The largest of the Canary Islands, it takes its name from the Guanche word meaning snow-capped mountain. The dominant feature of the island is an enormous gigantic volcanic cone 12,950 feet high named the Pico del Teide. The southern tip of the island is arid, unlike the north which is lush with banana trees.
We docked around 8am and left at 5:30pm. When we arrived the weather was overcast and in the mid 60’s. We had done some research on the area and knew we wanted to see a couple of the parks within the city. Being Sunday, there were not many stores open nor were there many people walking around initially which made it nice taking pictures of the city.
From the ship it was about a half mile walk to get into the city center and the Plaza de Espana. From there, we walked up the Bethencourt Alfonso, a pedestrian only area, passing the Plaza Alderez, a small but beautiful park with many trees and flowered bushes. It was here that we saw our first wild parrots flying around. We had never seen wild parrots before and managed to get some really great shots of them.
From there is was up Calle Pilar to the Parque Garcia Sanabria which we had heard was supposed to be the largest park in the city. It was absolutely gorgeous. A lot of flowers were in bloom, and there was quite a large variety of plants and flowers in the park. If you ever come here we highly recommend taking the time to visit this park.
The city overall is a mixture of old and new, and is a very clean city with a lot of pedestrian only areas lined with shops, and kiosks to get something to eat and drink. Pricing didn’t seem to be too bad, I purchased a 16 oz bottle of water for 40 cents (Euro) or about 55 cents US. Walking by the local McDonalds (yes, and we even saw a Burger King), they had a dollar menu out similar to what you would see in the US only it was one euro. Pricing in some of the shop windows seemed reasonable as well.
All in all we enjoyed our visit here and are looking forward to tomorrow and our visit to Arrecife, Canary Islands.
Cheers!
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