• Cape Town to Southampton
    Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Main city on the island and co capital with Las Palmas.
    It's hilly. Motorcycle paradise as long as its not a Harley. Lots of BMWs here.The houses stuck on the hillsides are more amazing than on Grand Canaria.Driving above the clouds that bank up on the northern side of the island.A small bridge across one of the many gullies.View down the side of a restaurant at a converted monastery. Its called the Viewpoint. Wonder why?The main front of the Monastery Restaurant. Not a monastery any more.Puerto de la Cruz. This is where the first Brits came to holiday. It's acres of apartments.Nice old part of the waterfront. No beach but lots of pay to enter swimming pools.This car park in the city uses acres of solar panels to shade the carsThe Auditorio concert hall. Doesn't look big here but its big.Another shot showing the cantilever 'wave' roof.

    Stop 7: Tenerife

    May 26 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Finally got to see Tenerife, which is to the British what Bali is to Australians. People from Europe flock here for the better weather although due to the fact that its a volcano, all the beaches but one are black and rocky. The one non black beach is sand imported from the Sahara, only 200km away.
    The highest point of the island is Mt Tiede, and at 3,700m its no bump. It gets snow in winter and I really wanted to see it but the road to the viewpoint was closed. Plus the clouds were hiding it most of the time. Did get some jiggly phone shots from the bus.
    In summary Tenerife is very much developed and very touristy. It's no quiet backwater. If we visited again I'd make a big effort to see Mt Tiede and the more natural areas of the island.
    Next stop is an overnight hop to another island, but not part of the Canary Islands. We're off to Funchal, which is a Portuguese territory.
    PS There are no Canaries in the Canary Islands. The name means Dog Islands. The 'dogs' were seals, long since exterminated.    Read more