As often happens when one lives in paradise, we have friends visiting today. On this occasion it’s via a cruise so they are here for the day.
We head up Northeast to the capital Santa Cruz, about an hour drive, park up right next to the cruise terminal to meet Di and her friend Bev. As regular and experienced travellers they have done a lot of the touristic experiences before, so we look to other ideas for our adventure today.
We start by heading further Northeast past Teresitas, to the viewpoint above this beautiful beach, and then briefly on to Igueste before retracing our steps, and heading up the most windy road imaginable to the “back bone” of the island, which runs between the North and South cost at this end of the island.
At some places one can see the ocean on both sides at the same time. We drop down the to the Northern shore and get coffee at Benijo, marvelling at the breakers rolling in at the nearby beaches.
Then it’s an hour to head to the ancient capital which lies a short distance uphill from the present one. La Laguna is almost half a mile above sea level, and about five miles inland too. We’re regular visitors here and we love the ancient buildings and delightful streets.
After a fabulous tapas we take a wander around the C17 buildings for a while before rain descends, and we drive back down to sea level at Candelaria.
This beautiful basilica houses Our Lady of Candelaria – a black Madonna, its a famous place of pilgrimage, and the square nearby has fabulous statues of the aboriginal settlers in Tenerife, the Guanches.
We get the cruisers back to their ship, and we’re home an hour with just enough time to make Shepard’s pie for dinner.
