volcano looking toward the ocean? Puerto is the town we were looking at.

Jim checks out the temperature of the pool – lots of people sunning, but not swimming

We walked down to the beach. The black volcanic sand looks odd, and the big rocks look treacherous. See the surfers riding the waves in?

One lonely busker singing for his supper

We looked down to see a pool with two hardy swimmers. Every few minutes a wave would crash over, refilling the pool. We could not see a way to get down to the pool, and figured there must be a tunnel from the hotel across the way.

When the path ended, we turned around to walk home and find some food.

The Military Museum, Tenerife

February 22, 2025Tenerife, TravelAdmiral Horatio Nelson, Ferdinand Magellan, Hercules cannon, Juan Sebastian Elcano, Museo de Militar Almeyda, Santa Cruzkarenfranza

Feb 18 – For our last day in Santa Cruz, we walked up into the hills to get an overview of the city. It was a beautiful, crystal clear morning.

How would you like to have to climb these steps every day to get to your house?

The ocean and the city stretch out below.

Then we sallied forth to see the Museo Militar de Almeyda, a huge building not too far from our apartment. We met some Brits who said they visit this museum every time they come to Tenerife and that it’s the very best. We shall see!

The handles on the cannon are described as dolphins, but they look like dragons to me

The Hercules cannon is huge! I was impressed with the intricate decorations on every piece

Lots of ship models from Spain’s illustrious naval history

Scale models of la Niña, la Pinta y la Santa Maria

Scale model of the Victoria, the first ship to circumnavigate the globe in 1522. I remember from school that this feat was credited to Portugal’s Ferdinand Magellan, the original captain, but he didn’t make it all the way around. Magellan was killed in the Philippines, and the voyage was completed by Spaniard Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Some of the many uniforms sported by the Spanish military over the years

This suit of armor seems a bit too old for the Canaries, but here it is!

Much of the museum is focused on the famous battle in 1797 where the islanders defeated British Admiral Horatio Nelson and his fleet. His wounded arm had to be amputated. After the battle, Nelson was invited onto Tenerife to recuperate before sailing home. This was definitely the biggest event in Canary Island history.

…and here we are, in the midst of the battle! Thanks to some friendly Nigerians for snapping our pic. A great way to end our stay in Santa Cruz!

The Palmetum, Tenerife

February 21, 2025Tenerife, Travelpalm trees, Palmetum, Santa Cruzkarenfranza

Feb 17 – There is a special botanical garden here in Santa Cruz, called the Palmetum. At the edge of the city, it was once the municipal rubbish dump, a huge mountain of smelly decay. In the 1980s the dump was closed, and in the 1990s the conversion began.

Terraforming, nurturing seeds and importing species of palm trees from all over the world took an additional twenty years, and the park was opened to the public in 2014. We are going to visit it today.

We took a bus across town, then walked to the outskirts. We climbs up several stories to get to the entrance of the Palmetum.

Climbing the steps to the entrance, we can see the modern arena / opera house nearby.

The park is divided into geographic zones, displaying specimens from Madagascar in one area, and the Caribbean in another

Each specimen has a plaque that names the palm and shows a map of where it is from

The Atlantic is in view throughout most of the park

Back on ground level for the walk home – another lovely day!

Museo de Belles Artes, Tenerife

February 19, 2025Tenerife, TravelMuseo de Belles Artes, rainbow, Santa Cruz, sculpturekarenfranza

Feb 15 – Another beautiful sunrise heralding another fine day. Ideal weather around 70 degrees every day. We could get used to this!

Today we ventured forth to see the Fine Arts Museum. As usual, when I am faced with too much art, I focus on one thing. Today, it was sculpture.

Back on the street, we contemplated which cuisine we’d like for our midday meal

How about Chinese? This classic restaurant served everything family style, and we enjoyed every bite.

When we got home, we found it was misting gently, even though the sun was still shining. This resulted in as bright a rainbow as we’ve ever seen. A lovely day!

A Day in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

February 18, 2025Tenerife, TravelAtlas, Castillo de San Cristobal, doner kebab, Santa Cruzkarenfranza

Feb 14 – this morning’s sunrise from our terrace did not disappoint! Thank you Jim, for getting up early to capture these beautiful shots.

Our plan for the day was to check out the port area. As we walked, we saw lots of nautical artifacts.

Here is an anchor from the HMS Theseus, part of Admiral Nelson’s fleet in 1797

We visited the church of St.Francis of Assisi. Quiet and pretty.

“Would you like to borrow my royal ear warmers?”

Forget the frankincense – eggs are the most precious gift!

This is the oldest marble statue in Santa Cruz

A beautiful wide esplanade with stately palms

The inscription on this shiny statue says “we are all Atlas, carrying a world of thoughts on our shoulders”

Jim always gives money to the buskers on the street. This guy didn’t have anything but a mask – not even a hat to collect tips in. He sat still until tourists walked by, then yelled, “Boo!”

We went underground to see remnants of the castle of San Cristobal that was recently discovered when the land was being prepared for new construction

There is a fine example of a cannon displayed here. In all the battle stories, the Brits are the bad guys and the Spanish are the good guys. Admiral Nelson got his arm shot off near here.

Now that we’re in a big city, we have a wealth of cuisines to choose from, so we headed right to the Turkish takeout for the world’s best doner kebab durum (wrap). Soooo good!

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

February 17, 2025Tenerife, TravelAfrican Market, Atlantic Ocean, buses, Santa Cruz, statue honoring General Franco, Tribute to the Chicharrero, wall artkarenfranza

Feb 13 – today was a hassle-free travel day. We had a lucky breakfast (with two double yoked eggs!), locked up our very nice apartment in Vilaflor and strode confidently to the bus stop.

How often have you cracked three eggs and gotten five yolks? It’s gonna be a lucky day, for sure!

We rode without incident an hour back to Los Christianos, then pushed our way through a crowd onto the next bus (not everybody made it on, but being a New Yorker had advantages here). An hour of traveling north, with the Atlantic in view for the whole trip, brought us to the city of Santa Cruz.

The bus let us off in the heart of the bustling seaside tourist zone. This is the African Market, which sells, food, meat, and all manner of trinkets.

Tribute to the Chicharrero, the native fishermen of Santa Cruz, is right outside the African Market

How the Chicharrero dressed, back in the day

We strolled down the busy streets toward our new apartment. Lots of restaurants and statues and flowers.

These have leaves like geraniums but flowers like tulips? If Eliese was here, she’d tell me what they are!

An old advert for Cod Liver Oil – a universal remedy!

Santa Cruz is a major shipping port, and also hosts German and English cruise ships

This monument to General Franco is impressive

So here we are in our new, very modern apartment, on the sixth floor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There is a big supermarket and lots of restaurants nearby. Jim is making us a pot of chicken vegetable soup. Our terrace faces east, so we will wait for the morning for a view of the sunrise. I think we’re going to like it here!

More from Vilaflor, Tenerife

February 14, 2025Tenerife, TravelCasa Pana, flowers, Hermano Pedro de Vilaflor, Pino de las dos Pernadas, Pino Gordo, Vilaflorkarenfranza

Feb 12 – now that we’ve got all that climbing and hiking out of the way, we can relax and check out the sights of the tiny village of Vilaflor.

A short walk showed us more interesting rock formations. We are on our way to see…(wait for it)…

El Pino Gordo , the widest pine tree in Tenerife! This 800 year old Canary Island pine isn’t the tallest or the oldest, but it is pretty wide. You’d need at least six Jims to reach all the way around it.

Tourists came by in a steady stream to take a pic in front of the tree and then move on. We didn’t want to miss that opportunity!

I think this bump on the trunk looks like a lion’s profile – what do you think?

Right across the street is another sign for a pine that is not quite as old or wide, but actually a bit taller. It is called… (wait for it again)… the Tree of Two Legs! So much culture here.

Back in town we looked at Casa de los Soler, a fine example of Canarian architecture that was the home of the area’s richest family until the locals drove them out in the 1600s. There was also a murder here in the 1800s. Not sure if the house will be renovated.

We went back to the church to find out more about the local saint. While there we spied this statue of a seated Jesus – something we don’t often see.

Santo Hermano Pedro de Vilaflor was born right in this village in 1626. He traveled to Antigua, Guatemala to become a missionary in his 20s, and served there until he died in his 40s.

Every morning he rang a bell to call people to Mass, hence the imagery of the hand and the bell.

He was canonized in 2002 and is the first saint ever from the Canary Islands. Hometown boy makes good!

Jim is a satisfied man after our dinner. A half chicken, roasted outdoors on a wooden fire, and a green salad were just what we needed. Simple, and so delicious.

A view from the top of the village. Thanks for the memories Vilaflor – it’s been grand!

El Teide, Tenerife

February 13, 2025Tenerife, Travelcable car, El Teide, papas arrugadas, rabbit, rancho Canario, Vilaflor, volcano, Walking on the Moonkarenfranza

Feb 10 – this morning we got up early and prepared for our journey to visit the highest mountain in Spain and the third largest volcano in the world: El Teide!

Here in Vilaflor we are at an altitude of 3400 feet, but El Teide is 12,100 feet. Here it is chilly, but up there it will be cold! We dressed appropriately, meaning I put on a tee shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket, a scarf, a floppy hat, and two pairs of pants. That’s all the clothes I’ve got, so it will have to do!

We caught the only bus of the day without any problems, and rode for an hour – up, up, and up some more! Our ears were popping away. Lots of excited chatter in many languages as we ascended.