T2330 – An un-Teide Ending

 

Introduction

In my last post, T2330 – Captivating Cape Town, I described our three days spent in Cape Town, South Africa, and explained why we did not go ashore in the remaining five ports on the African mainland.

In this post I will cover our visit to our penultimate port on this epic cruise, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.

 

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

In our original itinerary, we were due to spend one day in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a port that both Carol and I know very well from many visits in the past.

When our visit to Cotonou in Benin was cancelled earlier in the cruise, our visits to ports in Togo, Ghana and Senegal were all brought forward one day, and our visit to Santa Cruz de Tenerife was then extended to two days.

When the ship’s tours were released, we looked around for a tour that neither of us had done before, as we wanted something to do other than just walk around the town centre yet again. We selected a six hour tour called Mount Teide Cable Car which, as you might guess, ascends the highest volcano in Spain by cable car – something surprisingly neither of us had done before.

As we sailed north from Dakar towards the Canary Islands, we received notification that the tour had been brought forward to our first day on Tenerife, which incidently was also Valentine’s Day. Not surprisingly for a long tour, it had an early start time of 8am.

Then, the night before we arrived in the island, we received another notification, this time to say that the start time had been put back until 11am, and that therefore a packed lunch would be provided to us.

It was still very dark when we slipped into port just after 7am, and as I expected, we reversed in so that we moored up with our stern facing the town, which meant our balcony was overlooking the pier and the open sea.

 

Around 10am we were in our cabin waiting for it to be time to check in for our tour, when we heard the familiar ‘bing-bong’ ahead of an announcement. It was Andy Godfrey, our Entertainment Manager, with the news that the tour provider had cancelled our tour due to the strength of the winds on Mount Teide.

So, time for a rethink about how we were going to spend the next two days. We decided for now, just to bring forward what we planned to do on the second morning, which was to have that familiar walk around the town centre – and as things worked out it was a wise decision – but more on that later.

When you walk into town in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, you don’t so much follow the yellow brick road, as follow the blue stripe on the pavement.

At the end of our quay was a lovely old vessel which I could not resist photographing. After a little bit of research done later, I found out that she is a former Correillo Maritimo or maritime mail vessel, which used to sail between the Canary Islands and Spanish West Africa. She was built in Middlesbrough in the UK way back in 1912, and originally ran on steam, but she was converted to oil around 1951.

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We continued our walk in lovely sunshine, past the harbour and into the town centre, where we wandered for a while, without finding any shops to interest us. That evening marked the end of the carnival season, and things of interest like parks and statues were all fenced off or covered in protective plastic, which also very much limited any photography.

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Walking in a sort of circle, we made our way back to the ‘blue line’ route to our ship.

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Safely back on the ship, after a lovely lunch we settled down in our cabin for a restful afternoon – or so we thought.

Over the previous week or so, there have been quite a lot of gastroenteritis cases on board – enough for the ship to be in code red restrictions – buffets served by crew, manned public toilets etc etc. That morning, the Captain had finally announced that the number of new cases had dropped so low that we could switch to the lesser code yellow restrictions, a relief all round.

Alas, suddenly that afternoon there was a new case – and unfortunately for us it was Carol. A nurse came with medication, and as expected, told Carol she was confined to our cabin for at least the next 24 hours. As I was symptom free, I was not confined, but we would be going nowhere else in Tenerife for sure.

As I said earlier, it was Valentines Day, but sadly we could not share the lovely meal in the dining room that evening. While I enjoyed it the best I could without her, she struggled with a dry chicken breast and dry rice – such bad timing for her.

Earlier we had been given an information sheet all about the carnival and the celebrations that evening. Apparently the carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the second largest in the world. The final event was the Burial of the Sardine, when participants come dressed as the ‘widows’ of the sardine, wearing black clothes to ‘mourn’ a giant papier mâché sardine as it is carried through the streets on a special float. The event marks the ‘death’ of the carnival, and culminates in the burning of the float and a big firework display.

The procession was not due to start until 10pm, already past our bedtimes, and the days we would want to stay up amongst huge crowds into the wee small hours are long gone – even if Carol had been allowed out. Also ignoring the party on our aft deck, we retired to our bed, only to be awoken at around 1:30am by the louds bangs of the firework display. I looked out from our balcony, but nothing could be seen from our side of the ship.

 

Postscript

When I pulled back the curtains this morning the sun was just rising on another lovely day.

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As I write this on our second day in port, I am pleased to report that Carol is a lot better, albeit rather tired. We are content to spent our enforced day in our lovely suite, keeping our fingers crossed that she will be released from confinement later this afternoon, ready for our final port of call, Funchal in Madeira, tomorrow. Our day there, whether or not we can get off the ship, will be the subject of what will be a rather poignant final post in this blog.

 

 

L1836 – Walls not Doors

In my last post, L1836 – A Pair of Canaries, I described consecutive days spent visiting ports in two of the larger Canary Islands, first Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, and then Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and contrasted these islands with the far more lovely Madeira which we had visited the previous day.

Leaving Santa Cruz de Tenerife we sailed overnight to our next port of call Gran Tarajal, which was on our third and final Canary Island, Fuerteventura. When Carol and I awoke at around 6:40 and looked out of the window, we saw we were already fast approaching the small harbour in Gran Tarajal. We quickly put on our towelling dressing gowns and stepped out onto our balcony to watch our final approach. It was still very dark, making photography difficult, but it did show up some illuminated Christmas decorations along the seafront.

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Once again we were surprised just how quickly it got light, and once the sun came up we thought how much more attractive the port looked than our previous two, not least because of the lack of high-rise buildings.

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None of the ship’s tours offered in Gran Tarajal had greatly inspired us, and also we were only due to be in port for a half day, setting sail at 2pm. We therefore decided to do our own thing, and just have a wander around the port at our leisure. It was a lovely bright and clear sunny day, and we had just a short stroll along the quayside, with it’s brightly painted pedestrian lane clearly marked, before we reached the town. As we walked we could hear quite loud music coming across the bay, from we assumed a local band playing further along the waterfront.

Just outside the ‘terminal building’ – more of an archway across the road – we saw some sculptures and the crane which has clearly the illuminated green triangle I had noticed earlier from the ship when it was still dark.

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As we began to walk along the seafront towards the source of the music, it was clear that if the big thing for Funchal and Madeira was painted doors, then in Gran Tarajal the big thing was murals painted on the walls of buildings – and on road barriers! They were everywhere, and some of them were very good – we were particularly impressed by the one of the camel standing in the water.

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Sure enough after a while we reached a square where a local band were playing some attractive and catchy music, and a mixture of local people and passengers from our ship were dancing away in front of them. We paused for a while to watch and listen, before continuing with our exploration of the town.

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We stopped in a couple of shops, the first was an amazing ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ – a big shop full from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with hardware, stationery, clothes, electrical items, Christmas decorations – you name it, they had it! The second was a more refined affair, with some lovely artworks and housewares, were we fell for a couple of lovely Christmas decorations which we bought.

In another square we found a tall Christmas tree decorated with clocks (?), and an attractive fountain decorated with seahorses. Outside one shop we could see quite a crowd had gathered and we wondered why – on getting closer we found two things were going on, there was a small fashion show just finishing with models parading up and down outside the shop, and a Father Christmas was entertaining some small children too.

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As we made our way back towards the ship, we found just outside the ‘terminal building’ a great huddle of officials, ships officers including the Captain, and the press – it was a maiden call for Balmoral into Gran Tarajal and this was the ceremony where plaques are exchanged between the ship and the port. We did not stop to watch or take photographs as by now Carol was feeling under the weather with a 24 hour cold, so we carried on to the ship so that she could rest up.

After lunch we were resting in our fabulous suite when the ding-dong indicated that Captain was about to make what we assumed would be the usual pre-departure talk over the tannoy. However this time it was far from standard – what he announced was that the wind was too strong for the ship to safely manoeuvre out of the narrow harbour, and we would have to remain for at least an hour or two until the wind died down.

After a couple of hours he then made a further series of announcements, to the effect that the wind had not died down, so they would be unable to depart until they had the assistance of a tug. However there is no tug in this tiny port, and the nearest tug was busy assisting another cruise ship in a different port, and could not get to us until after dark, and restrictions on manoeuvring in the dark in the port therefore meant we would have to remain in port overnight and sail the following morning. This in turn meant that our planned next port of call, Agadir in Morocco was now cancelled, and instead we would sail directly to our final port of call, Lisbon in Portugal.

In the postscript to my last post, I said that Carol and I were disappointed that we were dropping Agadir (an infrequently visited port) rather than Lisbon (a very frequently visited port). Apparently we were far from being alone in these views, and after a lot of complaints the Captain sent out a letter of explanation for the decision to all cabins. This pointed out that they had calculated that a combination of deviating to Agadir and then potential delays in the Bay of Biscay from forecasted bad weather (!) would mean we could not dock in Southampton until at least 5pm on the changeover day, which was not viable, so Lisbon it is.

Staying in port overnight did mean that we got to see the town lit up in the warm low sunlight just before dusk.

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Around 10:15 the following morning the tug finally showed up, and very quickly a line was attached to the stern of Balmoral so that she could help pull our ship safely out of the harbour. Not surprisingly there was quite a crowd on all the available decks watching the proceedings, and before long we were out of danger and pointed in the right direction for home. The tow rope was let go, and we finally set sail for our next port, some 20 hours late.

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Our adventures in Lisbon are likely to be the subject of my next post.
Postscript 1

While it would be all to easy to fill my blog with negative comments about things that sadly aren’t quite right on board, (for example yesterday they announced at around 1:10 there was a bar-b-que lunch outside, when many people had already eaten or eating their lunch), I much prefer to dwell on the good things on board.

This time I would like to praise the amazing Balmoral Show Company. Regular readers might remember that I was a huge fan of the Black Watch Show Company on this year’s world cruise (see W1801 – In the pink! and W1801 – Safe Oceans), and thought at the time that no other show company could come close – well the one currently on Balmoral are certainly giving them a good run for their money! Their first couple of shows where the usual mixture of song and dance, then few of nights ago they did a dance-based show, with an astonishing array of different dance styles, including ballet and tap, while last night it was the high-octane Ministry of Rock show, which left us amazed that they could possibly come back out on stage and do it all again just 50 minutes later! I don’t want to single anyone out, they were all so good and work so well as a team – bravo! Here are a few snaps of last nights show:

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Postscript 2

I am amazed to find that this post is my 200th one on this blog! When I first started the blog, it was to record what I saw and did on my cruises partly for my own memory, and partly to share with close friends and relations. At that time I never dreamed that it would become as widely read and as popular as it has become now. I must thank everyone for all their kind comments and ‘likes’, which have encouraged and inspired me to make the blog what it is today. Of course the biggest thanks must go to my amazing, wonderful wife, Carol, who is so patient when I take so long to write each post, select and process all the photographs that go inside it, and who carefully proof-reads and edits each and every post. Thank you one and all.

L1836 – A Pair of Canaries

In my last post, L1836 – Back to the Beginning, I described a wonderful day spent in Funchal on the lovely island of Madeira, where we went on a great tuk-tuk tour with the amazing Andrea, and returned to the place where the friendship and romance between Carol and myself first began nearly two years ago.

We sadly set sail from Funchal around 4pm that day, and then sailed overnight and for much of the following morning towards our next port of call, Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. We were not due to arrive in the port until lunchtime, so I was very surprised when I was busy writing my previous blog post mid morning to hear from Carol that she could see land ahead. A short time later the cruise director came on the tannoy to confirm that we would indeed be docking early. I put down my keyboard as it were, and joined Carol out on the balcony to watch us sail in. As we did so I was soon reminded why I love Funchal and Madeira so much more than the larger Canary Islands, Gran Canaria included – the vista ahead was filled with tower blocks and unattractive square flat-roofed houses, rather than the consistent and quaint whitewashed walled and orange tiled houses all over the hillsides of Funchal.

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I have been to Gran Canaria many times before, and for various reasons I have ended up doing the same ship’s tour a few times – the one that goes down to the lovely Puerto de Mogán in the south of the island. Knowing this to be the most attractive and interesting place to visit on the island, and that Carol had not been there before, I decided to bite the bullet and recommend to Carol that we book this tour. The tour is one of those marked as “Must Do” in the tours brochure, and therefore it was not surprising to find that we were on one of five coaches doing the same tour.

We drove out of Las Palmas on a fast ‘motorway’ style road, which varied between three and five lanes in our direction – such a contrast from the quiet twisty lanes that Andrea had taken us on the day before in Madeira. For a while there were lots of out-of-town shopping centres and warehouses, which eventually petered out into parched and barren-looking ground which our local guide used to be fields for agriculture – he told us that agriculture exports had dropped by a staggering 70% to 7% in recent years, as the same foods can be grown more cheaply on mainland Europe.

After a time we turned off the main road and drove to our first and only photo-stop, to view the vast and amazing sand dunes at Maspalomas. We seemed to drive past endless small holiday apartments before we were dropped off close to a large hotel, for a short walk through it to see the dunes.

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When I had done this tour before, it made a second photo-stop at the resort of Puerto Rico, and then took a narrow twisty road that hugged the coastline on to Puerto de Mogán. This time we just sped on by Puerto Rico on the main ‘motorway’ road, which passed through numerous tunnels as it marched inland towards Puerto de Mogán. The nett result was that the total journey time was much shorter, meaning we had much longer (around 2.5 hours) freetime in Puerto de Mogán.

Our local guide led us from the coach park down to the harbour, before releasing us for our free time. The area close to the harbour is lovely – the attractive houses and walkways with bougainvillea growing over archways, and a couple of short ‘canals’ which have rather optimistically generated the nickname for the place as ‘Little Venice’.

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We walked around for a while, and then Carol decided to stop on a bench and people-watch while I got busier with my camera. To be honest the amount of free time seemed rather long (ironically before when the journey time was longer, it used to seem rather short) – this was not helped by us making a classic mistake – each thought the other had brought money with them, so we were unable to make use of any of the many cafes and shops in the area.

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Eventually it was time to wander back to the coach park, for the drive back to our ship. On the way back once again we saw the barren landscape punctuated by the empty fields, and by mostly abandoned plastic greenhouses; and in just one small area dozens of wind turbines, which our local guide told us generate 11% of the island’s electricity.

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As we neared Las Palmas the traffic got much more dense, and so we returned to our ship a little late and with not much time to change for our dinner.

After dinner I went up onto the top-most deck to take some photographs of the port lit up at night.

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Carol enjoyed the tour – she was impressed with the extensive dunes at Maspalomas, and by how attractive Puerto de Mogán was. However of course I had seen it all before – several times – and generally I am so underwhelmed with what I find as barren and ugly Gran Canaria (as I find the other large Canary Islands) compared to the attractive and green Madeira.

Around 9pm we set sail for our next port of call, which we would reach early the following morning – Tenerife – another large Canary Island!
Postscript 1

Both Carol and I woke very early the following morning, and as we looked out of the windows of our suite we could already see the lights of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the distance up ahead. We both decide to put on our towelling dressing gowns and go out onto our balcony to watch our approach. After a few minutes we thought we felt a spot or two of rain, which suddenly became a short sharp down-poor, so we were glad that part of our balcony was covered over by a roof so we could shelter there.

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Both of us have been to Tenerife before, I have been to the island on numerous occasions and done just about every tour in the book. We therefore decided not to book a ship’s tour, and instead just have a wander around the city centre at some point during the day. This we did after lunch, and found that the ‘blue line’ which you follow to reach the city centre seemed to wander even further around the port than before. Reaching the small lake with (usually) a fountain, we stopped to rest a while, and were bemused by the scene before us. There was a bunch of media guys – we were not sure if it was TV or radio or what – and a lady who was posing dance moves in the lake – complete with shoes! The sound guy also seemed to be recording the sound of her walking along the edge of the lake in her wet shoes. Weird!

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Once we decided nothing more interesting was going to happen, we wandered off around the nearby streets and I snapped away with my camera as usual.

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After a while the lure of ice-creams from the Gelato counter on the ship grew too large, and we made our way back there for another delicious treat.

That evening we set sail for our next port of call, Gran Tarajal in Fuerteventura, our third and final island in the Canaries, which we would reach early the following morning. Our adventures there are likely to be the subject of my next post.

 

Postscript 2

I am writing this post while we are moored up at Gran Tarajal in Fuerteventura. We were due to leave the port at 2pm this afternoon, bound for Agadir in Morocco. However around half an hour before we were due to sail, the Captain announced that due to a combination of a strong onshore wind and a very narrow gap between us and shallow water and another stone harbour wall, it was not safe for us to try to leave the harbour until the wind dies down.

A couple of hours later he made a further announcement that the wind was forecast to remain strong all day, and that we would not be able to leave the harbour without the assistance of a tug, which could not reach us until after dark. We are therefore stuck in port overnight, and will attempt to sail around 10am tomorrow morning once the tug is here to help. He further announced that our call in Agadir was cancelled, and that we would be sailing directly to our last port of call, Lisbon in Portugal.

Carol and I have absolutely no problem with putting safety first, and not attempting to leave port until it is completely safe to do so. Where we are disappointed is the decision to cancel Agadir and not Lisbon. So many cruises call into Lisbon, that I am sure nearly all the passengers on board will have been there before, most like us several times before. However we suspect that not nearly as many will have been to Agadir. We are so disappointed to be missing out on going to a very different new port, and for me one in a continent I have rarely visited.

L1836 – Suite Return

In my last post, W1821 – Giant Way (part 2) , I described the complications brought on by my going down with a gastroenteritis bug on the very last afternoon of our wonderful cruise to Canada, including an unplanned stay on in Liverpool for a couple of days and an epic drive back home.

I am pleased to report that after being washed out for a few days I am now back fit and ready for our final cruise of this year, and also relieved that this time we are back to sailing from Southampton, which is less than an hour’s drive from where Carol and I live.

Regular readers might remember that we happen to be taking cruises on all of Fred. Olsen’s ships in turn, and this time we will be on the largest ship in the fleet, Balmoral. Our cruise will take us south to Spain, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Morocco and finally Portugal – all in just two weeks! Here is a map of our route:

Most of the ports of call will be very familiar to Carol and me – in my case the only new ones will be Gran Tarajal on Fuerteventura, and Agadir in Morocco. Of course Carol and I will always love returning to Madeira, as it was there that our relationship first started back on our first world cruise – see W1701 – Funchal Fun.

One thing that is going to make this cruise really special is that like our final cruise last year, we will be in one of the two Owners Suites on Balmoral. For anyone unfamiliar with just how spacious and luxurious this accommodation is, then there are some photographs in my post L1724 – Baltic in style.

When we booked this cruise we were hoping for some early winter sunshine and warmth, but in the past few days we have been watching reports on the news of torrential rain in Spain (not staying on the plain!), and 40 feet high waves causing damage in Tenerife. We have got everything crossed that things will have quietened down by the time we get there, and that we might be able to break out the t-shirts and shorts after all.

We are due to reach our first port, La Coruña in Spain, on the afternoon of our second day of the cruise. Our adventures there are likely to be the subject of my next post.

 

Postscript

Although Carol and I enjoy attending the talks and shows on board ship, it is not often we do so when we are on those rare intervals at home between cruises. However in the month we have been at home between our Canadian cruise and this one, we have been to see four of them – a bit like buses where you wait for ages with nothing, then several come along at once.

The stand-out show that I wanted to talk about was that given by Simon Reeve, the presenter of so many brilliant travel documentaries on BBC television. I have always loved his presentation style – not just showing the pretty scenery on his travels, but digging out the stories and shining light on the darker sides as well as the lighter sides of the places he visits. He also has a brilliant interviewing style, his quiet unassuming manner getting the people he interviews to relax and open up much more than other presenters with a more up front style might manage.

With one short interval to rest his voice, Simon spoke for around two and a half hours, punctuated with photographs and video clips from his travels and television programmes. We were impressed how open and candid he was talking about his teenage years, telling us about his mental health problems and how he was on the fringes of criminal behaviour. He told us how he left school without any qualifications, and how he struggled to find a job. Eventually he managed to get a job sorting mail for the Times newspaper, and by working extra hard and volunteering for anything, he made a name for himself doing research and some investigation work. He left the paper to write books, and got his big break when after the nightmare of 9/11 he was the one person who had written a book on the terrorists behind it, and found himself much in demand on television news and current affairs programs around the world. Contacts made, then led him into making travel documentaries, and the rest as they say is history.

Simon talked eloquently about the how much we can all gain from travelling the world, and told us how important it was to immerse yourself as much as possible – don’t do ‘beige’ travelling – try the local foods, and talk to the local people – he said almost everywhere he went people were so friendly and welcomed answering any questions you might have. Of course he did show us clips and talked about some of the other side of travelling, when he has visited dangerous hotspots around the world, requiring armed minders and flak jackets – but I think we are unlikely to need this on a Fred. Olsen cruise – unless of course we should be foolish enough to visit the passenger laundry room at a busy time!

It was an outstanding evening which whizzed by all to quickly. I know his current tour is a complete sell-out, but if in the future you get the chance to go and see him then don’t hesitate to do so.

D1602 – Even a Canary?

In my last post, D1602 – The Odd Canaries, I described my visits to two of the Canary Islands – Gran Canaria and La Palma – made on the first and third days (the odd days) of our time in the Canaries. This post describes my visit to a third island – Tenerife – made on the second day, an even day.

The shore tour I selected in Tenerife was a simple coach transfer to Loro Parque, a 13.5 hectare (33 acre) zoo located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz on the north-west coast of the island. I visited Puerto de la Cruz as part of the shore tour on my last visit to Tenerife on my way to South America, documented in my post L1602 – Here be dragons.

Loro Parque started with just 150 parrots – loro is Spanish for parrot – and now houses more than 4000, representing 350 species and sub-species. It therefore houses the largest collection of parrots in the world. The park now also houses many other animals and birds, and features the world’s largest indoor penguin display house,  and Europe’s longest shark tunnel and largest dolphin display pool.

We still had a local guide on this ‘tour’, who gave us information about the island and places we passed as we took the main road from our port – Santa Cruz de Tenerife – to Puerto de la Cruz. On arrival at Loro Parque, we were given a return time to meet at the coach – until then we could accompany the guide, or at any time elect to go off on our own.

Initially I was happy to go with the guide as she took us to see the sea lion show, the penguins and then the dolphin show. After the dolphin show I elected to go off on my own, as she was leading the tour party to seeing the orca show. I had felt a little uncomfortable watching the sea lions and dolphins perform, but they seemed willing participants for the food offered; but I just do not believe creatures as large and intelligent as orcas should be in small pools performing for the public. I do have a rather ambivalent view towards zoos in general, very much depending on the conditions in which the animals are held.

Generally I was impressed with the accommodation provided and the condition of the animals I saw, although there were still lots of parrots held in relatively small aviaries. The two attractions which impressed me most were the penguin house, where they live on one of the largest icebergs outside of the polar regions, and the Katandra Treetops. The latter is a very large free-flight aviary where the birds can fly from tree to tree to tree; and steps, platforms and a bridge allow you to view and hear the birds from tree-top level.

Anyway enough of my words, here are some of the better photographs from the hundreds I took on the day. To limit your boredom, I’ve limited my selection to just one shot of any one species:

A few minutes before the appointed time, I made my way back to the waiting coach, as did most of our party. As we were not all back on time, the guide went back to the park to look for the missing people. Around 15 minutes late one couple got back on the coach quite unrepentant, saying they were not late as the guide was still at the park entrance looking for the other people! After twenty minutes the guide returned to the coach, and on conferring with the ship’s representative on board, we left for the port without the missing people. They were left to find their own way back, probably by taxi.

Despite my misgivings about some aspects of zoos, I did enjoy this ‘tour’ on an even day in the Canaries. I saw and photographed lots of animals and birds, but even a canary? – I don’t think so!

 

 

D1602 – The Odd Canaries

Over the past three days we have visited three ports of call, all in the Canary Islands. To save time, this post describes my visit to both the first and third islands, the odd Canaries!

On the first day in the Canary Islands we visited Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. I was there only a month before for a half day visit on the way back from South America, documented in my previous post L1602 – Leap in Teror. This time we were in port all day and the evening too, sailing at 10:30pm. This time I chose a shore tour which included a walking tour of the historic part of Las Palmas – an area I have long wanted to visit, but it is a long walk there from where the ship docks, which is why I hadn’t visited it to date.

The tour started with a brief photo stop at a viewpoint overlooking the city and port area:

We then drove on to see an extinct volcano crater called Pico de Bandama. The narrow road up to the viewpoint spiralled up the hillside, and at one point we met two coaches coming back down the hill. As we reversed perilously close to the edge, our comic local guide told us that if anyone is nervous being so close to the edge, then they should do what the driver does, and just close their eyes! We managed to squeeze past, and made it safely up to the top. As we arrived, we could see shower clouds closing in coming from Las Palmas, which unfortunately reduced our view:

Our next stop was in the old picturesque town of Santa Brigida, where we visited the Casa Del Vino restaurant. Here there is a small museum dedicated to the history and production of the island’s wine.

After a short talk from one of the staff in this museum, the other members of the tour party went to another room to sample three different varieties of local wine. As I do not drink alcohol I retreated to the small garden outside, and took some photographs there:

We then took a different scenic route back to Las Palmas, and our coach dropped us close to the oldest quarter of the city, Vegueta, for our walking tour. We saw a tiled sign depicting a wooden bridge that used to cross the river there, with shops on the bridge:

Our guide led us up narrow streets to Columbus House, named after the explorer Christopher Columbus who reportedly stayed there in 1492 on his first voyage to the Americas. Today it houses a museum containing a replica of the interior of one of his ships, navigation instruments, nautical maps and charts, and models:

As we left the museum we could first hear, then see a band of local musicians and singers in a large open square. We paused for a short while to listen to the music, and to watch some other local people dancing to it:

Our local guide then led us down more narrow streets until we reached the Cathedral of Santa Ana, which was originally built between 1500 and 1570, and then refurbished in the 18th century. The interior design is very striking, based on palm trees. As it was a Sunday there was a service in progress, limiting our ability to see and photograph the inside:

In another large square outside the Cathedral stood statues of dogs. One of the possible derivations of the name Canary Islands is from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning Islands of the Dogs:

Walking back to our coach, I noticed a  jacaranda tree in bloom:

We then drove back to our waiting ship.

After lunch on board I decided to walk the few streets from our ship to a large sandy beach, as I knew from previous visits that there are always good sand carvings to be seen there:

 

On our third and final day in the Canary Islands we visited Santa Cruz de La Palma. The island of La Palma is the fifth largest and most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. Once again I took a simple panoramic coach tour with my friend Barbara, which took a circular route down to the south of the island to see the volcano of San Antonio, which last erupted in 1677.

We set off in lovely sunshine, and our route south followed a twisty road, with roadworks most of the way as they were working to both widen the road and straighten out some of the worst bends where possible.

The island is very green, and while bananas are the main crop and export from the island, we also saw many small vineyards. On the island the grapevines grow very low to the ground to stay out of the wind. Small volcanic rocks and stones are arranged under the plants to keep the grapes off the soil. These stones also help trap moisture at night, and stop it evaporating by day.

For nearly all the way down to the volcano the weather remained sunny, although there was cloud hanging over the high volcanic ridge running north-south in the centre of the island. However as we got near to the volcano we encountered very misty conditions, which unfortunately severely limited the views of and from the volcano and it’s crater:

At the visitor’s centre there was an exhibition about volcanoes and the volcanic nature of La Palma and the other Canary Islands. On the wall this artwork caught my eye:

Driving back to our ship we continued along the coast for a while, and before long we came back out of the mist and into bright sunshine. After a while we then swung inland across the centre of the island, using a 2703 metre tunnel to pass under the volcanic ridge. Apparently the weather can often be quite different one side of the ridge to the other due to the height of the ridge, and the flora changes too, for example from Canary pine trees on the western side to horse chestnut trees on the eastern side.

Descending from the ridge and looking out to sea towards the neighbouring island of Tenerife a big bank of cloud was hiding the island except for it’s highest mountain (and the highest mountain in Spain), Mount Teide, which rises to 3718 metres:

Close to Santa Cruz we stopped for a short photo stop where we could see across the bay to the port and our waiting ship:

Once again in the afternoon I walked ashore to explore the port with my camera. I have done this at least a couple of times before, and while some statues were familiar, I did get to see for the first time the inside of Iglesia de El Salvador, the main church in the town, which I found quite striking:

 

In conclusion while it was nice to return to these islands, and I did get to see and photograph some new things, the tours I took on each island will probably not live long in my memory. In between these odd Canaries I also visited Tenerife on the even day, and my encounters there will feature in my next post.