Welcome to Tenerife - a place close to Heaven
No matter if you are a traveler, an adventurer, a hiker, a surfer, a gourmet or a natur lover, whenever you will have the chance to visit Tenerife, I promise you will fall in LOVE with this destination at first sight! If not, call me and I´ll show you the beautiful secrets you might have missed during your trip...:-)
Tenerife is one of the 7 volcanic Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean, close to Africa. If you ask me spontaneously what is the most interesting characteristic about them and why you should travel here: its diversity! Each island has its own individual "personality" which I will explain in my following articles. Today I´ll start with my favorite island, my home and at the same time the largest one of the 7 diamonds: Tenerife.
If Tenerife was an animal, I guess it would be a Chamaeleon. The island is split into numerous micro climate zones. Depending on these zones, the vegetation can be completely different. While the North is used to be foggy and humid (abundant vegetation, very green), in the South you´ll find a barren country.
Thanks to these climate zones, you can go snowboarding and surfing on the island the very same day! Not kidding, I´ll prove that!
Mount Teide - Spain´s highest one
The Mount Teide (Spanish: Pico del Teide) is the highest elevation in Spain. The highest point is at 3,718m (12,198 ft). A cable car takes you up to a platform from where you have an absolutely amazing view down the flanks of the island. From this point you can walk up to the very top with previous permission, requested online. Here I have some pictures for you taken at the end of last year together with my friend Marta:
A friend of mine works as a tour guide, specialized in excursions to Mount Teide. He is doing that for about a few years, so you might think he perfectly knows the territory. But he sais that every single time he get´s up there, he discoveres something new! This moon-like landscape is a magical place, full of hidden secrets nobody will ever completely discover.
Look at these pictures I took in February when Mount Teide was covered by a marvellous mantle of snow! There hadn´t been so much snow during the last 30 years, so once the streets leaving to the top were open for traffic EVERYBODY got up there. Families, friends, grandmommies, kids, they all wanted to be part of this great snowball fight. Simply wonderful!
For the "Guanches" - the Berber aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands which lived here long time before the islands were conquered by Spanish immigrants in the 15th century - Mount Teide was the symbol of God. Supposedly the aborigines migrated to the archipelago around 1,000 BC or even earlier. They divided Tenerife into nine small kingdoms, and each was led by a king or so called "Mencey". Their territories were arranged in a star-shape, oriented towards "the holy" Mount Teide.
Some months ago I bought this ring at the shop which is located at the starting point of the cable car. It is made of "Olivin" a stone or better said mineral found in between the lava rocks of our neighbour island Lanzarote. Olivin is also called "The stone of hope". Every time I look at it it remembers me how lucky I am being surrounded by such an amazing natural environment, built by Earth and fire!
Soul food - The King´s kitchen
When I moved to Tenerife three years ago I gained +8kg weight in 2 months. Actually no more words are needed though :-) The typcial kitchen of Canary Islands is just amazing. Look at this little freaky friend - almost too beautiful to eat, haha
As always the very best plate is the one you don´t get at the restaurants recommend by official tour guides. You discover them thanks to your local friends, who picks you up with his car and takes you to the road´s end - or at least close to it. The best restaurants on Tenerife don´t have sophisticated names neither an entrance sign. On Tenerife the very best menu is served at the so called "Guachinches". (You remember: Guanche = aborigine.) The owners of Guachinches don´t have a regular restaurant´s licence which means a) (for us) that the service is restricted (small menu, just house wine and no bottles, you get what the boss cooked today, or better said what he hunted) and 2) (for them) that the owner pais less taxes. The food is simple but tremendously delicious. The ingredients are fresh, ecologically produced and prepared according to original recipes.
By the way...I think I should write another article dedicated to the local food!
As today there is an application for everything, there is also one to organize your "Guachinche tour": the "Guachapp", I am not kidding!! (available e.g. at the iTunes App Store). More information: www.guachapp.com
Besides the Guachinches which you will find mostly in the North of the island, my favorite restaurants are located at the small village "La Caleta" in the South. Here is a picture of my last dinner at "La Vieja" (incredibly good fish restaurant with amazing views from their terrace located at first sealine):
(Water) Sports - Living at the beach
As already mentioned in my last posts, I got addicted to surfing when I started living on Tenerife. Perhaps Tenerife is not a "classic surfer´s paradise" since when thinking about surfing you might imagine long white beaches, perfectly designed waves and turquoise-coloured water. Tenerife wasn´t designed for a travel catalog, it is much more than. It is as wild and authentic as a volcanic island should be. Beaches are rocky and not sandy, the sand is black and not white, the water is dark blue and not brightly turquoise, the wind is blowing strong from whereever it wants to and being in the middle of this amazing natural cocktail makes you feel very small and very big at the same time. You simply feel ALIVE!
Thanks to the brilliant climate here, we are celebrating the "infinite spring". Although I prefer to call it ENDLESS SUMMER - the following pictures are proof of evidence :-)
You cannot get bored on Tenerife, it is impossible! We have infinite possibilites to design an entertaining free time! Swimming, beaching, surfing, kite-surfing, wind-surfing, jet-skying, snorkeling, whale and dolphin watching (from the boat or at European´s no.1 zoo "Loro Parque"), waterslide riding (at the World´s no. 1 waterpark "Siam Park"), hiking, biking, walking, sitting, eating, sleeping, making love under an outstanding starry sky, partying, dancing....... well and snowboarding (respecting the established rules being the area around Teide a protected landscape). Much more to mention!
Look at these wild pilot whales I photographed being on a boat of a friend of mine. Is this awesome??!!! These guys usually dive down to 1,000m (3,200 feet) and then they suddenly show up and let my heart skip a beat:
One of my favorite places besides the beach is "The Red Mountain", located close to the village "El Medano" in the South-East of the island. It takes you only about 15 minutes walking to get up there. Sometimes I spontaneously take my car, have a little walk up the mountain (better said: hill), enjoy the view and free my mind. Pictures say more than words, so here we go:
Canarios - The most amazing people on Earth
Did you ever travel to a new place and felt being at home at once? Well this is what happened to me when I came to Tenerife. The "Canarios" are the most awesome people I have ever met. Being German it took me some time to "understand" their humor (not literally). The Spanish tongue is much harder then the German one. At the beginnings my German sophistication was surprised by so much straightforwardness. I actually did not know that I can call my best friends a son of a bitch and he would still love me! :-))) Anyway... you´ll learn to deal with that until you don´t want to talk in another way anymore. Promised!
Here is a picture of Marta (born on the neighbour island Gran Canaria) and myself at my favorite beach, the private beach of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Abama located in the South-West of the island:
Yeah right, the plastic covered fields are banana plantations! I´ll include the "banana story" in my article about local food, it deserves more attention than just a sidekick :-)
What I like most about the local mindset are the open arms. No matter where I meet somebody new, I am always received like a family member. And I love the sweet tenderness of the way they treat you: "Mi niña" (my baby), "cariño" (darling), "amor" (love). I swear I´ll never get tired of that!!!
I love to smalltalk with the lady at the supermarket´s cash desk and I enjoy kidding with the attendant at the gas station. We don´t know each other, but we have the same mission: to have a good time!
The key (as always in life) is: be open minded, treat people like you would like to be treated, be kind and humble. And I swear you´ll have a blast sharing with these wonderful people the very best time of your life!
I hope you´ll enjoy reading my little write-up and appreciate it voting me up! As it´s called "part I" I´ll be free to add some more stories in case you liked it. Well I guess, I´ll publish them anyway :-)
I´ll say goodbye with this "closing time picture", shot at one of my favorite beach clubs "Le Club" at the South of the island:
Live your dreams and steemit!
Cheers,
Marly -