1. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Island

Up before seven. Mom felt the boat shaking as we were trying to dock. After a quick breakfast we headed out expecting a huge line but to our surprise there wasn’t one. We hopped into the provided shuttle bus that took us straight to the green carpeted bridge that got us to the Cabodilo Insular building to meet our tour (NOT NCL).

We arrived early and later found some others to sit with from the Norweigan Dawn who was also in port. Our guide met us and led us to the nice minibus. His name is Angél.

On the way to La Laguna from Santa Cruz, we saw the tree lined ramblas (promenade). Angél shared lots of facts with us about the Canary Islands. They belong to Spain but the people considered themselves more like Latin Americans. The islands AREN’T named after birds. The birds are actually named after the islands. The real entomology comes from the word ‘carnis’ which means dog. A bread of wild dog lives in Tenerife called the Presa Canarias. They are HUGE mastiff dogs similar to pit-bulls.

Our first stop was La Leguna, one of the oldest cities in the Canaries. Angél took us to the Main Street and clock tower then let us loose. Mom and I stumbled into a tourist info center based in one of the traditional houses. They gave us a free map Al’s two gorgeous posters for free. We wandered for a bit but I had to go to the bathroom. We found a bread shop and purchased three mini dot (donuts) so I could use the facilities. The donuts were INCREDIBLE, soft and not too sweet. I’d have taken a picture but we ate them too fast…

We headed back to our bus and waited with our driver Manolo for the rest of the group. By this point Angél had memories all 17 travelers’ names. Everyone arrived at the appointed time save one. We ended up waiting over 45 minutes as Angél went back to search for the man. Unable to find him Angél decided we needed to go. Later he got a call that the guy decided to take a taxi back to the ship which was probably for the best.

Next up was Candelaria...Read more