This sceptred Isle: the other one
Jul. 22nd, 2018 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakLast (full) day in Tenerife. Our flight takes place tomorrow evening. The APs and I had a splended week celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary amidst sun, waves and volcanoes, and I apologize for being behind in various replies - will try to remedy on Tuesday or thereabouts, since Monday is travelling day.
Now, on to the pic spam of one glorious island. I mean, this was the sight that greeted us on the terrace of the hotel where we were staying on the evening of our arrival:
Mind you, if it weren’t for the APs’ wedding anniversary, we’d have never travelled here in July, because it’s almost universal holiday time, and this island is one very popular destination. Even so, we didn’t feel crowded. Incidentally, re: local history and lots of foreigners arriving, one aspect that amused me is that if you read the guide, you realize you have arrived in the MIrrorverse of just about every English-language originated Tudor era adventure tale, for verily, there are evil English pirates marauding, brave locals fighting them off, and persecuted English Catholics fleeing Protestant persecution who found
a new home on this jewel in the silver sea, this blessed isle, this etc.
Our hotel is part of a village called Alcalá. From which you can walk at the beach till Los Gigantes, more about which later, but first, let me add that “beach” has to come with a reminder of “consists of lava rocks or sand made out of small parts of lava rocks”. Which is why the path along the beach is artificial in nature. Behold the beauty, though.
The small pools are used for swimming. They usually don’t let you swimm too far into the sea because of the strong currents. Trivia due to me being a Beatles nerd: young Paul McCartney nearly drowned here because of that. In the spring of 1963, having made it through the coldest winter in British history with their first No.1 single and having just recorded their first album, three of the four Beatles took their German pal Klaus Voormann up on his invitation to Tenerife, where he was house-sitting for his father. (John instead took up their manager Brian Epstein on his invitation to Barcelona and thus ensured speculation as to what happened on that holiday ever since.) This turned out to be the last time any of them were able to have anonymous holidays for the next few decades, and did entail Paul swimming too far and nearly not making it back to those dark shores. As far as I know, no conspiracy theorist ever picked that occasion of him having been switched, though...
The cliff in the background is Los Gigantes, which you’ll later see more close up. It’s one of the island’s most significant markers. The most famous landscape part, though, remains the volcano Teide, aka the one responsible for all those lava rocks. This is it from the distance of our hotel:
It doesn’t look it, but it’s more than 3000 metres in height. No, we didn’t climb all the way to the top, but we did get above the clouds, and thus in this region where you can see one of the more famous lava formations, nicknamed “the cathedral”.
The top of the Teide as framed by the various parts of the cathedral in what used to be a crater, too:
Now, volcano craters and natural parts aside, the former fishing villages have all been transformed into concrete building orgies when tourism really hit the island, but while there are some ghastly excesses as a result, not all inner city aesthetics are displeasing. Here are some impressions of the (current) capital, Santa Cruz:
The entrance to the Mercato, and some details within:
And the cathedral at the church square:
More often than not, though, we took off away from the towns and on to the mountains. Which are great for hiking. Behold:
That’s the old capital, La Laguna, down there:
Whereas this is Adeje, one of the towns at the coast. It’s seen from the Boccanara del Inferno, one of the most popular hiking routes.
They limit the access to hell’s valley to 300 hikers a day, which is very environment-friendly of them. Also you get a helmet when you enter, and aren’t supposed to take it off until your three hours walk is over. Totally worth it, though. I mean:
This waterfall marks the end of the valley and the hiking tour’s final destination.
You then return back the same way.
Next photo: this is Masca from above. The Masca trekking tour is actually the one we wanted to make but couldn’t, because the Masca valley has been off limits for the last five months, for security reasons. (Too many falling rocks.) How the tour usually works: you get to Mesca by bus or taxi, start your tour from there and end up on the coast next to Los Gigantes the rock, which is where previously arranged water taxi picks you up and delivers you to Los Gigantes harbour.
That’s the way down...
And where you end up:
The reason why I was able to take those photos despite having been barred from trying my luck against the falling rocks: the APs and self got on a whalewatching boat instead, departing from Los Gigantes harbor. It passed this place. Whales to come later in this post.
Back to Tenerife’s former capital, La Laguna (back when they duked it out with Sir Francis Drake and other evil English pirates). Some impressions:
As mentioned, there was unexpected (as in, instead of doing the Masca trekking tour) whalewatching. Those whales aren’t the really huge ones, but they were a joy to find anyway. Behold:
Let me add the sea here looks beautifully clean and crystal clear. This despite the fact I did spot a couple of installations that suspiciously looked like oil drilling stations in front of the southern coast. Never mind them, though: here’s what I’m looking at right now:
And thus I conclude my pic spam of beautiful Tenerife, and shall hopefully return to normal online life on Tuesday!
Now, on to the pic spam of one glorious island. I mean, this was the sight that greeted us on the terrace of the hotel where we were staying on the evening of our arrival:
Mind you, if it weren’t for the APs’ wedding anniversary, we’d have never travelled here in July, because it’s almost universal holiday time, and this island is one very popular destination. Even so, we didn’t feel crowded. Incidentally, re: local history and lots of foreigners arriving, one aspect that amused me is that if you read the guide, you realize you have arrived in the MIrrorverse of just about every English-language originated Tudor era adventure tale, for verily, there are evil English pirates marauding, brave locals fighting them off, and persecuted English Catholics fleeing Protestant persecution who found
a new home on this jewel in the silver sea, this blessed isle, this etc.
Our hotel is part of a village called Alcalá. From which you can walk at the beach till Los Gigantes, more about which later, but first, let me add that “beach” has to come with a reminder of “consists of lava rocks or sand made out of small parts of lava rocks”. Which is why the path along the beach is artificial in nature. Behold the beauty, though.
The small pools are used for swimming. They usually don’t let you swimm too far into the sea because of the strong currents. Trivia due to me being a Beatles nerd: young Paul McCartney nearly drowned here because of that. In the spring of 1963, having made it through the coldest winter in British history with their first No.1 single and having just recorded their first album, three of the four Beatles took their German pal Klaus Voormann up on his invitation to Tenerife, where he was house-sitting for his father. (John instead took up their manager Brian Epstein on his invitation to Barcelona and thus ensured speculation as to what happened on that holiday ever since.) This turned out to be the last time any of them were able to have anonymous holidays for the next few decades, and did entail Paul swimming too far and nearly not making it back to those dark shores. As far as I know, no conspiracy theorist ever picked that occasion of him having been switched, though...
The cliff in the background is Los Gigantes, which you’ll later see more close up. It’s one of the island’s most significant markers. The most famous landscape part, though, remains the volcano Teide, aka the one responsible for all those lava rocks. This is it from the distance of our hotel:
It doesn’t look it, but it’s more than 3000 metres in height. No, we didn’t climb all the way to the top, but we did get above the clouds, and thus in this region where you can see one of the more famous lava formations, nicknamed “the cathedral”.
The top of the Teide as framed by the various parts of the cathedral in what used to be a crater, too:
Now, volcano craters and natural parts aside, the former fishing villages have all been transformed into concrete building orgies when tourism really hit the island, but while there are some ghastly excesses as a result, not all inner city aesthetics are displeasing. Here are some impressions of the (current) capital, Santa Cruz:
The entrance to the Mercato, and some details within:
And the cathedral at the church square:
More often than not, though, we took off away from the towns and on to the mountains. Which are great for hiking. Behold:
That’s the old capital, La Laguna, down there:
Whereas this is Adeje, one of the towns at the coast. It’s seen from the Boccanara del Inferno, one of the most popular hiking routes.
They limit the access to hell’s valley to 300 hikers a day, which is very environment-friendly of them. Also you get a helmet when you enter, and aren’t supposed to take it off until your three hours walk is over. Totally worth it, though. I mean:
This waterfall marks the end of the valley and the hiking tour’s final destination.
You then return back the same way.
Next photo: this is Masca from above. The Masca trekking tour is actually the one we wanted to make but couldn’t, because the Masca valley has been off limits for the last five months, for security reasons. (Too many falling rocks.) How the tour usually works: you get to Mesca by bus or taxi, start your tour from there and end up on the coast next to Los Gigantes the rock, which is where previously arranged water taxi picks you up and delivers you to Los Gigantes harbour.
That’s the way down...
And where you end up:
The reason why I was able to take those photos despite having been barred from trying my luck against the falling rocks: the APs and self got on a whalewatching boat instead, departing from Los Gigantes harbor. It passed this place. Whales to come later in this post.
Back to Tenerife’s former capital, La Laguna (back when they duked it out with Sir Francis Drake and other evil English pirates). Some impressions:
As mentioned, there was unexpected (as in, instead of doing the Masca trekking tour) whalewatching. Those whales aren’t the really huge ones, but they were a joy to find anyway. Behold:
Let me add the sea here looks beautifully clean and crystal clear. This despite the fact I did spot a couple of installations that suspiciously looked like oil drilling stations in front of the southern coast. Never mind them, though: here’s what I’m looking at right now:
And thus I conclude my pic spam of beautiful Tenerife, and shall hopefully return to normal online life on Tuesday!
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 01:25 am (UTC)are they orcas?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 10:16 am (UTC)Have a safe journey. Greetings and congratulations to the APs! :)
no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 03:30 pm (UTC)