Tenerife Saturday 11 July
Our last day in Tenerife and a chance to do some shopping and actually wander round the Puerto de La Cruz. We had a late breakfast and headed down to the town. Did a wander through the old cobbled streets checked out the duty free shops. Lauren bought an IPOD look alike and I bought a lens for my camera. All of the shop keepers are indian so as you can imagine, there was a lot of bargaining and a good chance of improving on the 'absolute best price' offered. I think we both got a good deal. For me it involved having to walk back up to the hotel for more cash, but in the mean time Fiona and the kids enjoyed some time on the beach right in the middle of town.
By around 4 pm we have to head out to catch the Ferry from Santa Cruz. The trip is stunning. The weather is perfect and we watch the sun go down over volcano as we head for Las Palmas on the north side Gran Canaria. So far we have been unable to find any maps of Gran Canaria but figure that if the transport system is as good as it is in Tenerife, there will be a bus from the port to where we want to go. No such luck. We arrive at around 10pm and are told that the only way to get to the bus station is by taxi. After examining all options (including a 'free' bus which takes people somewhere else) we resort to the taxi. He drops us off at the bus station after trying to persuade us that 70 euros to where we really want to go is a good deal.
The bus station is largely deserted (apart from a few people and a few buses). All of the information kiosks are closed and we begin to think that maybe the 70 E may not have been such a bad idea. Eventually I find an open door and ask inside if anyone knows how to get to Playa Los Amadores. Much hilarity (in spanish) and eventually one of the people say that he is in fact driving the bus and it leaves at 12pm (or so). So we have transport to our desination. The bus duly leaves at 12 and drive and drives and drives. It turns out that we are on the ther side of the island - about 60km from Las Palmas - but we would only learn that later. We watch the kilometers of solid hotels as we drive through every town on the way. Its amusing to watch people getting on and off in various states of anhebriation and wonder what their plans are for the evening. The children are exhausted. We finally arrive in Los Amadores (and are assured that this is our resort) at around 2am. All is dark, the the actual name of the resort isn't quite the same as what I have on my piece of paper (Mine was 'Vist Amadores' and the driver pointed out somethingelse Amadores - basically half the hotels are called something Amadores because of the name of the town - Playa Amadores). There is no open reception - in fact no evidence of any reception so eventually I leave the family with the bags and go to the place next door. No, that isn't the place you want. He phones a taxi which arrives a few minutes later and takes us about 1km up a very steep hill to our final destination. Fortunately here there is a reception and we check in. The flat is stunning with a magnificent view (even at 2 in the morning). We have arrived in Gran Canaria.
Tenerife Friday 10 July
Its our last full day in Tenerife and we set off after breakfast to explore the south side of the island. A busy highway connects provides easy access and within an hour we motoring towards the very busy coast line.
Our first stop is Candelaria where we seek out the Patron Saint of the Canaries (our lady of Candelaria) who is housed in a magnificent church surrounded by a large central square. On the one side of the square overlooking the sea there are statues of the last Guanche Menceys - or native kings of the island - reproduced in bronze sculptures. A short walk from the basilica takes you to the cave where they originally found the statue of the patron saint in a cave and there is a church built in to side of a hill which is where it was kept until this church burnt down and they built a new one.
From Candelaria, we take the top road planning to come down from it at will. The road and views are impressive and we ass through a number of quaint villages but eventually the winding and difficult driving gets to Fiona - not to mention the pressure to find a beach - bring us down to Costa Del Silencio where we stop to watch the windsurfers. Its clear why winsurfing is popular here as it is not a good place to lie on the beach. Finally we bite the bullet and head for the tourism area of Las Americas. This is Britain away from Britain with pubs and screaming children, but also a soft pleasant beach. After establishing that it was not OK to use the umbrellas (without paying) we found a shaded spot and watched the kids as they snorkelled and swam. Finally after lunch and a drink, we were on the road again.
We headed back to complete our round the island tour in time to return for our last night in Tenerife. Parking outside the hotel was terrible, so Fiona had to go to find some more parking and accidentally went the wrong way up a one way street. This resulted in a near accident and a fight with a local.
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