Hola Tenerife! Chasing the (Winter) Sun

A few weeks ago, on one of those all too familiar dreary, dark and relentlessly wet days, Jon asked if I wanted to spend my birthday on Tenerife and, of course, I replied with a resounding....yes! A year ago I'd wouldn't have entertained the idea as, after a couple of lacklustre package holidays in the 1990s, I'd written the Canary Islands off as a cultural wasteland, but my opinion changed after the week we'd spent in Gran Canaria back in January, when we'd stayed in Vegueta, the wonderfully atmospheric historic quarter of the island's capital, Las Palmas (HERE) and I now know there's bucketloads of culture away from those depressing purpose-built resorts.

9.15am. It's never too early for an airport beer!

So, just after 8am on Saturday 2nd December, we piled on the layers and slowly inched our way along the icy pavements down to Walsall station in thick fog and -6°C temperatures. Despite a points failure on the line and planned industrial action, our train pulled into Birmingham International in good time where we breezed through a virtually deserted departures in under five minutes and toasted ourselves with a pint of IPA in Wetherspoons just over an hour after leaving home.

After disembarking at Tenerife South airport four hours later and in much kinder 23°C warmth, we shed our layers and, with no luggage to collect (carry on only), headed outside the terminal to the bus stop to board the 343 bus to our destination, Puerto de la Cruz, in the far north of the island. The bus journey cost €4.75 each and dropped us off at town's guagua* station ninety minutes later, from there our accomodation for the next five nights, The Florida Plaza Apartments (booked via Booking.com) was a 5 minute walk away. We unpacked, freshened up and then headed straight out for beers and tapas, marvelling at how we were still in Europe but could comfortably sit in the street bare-armed & sandal-clad in December.

*Guagua (pronounced wah-wah) is the Spanish slang for bus.

In the words of Phil Collins - no jacket required!

Dorada, Tenerife's local beer; Papas Arrugadas - new potatoes cooked in their skins in salted water and served with tangy mojo rojo & mojo verde sauces; Remolacha & manchego (beetroot & sheep's cheese).

The following morning we sat on our terrace contemplating the day ahead and, at just after 8am, it was already a deliciously balmy 24°C. Like Gran Canaria, Tenerife's mountainous north tends to be a few degrees cooler and cloudier than the South so the heat was an unexpected bonus. In fact, when I spoke to people who'd stayed in the south on the flight home they told me that it had rained every day and had been cloudy and overcast for a week.

Puerto de la Cruz is said to be one of the best destinations for street art in Europe. With its diverse Atlantic coastal location and the gorgeously colourful colonial Spanish buildings dotted around La Ranilla ( the old town) the historical district is home to The Museum of Ephemeral Art. The majority of the art was commissioned in 2014 and created by some of the world's best known street artists but since then lots more has popped up, with even the recycling bins and fire hydrants being daubed in paint. A brilliantly colourful (and free) way to spend a lazy Sunday morning!

The Canaries are closer to North Africa than Madrid but the streets have a Latin American vibe. 

We followed the locals and popped into a churroteria for freshly fried churros which we dipped into our coffee/chocolate.

After our morning's exploring we decided we fancied a swim. We'd packed swimwear when we'd left the apartment and after popping into a tourist shop and splashing out €3.50 on a beach towel, headed to the Costa Martiánez lido, handing over our €5.50 admission fee. You can also buy an annual pass for €60 which, when you consider that the temperature in Tenerife never drops below 17°C, you'd certainly get your money's worth if you're a resident or one of the many tourists lucky enough to spend the entire winter here.

El Lago "the lake", as its known to the locals, is one of the most admired examples of coastal landscape transformations for leisure in the world; a museum of contemporary outdoor art, built with basalt rock, emerald waters, gardens and sculptures, with imposing views of Mount Teide in the backdrop. The first swimming pools were inaugurated in 1971, on a beach and natural pools in Llanos de Martiánez, the place where the first tourists on the island bathed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 

Designed by the painter, sculptor and designer César Manrique – World Ecology and Tourism Award Winner 1978 – using elements of traditional Canarian architecture and endemic flora. Within the enclosure are six of its sculptures: Los Alisios, La Jibia, Barlovento, Raíces al Viento, a tribute to William Reich and Monumento al mar. The large lake has about 27,000 cubic metres of sea water and is surrounded by four swimming pools for adults and three children’s pools. In its interior there are five islands with bars and restaurants.

Once you've paid your admission fee there's access to changing rooms and toilets and the sunbeds and umbrellas are free. The public is not allowed to bring in their own food, drink or dogs.

If you've been to the Canaries you'll recognise Manrique's distinctive style immediately. 

Once we'd basked on the volcanic rocks in the sunshine and dried off, we got changed and walked up to Sitio Litre.

At 220 years old, Sitio Litre is the oldest garden on Tenerife and has a private mansion that dates from 1730. Sitia Litre has the largest collection of orchids on the island, the largest and oldest dragon tree in Puerto de la Cruz and souvenirs from important visitors like Agatha Christie, Surrealist artist Eileen Agar and Marianne North, the Victorian botanist and botanical artist, along with the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt. 

Orquidea, the on-site tearooms, is run by an English lady and several visitors were tucking into cream teas and raving about the quality of the scones. We enjoyed crusty bread with local tomatoes, goats cheese, salad and lashings of olive oil along with a ice cold beer. 

We continued our ascent up the foothills of Mount Teide to reach our final destination of the day, Puerto de la Cruz's botanical gardens, La Orotava Acclimatisation Gardens . The gardens were created by Royal Order of Carlos III in 1788, due to the need to cultivate species from the tropics somewhere in Spain with a suitable climate. It has major collections of tropical and sub-tropical plants, with special emphasis on varieties of palms such as Bromeliacea, Araceas and Moracea. There are many plants and trees that are interesting because of their beauty, size, age, rarity or remote place of origin. As a scientific institution, the Gardens carry out international germo-plasm exchanges and have a herb garden specialising in native Canary flora, with more than 30,000 files and develops research programmes on the flora and vegetation of the Canary Islands and the conservation of endemic species. 

On the way back to the Florida Plaza we spent an absolute age searching for a shop to buy water, beer and breakfast for the following morning (we'd be the size of a house if we ate churros every day!) Despite Puerto de la Cruz being a bustling town & a popular tourist destination, most mini-markets and supermarkets close on a Sunday. Our feet were so hot when we finally got back to our rooms we were cursing our decision to wear trainers and vowed to stick to sandals from henceforth!  

After showers it was time to crack open a can of beer on the terrace. Unlike in the UK when its dark by 4pm, in Tenerife the sun doesn't set until 6.15pm and the temperature never drops below 17°C. Bliss!

Another evening of al fresco drinking & dining. The travel forums will tell you that Puerto de la Cruz isn't the place to go to if you want lively nightlife which is fine by us, we're happy with low-key and laid back. This restaurant in Plaza del Charco* has live music and dancing every night - a bit cheesy but my vegetarian paella, Jon's Canarian lamb stew with potatoes and our huge glasses of Hendricks gin & tonic were perfect!

 *Charco is Spanish for puddle, when there's a high tide a large puddle of seawater complete with fish, often appears in the square.

We were 24 hours into our trip to Tenerife and were already absolutely loving it. Stay tuned for part two and, if you like what you've seen so far, Ryanair have one-way flights from Birmingham for £19.99 in January.

See you soon!