Adventures, anecdotes and advice from three months exploring Tenerife
The northern coast of Tenerife is a lot different from the more tranquil south. On this side of the island, the Atlantic Ocean is angrier, the water is colder, and the sand is neither golden and soft, but black and volcanic. But that doesn't mean the beaches of the north are never fun. We really enjoyed the small rocky beach of San Marcos, near Icod.
The southern coasts of Tenerife might draw more tourists, but if you're looking for dramatic natural landscapes, the north is where it's at. After having visited the Parque de los Lavaderos, we continued exploring the coastline around El Sauzal.
Back in the olden days, this is where local washer women would come to do their laundry. (I have no idea what the actual time frame must have been, like the 19th century? That feels right, but I'm covering my bases by just calling them the "olden days".) The park is located around a powerful natural spring, and the natural beauty of the area must have alleviated the monotony of the washing.
I had thought that the word "guachinche" must somehow be related to the guanches -- the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, who were conquered by the Spanish in the 15th century. But that missing "n" in the root syllable bugged me… "guach" is not the same as "guanch".
As we look back at our time on Tenerife, I bet we're going to regret having spent so little time in the capital city, Santa Cruz. Every time we visited, the experience was better than we had expected. This city is small, but packed with worthwhile things to see -- not least of which is the park of García Sanabria.
If Taborno were located anywhere else, the day would have been an absolute failure. The one thing we had planned on doing, didn't work out... but look at these views! We weren't able to find any suitable replacement activity... except from checking out these amazing views! Objectively, the day was a total failure. But man, did we enjoy those views.
In the Cañadas, there are 41 named routes, of varying lengths and difficulties, and I can imagine that all of them are worthwhile
Tenerife still boasts some places of great natural beauty which are almost completely off-the-radar, such as the forgotten village of Batan. But most areas of potential touristic interest have long since been "discovered". Many of these are still must-see despite the crowds, like the Roques de Garcia. But some of them are like Los Gigantes: over-run, obnoxious places you'd do well to avoid.
The story began with a bomb. On the morning of March 27th, members of the Canary Islands Independence Movement exploded a device in the airport of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, injuring six people. They also issued a warning that a second bomb was due to explode. As a result, all flights arriving into Las Palmas were diverted to nearby Tenerife.
Situated at 2390 meters above sea level, on the Teide Volcano, the Izaña Observatory (also known as the Teide Observatory) has been in operation since 1964. We took a tour of the premises, which introduced us to the history of the compound and its telescopes, and offered us a chance to stare at ... well, not at the stars, but straight into the sun.
