This is the second part of the trip to Tenerife, the largest island of The Canary Islands. In the previous post I've shown the eastern parts of the island and the capital of Santa Cruz. After that we continued our ring-road and drove to the north and the east.
We set Puerto de la Cruz as our next destination after leaving Taganana. We rode the northern highway and stopped a few times in random places to enjoy the rocky coast.
Those areas were quite empty, only a few people apart from us enjoyed those rocky oceanic scapes. To get to one of those points we walked through banana plantations and grasslands filled with astounding cacti and the volcano of Teide was always watching over us.
PUERTO DE LA CRUZ
Eventually we arrived to Puerto de la Cruz, a city on the northern shore of the Atlantic. It was slow-paced and chilled, with a strong colonial vibe that brought Latin America to mind. With its fishing and trading herritage and charming architecture it became a popualr destination for the tourist that look for something beyond lush resorts. Something more authentic. In its historic downtown centre, that is.
It used to be a significant port for the ships coming from Europe from as early as the XV century. Before the age of mass tourism only people considered as the elites used to visit the islands, but also researchers, botanists etc. The attention that the city got resulted in wealth and development.
Among other resorts of the island, Puerto de la Cruz was definitely one of the most charming. Walking its narrow streets with one-storey colourful houses it was fun spotting all those little peculiar details and street art.
MASCA
After grabbing a nice seafood paella for lunch we jumped into our rented car and drove to our next accomodation in the famous valley of Masca. The road to the valley itself was a thrilling experience, as most mountainous roads on the island.
And there it was. After an hour of driving those extremely curvy roads and passing through clouds we ended up on a hilltop. Somebody knew that making a viewpoint there was a good idea.
Really crazy things happen there at sunset. The spectacle of light and colours and clouds and shapes was breathtaking. The ocean was glistening in the distance with the island of La Gomera on the horizon.
This was one of the most amazing accomidations I ever had. I made the reservation via booking.com and this cozy appartment had a large terrace that opened up into the valley.
Having a morning coffee on this terrace was something I could do everyday.
The village of Masca is relatively small and it spreads along the main roads and paths. It is hard to imagine that up until the seventies or something it was completely cut off from the outer world, living its little life on its own.
All those houses were SO DAMN CHARMING. The city centre was basically a little plaza in the middle of which an enormous tree was growing, with a picturesque church facing it.
The biggest attraction of the site is the Masca gorge. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions and renovation works that took place earlier this year, it was necessary to make an online reservation to enter the gorge. This was understandable, after the work finished the site was secured and the company gave everybody safety helmets.
I didn't find any information about online reservations anywhere while doing my research earlier, so we couldn't get in... we decided to visit Punta de Teno instead!
TENO
Teno is a natural reserve on the most western part of the island and a place named Punta de Teno is its mere tip. The whole area is mounainous, rocky, and actually very high,
A part of the road that leads up to Punta de Teno was closed off for some reason, but it was possible to leave your vehicle and walk the road up to the point itself. City busses were allowed to drive through all the way to the end, but we decided that it will be an amazing hike to go on foot. Oh yes, it was. The road actually was elevated really high and built on those steep rocky slopes so you were walking having a monumental rocky wall to your left, and the ocean on the right. It was all but boring, the landscape was changing a visibly and there were many small attractions to stop by.
Actually the most thrilling part was the tunnel. At one point we had to cross a 500m tunnel with no electric lighting.
The road was about 7 kilometers one way. We decided to go back by bus eventually,
The trail ended with a lighthouse, a small rocky beach and a wonderful view to the cliffs.
LOS GIGANTES
On the western coast at first we visited Los Gigantes, a popular tourist resort by the ocean right next to enormous cliffs. The town itself doesn't really have a lot of beaches, only a few really small ones. It seems relatively modern, but I must admit that the general feeling to this resort is very cozy and calm.
On our way back we stopped at the same viewpoint as before because what was happening blew our minds. Apart from the clouds slowly flowing through the valley below, a bunch of curious goats appeared out of nowhere.
TEIDE
The last day of the trip was all about Teide, the king volcano that towers over the island. It is also the highest peak of Spain with the altitude of 3,718 meters.
It was amazing to observe how does the scenery change as we drove up. Through mountainous forests and rocky desert. We overlooked the sea of clouds. The whole area is within Teide National Park but is open to the public to drive around without any fees.
It was possible to drive as high as 2,100m, to the cable car terminal. We tried twice to book a cable car ride to the top but both days it was canceled due to bad weather conditions, mostly strong winds. I kinda hoped that we would be able to see the view from nearly the top, it's not everyday that you can climb up a volcano. However, just having a ride up through Teide National Park was amazing and satisfied me.
Going back from Teide we stopped to enjoy our breakfast in a very picturesque mountainside village called Vilaflor.
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