Una Paloma Blanca - More Tales from Tenerife

It was Friday and, once again we awoke to glorious sunshine, eating breakfast on the balcony.

The previous day Jon, aka Dr Dolittle, had made friends with a pair of doves* nesting in the banana trees below our balcony. We'd brought home some Moroccan flatbread from last night's dinner which they took from his fingers.

*Paloma blanca is Spanish for white dove - sorry about the dreadful earworm, I'm sure those of us of a certain age will remember that song by George Baker from 1975!

Once dressed we walked up to the municipal market for a rummage at the rastro (the flea market) but after our 30 minute hike discovered that the council had changed the day to a Saturday. You may remember that I found an amazing 1970s block printed Indian dress for €4 last year (HERE). 

 

We made our way to Sitio Litre (the orchid gardens) which, at over 280 years old, are the oldest gardens on Tenerife. 

The mansion continues to be inhabited by the descendants of the Smiths, the English family who created the gardens in 1774 and, over the years, Marianne North (1830 - 1890), the English botanist and botanical artist; the German polymath, Alexander Von Humboldt (1769 - 1859); novelist Agatha Christie (1890 - 1976) and Oscar's Wilde's father, Dr William Wilde (1815 - 1876) were all guests there. 

The garden contains Puerto's biggest and oldest dragon tree.

Here's the same tree, painted by Marianne North over 150 years ago and on display in the Marianne North gallery in Kew Gardens.

Source

We usually have lunch in the Cafe Orquidia but being earlier than usual we opted for cappucinos instead. I normally hate cream but was ravenous after the hike up the hill! The cafe is famed throughout the island for their English cream teas with the scones made to the owner's great grandmother's recipe. We've never had one but they do look amazing! 

And of course, being an quintessentially English garden, there's even a croquet lawn! 

The gardens are open daily from 9.30 until 2.30 , admission is €4.75

After visiting her 1927 hangout, we followed our visit to Sitio Litre with a hike up the Agatha Christie steps, with each riser bearing the name of one of her books...she was a prolific writer so expect a steep climb! 

The steps lead to the mirador (or viewpoint) at La Paz*, offering spectacular views across the city. 

* This is a residential area of Puerto de la Cruz and not the Bolivian capital although the altitude isn't dissimilar!

We weren't alone! 

The alluring turquoise of El Lago, the municipal's lido's artificial lake was calling me....it was time for a swim.

One of my favourite places in Puerto, the breathtakingly beautiful Lago Martianez, designed by the celebrated Canarian artist, César Manrique.

Completed in 1971, there's five salt water pools of varying sizes. My favourite, El Lago, is 15,000 M² with a circumference of a kilometre. I love swimming under the bridges, past the artificial islands and beneath the waterfalls.

As you can see from the huge waves crashing over the lido walls, the Coastal Phenomenom was still battering the island. 

We bought lunch from one of the very reasonably priced snack bars, €3 for a sandwich and €3 for a big beer. My tortilla bocadillo was huge - and delicious! 

Being in the foothills of Mount Tiede, the skies are constantly changing, the clouds often look very threatening but it stayed dry throughout our stay. On the Friday we visited it was a glorious 25°C and we spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the sunshine. 

The lido is open every day, all year round. Admission is €7 per person with concessions for residents. You can also buy season tickets if you're staying a fortnight or longer. More info HERE

Time to hit the town!

After a couple of beers in our favourite bar we walked down to the seafront where we'd got a table booked for dinner.  

This young man is one of the many talented musicians you'll see performing in Puerto by night. It reminds me of that scene from The Fisher King, when passers-by abandon their shopping, seize their partner's hand and break into a waltz. 

We ate at Persia_Tenerife and our dinner was just as spectacular as it was last year.

We walked back to the Old Town and popped into El Drago, another of the tiny bodegas lining the street outside our hotel.

And, of course, there was more live music!

It was my birthday eve...adiós 58....hola 59!

What would tomorrow bring?