The weather again wasn't all that great this morning – occasional glimpses of the sun but the biting northerly was keeping the temperature below sunbathing level. So after another delicious breakfast of bacon, egg, beans and toast, we coaxed Penelope in to life and pointed her north.
We bypassed the big tourist resort of Puerto del Carmen – there may be some time on Saturday before we leave so that was pencilled in for then – and stopped first at the Islands capital – Arrecife. Nothing special of note here although it does – according to my trusty ‘Lonely Planet’ - survive as a town in it’s own right without the help of tourism. We parked up briefly to have a wander around and to poke our heads in at a travel agent.
Friends of ours are staying in Tenerife and we were toying with the idea of going over to see them whilst we were in Gran Canaria next week. In fact they flew out the same day as us, but thanks to the delays didn’t get installed in their rooms until 2.00am. We got some prices and headed back to Penelope.
Next stop was the Cactus Garden further up the north eastern coast. It’s a delightful circular multi level sunken garden made of lava rock and containing over 1500 varieties of, erm cactus. The fact that it was sunken made it a great shelter from the increasing northerlies blowing across the sea, though it was no doubt designed to protect the cacti and not the tourists. It really is a wonderful place to visit though.
Next up, and further up was the green caves, although the name is slightly misleading as there is nothing green about them. It it believed that they were once owned a family called Verdes, hence the name. The caves were formed by following a volcanic eruption some 5000 years ago. The top layers cooled forming a roof beneath which lava continued to flow until the eruption stopped. The main tunnel is about 5 miles long, much of which extends out under the sea.Only a short section – less than a mile is open but is very impressive all the same. The highlight though is the very simple but clever visual gag at the end of the tour. You won’t see it coming and as we were all sworn to secrecy I ain’t going to tell you what it is. Google will no doubt provide you with an answer though if you wish.
Continuing on, and climbing higher and higher we paused at the Mirador del Rio which promised stunning views of the little island of La Graciosa on the northern tip and a sheer 500m drop for a mere 5 euros. We walked instead along the road to the side and got similar views for nothing.
We were now heading back south, this side was more mountainous (or should that be volcanous) and offered some spectacular views across to the east where we had driven up earlier. We stopped for a bite to eat and marvelled at the stunning views.
On the way back we passed through Teguise, another pretty little place which used to be the capital until Arrecife assumed the crown some 160 odd years ago.
So, in a couple of days that's a large part of the island covered. We may not have seen everything but it’s given us a good overview. In the next couple of days, depending on the weather we will do the middle bit and see what are supposed to be some of the most dramatic volcano ranges on the island.
No comments:
Post a Comment