Tenerife, Canary Islands

Apr. 02, 2023

If you have been wondering why you haven’t seen any recent updates, lack of internet access has been driving me fits, forcing me to be almost two weeks behind in my blogging. Now that I have internet, I shall resume blogging with Tenerife.

Tenerife is an island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, Canary Islands autonomous community, Spain, located in the Atlantic Ocean opposite the northwestern coast of Africa. It is the largest of the Canary Islands.

The narrower northeastern part rises sharply to a jagged mountain ridge of volcanic origin, except near San Cristóbal de la Laguna, where a corridor-like depression forms the island’s only extensive lowland. The remaining two-thirds of Tenerife is a vast composite dome surmounted by Teide Peak, the highest point on Spanish soil. The area continues to be the site of volcanic activity; perhaps the most destructive eruption occurred early in the 18th century, when a lava flow buried much of the town and harbor of Garachico, on the northern coast.

Here is the flag of Tenerife:

Nearly all the inhabitants of Tenerife live on the lower slopes and within a few miles of the sea. Almost half the population is in or near Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital, and San Cristóbal de la Laguna, the former capital, now Tenerife’s cultural capital and the site of the University of La Laguna (1792). The city of San Cristóbal de la Laguna was added to the UNESCO World Heritage site list in 1999 because of its stature as the first nonfortified Spanish colonial town. Most of the island’s other inhabitants live on the intensively cultivated slopes (bananas and vineyards) near the northern coast, where the chief towns are La Orotava, Los Realejos, and Puerto de la Cruz. Near the southern coast, where the climate is drier, dry farming predominates, and camels are common beasts of burden. Towns of the south experienced dramatic growth in the 21st century. The population of Arona, Tenerife’s third largest city, swelled to more than 75,000, and Adeje and Granadilla de Abona expanded dramatically as a result of the tourist trade.

The economy of Tenerife is mainly agricultural. Tourism is based on beach resort facilities, especially in Playa de Las Américas. The international airport at Los Rodeos suffered a catastrophic airplane collision (582 fatalities) in 1977, and in response, a new international airport, Queen Sofia Tenerife South, was opened in 1978 in an area less prone to the foggy conditions that had contributed to the 1977 disaster.

The area of Tenerife is 785 square miles and the population in 2022 was 978,100.

Our panoramic driving tour through Tenerife began with a journey towards the old colonial capital of La Laguna, situated in the Aguirre Valley amid beautiful surroundings.

The port at Santa Cruz where our tour started:

Here is a view of La Laguna:

From La Laguna, the route turned along the base of the mountain range, through the Esperanza pine forests and foothills to Cañadas del Teide National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage site. The coach headed through vast forests of Esperanza pines as we climbed through the foothills.

In the north-east of Tenerife lies the Esperanza Forest, which with its numerous hiking and forestry trails is a popular and charming hiking area for locals and tourists alike. The Esperanza Forest, often referred to as the Fairytale Forest by the locals, is located in the area of the municipality of El Rossario. Here are two views of the forest:

We stopped briefly at a local restaurant to purchase refreshments before heading into the heart of the park.

Declared a National Park in 1954, the area includes an enormous volcanic crater that has been dormant since 1909 and is more than 29 miles in circumference. Rising out of the crater is the impressive Mount Teide at 12,300 feet — the tallest mountain in all of Spain’s territories. We took in the views of this conical peak and the surrounding arid landscape in the crater.

We saw miles of lava flow. Lava flow is a surface outpouring of molten rock. The same name is also given to already solidified rock bodies that formed as molten or semi-molten flows of rocky material. Lava flows are the most common volcanic feature on Earth. They cover roughly 70% of the Earth and are also very common on other terrestrial planets.

The three types of lava flow are pahoehoe, a’a, and pillow lava. Pahoehoe is smooth, a’a is rough, and pillow lava is rounded and only forms under water. Block lava doesn’t exactly flow, but it is another common form. When you see lava flow or walk on old lava, the two types of flows are pahoehoe and a’a. We saw miles of both kinds of lava, as well as pumice.

Here is an a’a flow below the cable cars.

Some pahoehoe is visible to the right of this picture.

Some more a’a flow. It’s very difficult to walk on.

The light-colored area in the following photo is pumice.

We enjoyed some free time at the Parador Hotel before re-boarding the coach. En route back to the ship there were several photo stops among starkly impressive scenery, some of which is shown above.