We grabbed a car and headed out for a hike. The temperature was warm and while it was sunny on the coast as soon as we started heading up and inland we got caught by the clouds. Like us they seemed to like the mountains and decided to hang there for the day.
Tenerife is split in a North and South section by the 📍Teide, the local dormant volcano. The North side is cooler and wetter than the south side. It shouldn’t be surprising that the clouds decided to hang on the North side, where we were heading. With the 500m altitude start point of our hikes we managed to drive through at least one cloud. With the lusher greens of the more humid side of the island and the deep haze caused by the cloud we had a real feel of driving in a jungle.
When you look at the map of the island there’s a large number of visible trails. We were originally unsure of how well they would be marked or if they would be marked at all. Some of our hikes on Greek islands were more about “feeling” we’re on the right path than seeing actual blazes. To our great joy and to the relief of our inner eye not feeling sure about guiding us on the path of unmarked trails, every single trail we saw was well maintained and clearly marked.
Our 7,5km hike had a total elevation gain of a little more 300m (about three climbs of around 100m). With the low clouds it made photography challenging (who likes a white sky?). With the regular elevation change, we kept taking pictures of the panorama that, contrary to what our eyes tried to tell us, hadn’t changed that much. We ended up with a thousand and one pictures of the same three geographic features.
Las Carboneras - Chinamada - Mirador Aguaide Viewpoint, Tenerife, Spain - 1,351 Reviews, Map | AllTrails
Lovely hike in the wonderful Parque Rural de Anaga, being able to enjoy a breathtaking landscape. This route gives the hiker a nature tour, and stunning panoramic views of the Mirador de Aguaide. The excursion starts in Las Carboneras and continues around the TenejĂas mountain until reaching the top of the Morro de Aguaide. It is a fairly short itinerary if starting from the town of Chinamada.
www.alltrails.com
Karine’s leg held well, our phones didn’t die of boredom taking the same picture over and over again, and we made it back to the car in one piece. We could then drive all the way to back to the airport and keep going toward the next “small village” north of Puerto de la Cruz: 📍La Orotava. Like yesterday’s “small village,” our intel was very wrong. Turns out Orotava is the largest municipality of the island of Tenerife and includes the summit of the Teide. We’ll have to rely less on the Routard (who’s not reliable this voyage) and do more Wikipedia. All took nothing away from a charming city center with beautiful views and multiple meticulously kept gardens.
From 📍La Orotavawe proceeded to drive down to our apartment for the next three days. It’s in the middle of the old city! Something we thought wonderful until we drove there. There are more one-ways, detours and other street shenanigans than anything else. Also, instead of giving clear directions to the parking garage (a five-minute walk from the building), our hosts decided it would be better to make a video. While I appreciate the video and it was helpful once inside the parking structure it was worse than useless at guiding us to the right location. We drove on pedestrian streets, went the wrong way on a one-way street, all following Google’s impossible directions to where we guessed the parking was only to realize we were wrong and had to try another possible location. Just at the moment we were ready to admit defeat and pay for parking, Karine found the location and we were able to park. The experience was so sucky that we concluded that once the car exits this place it is never going back to it again.
The apartment was comfortable and had a very nice balcony. It made up for the ordeal... a little. We had made reservations at the Michelin recommended place that made Asian inspired versions of local dishes. The food was delicious, the wine marvellous and the service slower than a lizard in the middle of a Canadian winter. The bread saved us from starvation for a while and the wine kept us entertained. We walked out half satisfied, maybe somewhat fitting with our day.