Gran Canaria 14-15 July 2009

Gran Canaria Wednesday 15 July

 

We decide to explore the North side of the island. We drive to The Caldera de Bandama  which is a volcanic crater - ie insteadd of making a hill with the lava coming out, the whole thing exploded and produced a bloody great hole.  The volcano has the notable reputation of being one of the few volcanic craters where people (or a person) has actually been farming for may years.  Does this mean that he owns the land? - I have no idea.  There is a hill next to the crater with a winding road leading up to a church.  At the bottom, we finally discover the entrance to the crater.  The walk down is hot, stony and arduous but there is some relief at the bottom with a few trees.  The ruins of the old farm house are evident and we take a look around before heading back up to the top.  Not as impressive as El Tiede, but certainly a memorable experience.  I find it interesting that an island that seems to be infested with thousands of tourists has so few people enjoying one of its more meaningful sights.

 

We have lunch at the top under some trees and then go to the restaurant overlooking  the valley.  Not cheap - beers clock in at 35E a pop.

 

Next stop is Terror.  There is a winding road (are you surprised?) through some beautiful countryside to get to this old town known as the village of balconies.  We arrive in the town and there is a large crowd in the main hall and the church is clearly occupied.  It turns out that there is a funeral in progress.  It appears that it is a well know corpse as there are a lot of very impressive flowers and wreaths from large companies.  We check out the curio shops (kids desparate to buy some curios as we have only a couple of days left) and wander through the cobbled streets of the town.

 

A little while later the funeral is over and we wander round the large church in the middle of the town.  Here, we feel that we are in a truely spanish town (with the possible exception of the curio shops!) with old men showing their respects by standing outside the pub during the funeral procession and then going straight back in as it is over!

 

Then back to resort for a swim in the pool as the beach is a long way away - then some table tennis and supper. 

 

Gran Canaria Tuesday 14 July

 

The only way to get around Gran Canaria and see anything is by car.  I am a little disappointed in the lack of tourist information available.  It is only when we hire the car that we finally get a decent map of the island.  Even the resort doesn't sell them.  In Tenerife there was a choice of numerous different free maps.  Similarly, it is a real mission to find out what there is to see.  There's a bit of info on the internet but most of it discusses the fantastic beaches and the great night life.

 

We head NE along the highway and with some difficulty find our way toMaspalomas (which is a pretty big town with very few signpost of any use).  We finally find the area where there will be dunes and camels (yes, camels).  Fiona finds a a parking spot only to be (almost literally) attacked by a man who claims that it is his and he should give it to him.  I bravely come to her defence and learly have a fight with him as he threatens to tear off our ariel and I threaten to kick in his rear lights.  Eventually he goes away and we wander off to find the dunes.  The area used to be some sort of park, but that part of it is now closed.  There are no signs (did I mention that?) but eventually we find the dunes and camels.  The 'camel safari' turns out to be pretty arb.  Basically a crowd of people get on to camels to be lead about 2kms and return.  50E seems a lot for for this type of excitement, so we just look at the camels and walk along a couple of the dunes.  Maby someone should try this along the West Coast of Cape Town.  Certainly the surroundings would be more attactive!  You guessed it, we aren't impressed by the camel safaris.

 

So we set off up the first road we find in to the mountains.  We wind our way up to Avagaures where there is a very impressive dam (well I was impressed anyway!)  We can walk down to the dam and across the wall.  The wall isn't holding up much water, so we can even walk on to the spillway.  Very few people around.  I guess they are all on the beach!  We have lunch by the dam wall and then walk back up to the town and enjoy a beer and cokes (our daily treat).   

 

There is still a few hours of the afternoon so we head up another slightly less windy road to Montana de Tauro.  Once again the views are magnificent and we return via Puerto De Morgan wich is NW of Playa  de los Amadores and then take the coast road back to the resort.  On the way we stop at a little beach and decide that this where we will have our paella (Maria's).  The kids then spend a couple of hours on the water toys after which we return to a restaurant that we had seen on the way back from Purerto de  Morgan.

 

The kids have excellent value steaks and we have seafood.

 

Gran Canaria - 12 - 13 July 2009

Gran Canaria - Amadores 13 July 2009

 

Spent most of the day exploring our direct surroundings.  After walking down to the beach, we walked to Puerto Rico - about 2 kms.  The kids and mom enjoyed the beach as I went further in to town in search of car hire.  Not much joy there - prices were about the same as those offered at the resort. The Puerto Rico beach was a similar semi-circular man made beach to the one in Amadores with the small difference that there was a small harbour and various trips from sightseeing to dophin watching.  We booked dolphin watching for Friday.

 

On the walk back along a cliffs edge, we find some stairs down to the sea where we can sit on the rocks, go in to the water to snorkel as well as find a bit of shade in a rather smelly cave. It was a hit with the kides and we spend an hour or so there before heading back.

 

On our return, the kids relax for a bit and then return to the Amadores Beach - they have discovered that the large plastic inflatable trampolines and climbing hills is free if you wait until 6pm or so.  We can watch them from our balcony while we enjoy the sunset and prepare an 'Average Joe's' dinner (from Lauren's diary!)  Incdentally Lauren calculated that it is 900 strides from the Salida exit sign to where we are staying and therefore around 1500 from the beach.

 

 

Gran Canaria - Amadores 12 July 2009

 

Woke up at around 12 noon with complaints from the kids about the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.  They were on a pull out bed and a couch.  The complaints came from Lauren on the couch (quite understanably as she is 6ft tall).  Otherwise the flatlet is great.  The views are probably some of the best in the town.  The town itself is a tourist village.  We learned that the beach had been man made using sand from Miami.  The down side is that huge hill that we have to walk down to and then back up from but the excercise will do us good!

 

As is the way with these resorts, there is a pool (this one comes with a jucuzi) and there is an outside table tennis table - gives an idea of how good the weather is - all sun and no wind.  The surrounding country side is start - almost as bare as the hills around the Tiede volcano.  We can see Tenerife in the distance with the island standing out like a breast in the middle of it. 

 

Fiona and I walk up to the local shops for some provisions.  The shopping centre is like Britain away from Britain.  Nothing local - english and irish pubs abound and much of the stuff in the supermarket is geared for the tourists.  We return for some lunch and then down to the beach for the afternoon.

 

The sun sets over Tenerife in reds and oranges as we enjoy our evening glass of wine and prepare the evening meal.

 

 

Tenerife 10 - 11 July 2009

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.

Tenerife 9 July 2009 - Teide Volcano

Thursday 9 July 2009 Tenerife

 

The Teide Volcano totally dominates the North side of Tenerife - a stark reminder of the origins of the island and what it must have been like many millions of years before.  The Volcano is the highest point in Spain (maybe that's why they took over the  islands to get some higher mountains!).  Its peak reaches 3 718m above sea level. There is a cable car that goes from the base to a point about 200m from the summit and the remainder of the distance is done on foot (with a permit)

 

General Info:

 

Length of Run	2482m
Height from start	1 199m
Starting Point	2 356m
Terminus	3 555m
Maximum Speed	8 m/s
Power of Motors	1 200hp
Capacity of Cabin	38 people
Time of Run	8 minutes

 

 

Length of run  

 

We set out after breakfast, having booked our visit to the Volcano for 3pm in the afternoon.  The approach on the North side was through a pine forest with expansive views over the farming district and the sea but as soon as we reached the top, the vegetation disappeared to make way for a moonscape of stark jagged rocks formed by the cooling of the lava that had been vomited out of the volcano on to the surrounding countryside.

 

We stop at a restaurant for a cool drink below the ominous dominance of El Teide on our way to the cable station. The cable car is a surprisingly old design (a little like the old Table Mountain one) and the run is along a number of pillars up to the top.  Of course it slows as we get to the top of each pillar and there is a moment that makes your stomach leap.  At the top I have my first experience of altitude sickness.  I am dizzy, my heart is beating at double pace and have difficulty walking for the first 15 minutes or so.  Guy is also effected as is Fiona although not Lauren.  As a result we decide to take a break and get used to it, so we have our lunch (daily supplied by Fiona and always consisting of a roll  each with meat and salad).

 

We then make our way up to the summit.  Although the distance is relatively short, it is very slow going both because of the rough path and because of the effects of the altitude.  We stop regularly but eventually make it to the top.  As we approach, there are small holes exuding steam and sulphur.  The top of the mountain has a classic crater and with the steam and sulphur it provides an awesome spectacle.  We are at the highest peak of the island so the view is magnificent.  On the one side of us the forests and fields flow gradually down to the sea while on the other in stark conrast is the blackened wilderness and the worn peaks of various smaller volcanoes.

 

We were only allowed an hour to get to the peak and back so all too soon, we had to make our way back. As it was downhill, we tended to go a little faster, but the effects were plain on myself and Guy as we gathered ourselves at the cable station before taking the trip back.

 

We completed our tour by taking a drive through the black desert and stopping at one of the smaller out crops (which had apparently also once been a smaller volcano) and then finally made our way back taking the same route as the previous day but this time stopping in Icod for a brief wine tasting.  Sadly with the language difference, we didn't really get a feel for what the wine was or where it was grown, but it was a fun ending to another busy day. 

 

Tenerife 7 - 8 July 2009

Tenerife Wednesday 8 July 

 

We decide to hire a car today as our plans for the rest of our stay in Tenerife can't be covered by bus.  Small problem, though as I have had my wallet (and drivers licence) stolen so Fiona has to do all the driving.  In some ways not a bad things as she gets car sick and the roads are VERY windy.

 

We take a drive West towards Masca.  Its a beautiful drive along endless winding roads.  We make a couple of stops on the way to find suitable beaches, stopping in the historic cobbled town of Garachico where the beach is black and stony, but the town is ancient with narrow streets trying to make way for modern vehicles.  Although the drive there is impressive Masca is a small village with a reasonable mix of old an new, but not much to offer.  We take the high road back to Puerto de la Cruz via Icod de Los Vinos.  I am a little optimistic with my directions and we hit a dead end at the top of a hill and have t re-trace our steps a bit.  Icod is a larger town famous for a 1000 year old tree (El Drago, a dragon tree) next to an old monastry.  There is someone advertising wine tasting - keep that knowledge for later in the trip.

 

Tired children and mom head back to the flat to freshen up and then and evening in town exploring the older area of Puerto de la Cruz and find a (mediocre) restaurant for a night out.

 

Lauren's entry for the day : "Today we got a car (rented) and crazily drove around the mountains by a place called Masca - that's one I remember and yeah, there were tons of places.  There were crazy, windy roads - worse than any! But it was beautiful and the scenery was graeat.  On our way back, we went 2 see the 'made-famous coz there's not much to see in this city tree (El Drago) an one thousand year old dragon tree.  Wasn't particularly amazing but its fine.  Then we drove back and, nearly had a car accident and slept."

 

Tenerife Tuesday 7 July - Loro Parque

 

So this is a a big tourist day - we go to Loro Parque which is the famous park in Tenerife housing all sorts of sea, land and air animals.  Actually a large zoo - but I hate to admit to visiting a Zoo!

 

First things first, though and I have to head back to Puerto De La Cruz first to book for the Volcano (earmarked for Thursday).  The trip goes uneventfully and we are formally 'booked in'.

 

I return by around noon and we walk down to the town and take a tourist train from the sea front to the park.

 

The visit is not cheap - 30E for adults and 20 for kids 11 and under (fortunately Guy still qualifies).  Loro Parque is undoubtedly a zoo geared for tourism but its origins and presumably some of the money raised are geared towards the preservations of endangered species of parrots (to be honest not a cause that I would necessarily support but that's what they do -their web site is http://www.loroparque-fundacion.org/.

 

The park is large and well laid out and includes parrots (of course), various large animals such as gorillas, chimpanzees, tigers, jaguars as well as sea animals such as arctic penguins, sharks as well as a dolphin show, a whale show and a sea lion show.  In addition there is a large section on bird life from puffins to lories and emus, as well as smaller animals such sloths (we love those and one of them had a baby) and, meercats (sorry Hilary) and giant tortoises.

 

It is a long day and we see almost everything the park has to offer. We return to our base tired and happy after an enjoyable day.

 

 

 

 

Tenerife 5 - 6 July 2009

Tenerife Monday 6 July

 

The plan is to visit the Volcano at some stage, so part of the deal involves getting a permit to go up it.  This means that you have to travel to the capital  - Santa Cruz - (40kms away) and get a permit a from a mysterious office hidden in one of the streets across from the harbour.  Bus to town and then local bus to the harbour.  In fact the bus system is great in Tenerife.  There is a 'Bono' bus ticket that you buy for 12 euros and this takes you in to town (at a reduced price) and also covers the onward trip on the local buses at no additional charge.

 

After breakfast we all set off.  Arrive at the bus station and there is my squash colleague, Neil plastered up on the wall (he is a photo model).  Then I get off at the relevant stop and the rest of the family head out to the 'golden beach' or Playa Las Teresitas San Andres - the only one on the island! My business doesn't take long.  They are very helpful and speak great english.  They explain that my 1 passport is not sufficient to get the permit.  I need photocopies of all our passports as well as the originals.  Sadly I don't have these so I head off to Las Teresitas.  Arrive there and there his a 3 km expanse of beach covered with people (in various states of undress - did I mention that bikini tops are purely option in the Canaries - makes for some wonderful sights but also some frightening ones!).  After walking the whole length of the beach twice, even I was getting bored and I still hadn't found my family.  It was around 3pm and getting on for home time.  Finally hidden under a tree behind a deck chair, there was Lauren.

 

On the way back, we stopped at the airport and joy of joys, we were able to pick up the remainder of the bags.

 

To celebrate, that evening we walked in to town and have a Tenerife meal of Mojo Chicken while guy had sardines.  With all our bags we finally feel as if the holiday has truely begun!  

 

Tenerife Sunday 5 July
 

Late start with breakfast at around 10am and the news from the front desk that a bag has arrived.  The bad news is that it has to be collected from the airport (around 35km away) as we are foreigners (as in South Africans not Europeans) and they want the bags to be checked by customs.   They have Fiona's name on the bag (although who is to say who's bag it is) so Fiona has to go to get it. We place our bets as to who's bag it may be although secretly we all hope that it is our own!

 

Fi bravely heads out at around midday and returns about 3 hours later with....my bag.  It turns out that the customs were a little suspicious that a 'girl's' bag would be filled with all sorts of wires and mens clothes - also she looks pretty suspicious at the best of times!   Usually this would have been the best option but by now we have replaced all of the chargers and electrical stuff that we need to survive.

 

In the afternoon we walk up to the botanical gardens to view a couple of Canary plants and all sorts of plants from other parts of the world (including South Africa).  The kids have a great time and make friends with the turtles in one of the ponds. 

 

In the evening the kids go to play soccer and we make dinner and try some Spanish wine (which is pretty good at the price - how we South Africans expect to compete when we must bring our wine all the way from South African AND pay duties, I have no idea.  Certainly we never saw any South African wine in the Canaries!)

 

That evening we get the news that another bag has arrived - in fact that it was there while Fiona was battling her way through customs.