On our transit day, we the spent the few hours in between check-out and check-in at Charco Verde. Our second accomodation was a cute little house in a village called El Palmar. It was much more spacious than the other place, perfect for A to crawl around and play, a very well-equipped kitchen, but then with a less cozy location and yard - not the lush and green of the finca. After having spent the first week in El Tanque and getting a bit familiar with the area, I think it would have been nice to spend the second week somewhere nearby or further east. El Tanque was the starting point for the highway on this side of the island and therefor a kind of gateway to all the beautiful places we had visited and wanted to see more of, like Anaga parque. With that said, we had a great week in El Palmar as well and there were certainly enough hiking trails nearby to keep us busy - including the one which turned out to be one of our favorites of the whole trip.
Our first day in El Palmar we went on a hike that started in the village and took us to another small village called Teno Alto. Once again we had spectacular views and very varying nature along the way. Teno Alto had two small restaurants, both filled with tourists hiking, cycling, or just driving there to look at the view from a bit further down the street. The one we picked turned out to also have some live music, which A loved. We tried escaldón, a chickpea stew with small pieces of meat, fries with fried egg, and the traditional smoked, fried cheese with mojos and blueberry jam.
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| escaldón & smoked cheese |
The next day was a bit cloudy and windy; we decided to do a hike which started in Teno Alto and ended by Punta de Teno, a rocky beach with a lighthouse, and a popular place to view the great cliffs of Los Gigantes. It is also possible to go there by bus, but you aren't allowed to drive yourself except early morning or late afternoon. I think we agreed that this was the least exciting hike - not at all a bad one, but not as exciting as the others - we were also a bit disappointed that we weren't able to get up close to the lighthouse, as it had been closed off. Perhaps on a less windy day, a swim here could have been nice.
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| Punta de Teno |
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| Los Gigantes |
Our third day, we drove to Buenavista del Norte, the closest larger village, by the coast, with plenty of charcos and beaches to choose from. We spent some time at a sandy beach for once for A to play a bit, but later moved to a rocky beach instead. The afternoon was cloudy as well, so we picked up some snacks before heading back to our house.
The next day we did one of the most, if not THE most, spectacular hikes of this trip. The hiking trail was on a ridge going out to a viewpoint on a mountain called Sima. The view both along the trail and at the viewpoint were indeed fantastic, and though we were very high up, we thought we could spot some dolphins as we saw the whale watching boat tours flock around spots where the water glittered just a bit more than anywhere else. On our way back, it looked like we could take another trail to arrive directly at a café, but the trail turned out to be overgrown and the sun had somehow become scorching, so we had to abandon that idea and get the car. Arriving at the café, Cruz de Hilda - a very popular spot for tourists to look out over Masca Valley, we cooled off a bit with ice before heading back.
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| View from Cruz de Hilda |
To rest our feet a bit, we took another day by the coast as we drove down to the Los Silos area and walked eastward. We stopped by some charcos for a dip in the water, but soon clouds filled the sky and we walked around the village waiting for a restaurant to open. It turned out to be a bit of a nicer place (although not too expensive), with many tables already reserved, especially the ones looking out over the water). We enjoyed (and A especially) croquettes and seafood paella, and the rain lasted about as long as our dinner.
Our last full day on Tenerife we drove to Cruz de Hilda to hike another ridge to another summit, Risco Verde. The temperature had dropped quite a bit and was around 14C and windy. We didn't mind much, but as we got close to the summit it quickly got very windy and cloudy, and unfortunately we only got a quick glance of the otherwise fantastic view all the way to the south coast. The way down to the car was cold, windy and rainy, so once we got back to the car we drove down to the coast to escape the rain. It was still quite windy, but we enjoyed watching the huge waves crash against the rocks for a while.
On the final day, we stopped for a quick walk in a pine forest before heading to the airport. In the forest, it was around 10C as the temperature had dropped further, but on the south side of the island near the airport it was sunny 25C. We were a bit out of luck as our flight got cancelled and we were crammed in on the plane to Oslo instead, where we had to go out into the snowy -15C to get to our next plane to Copenhagen, only to arrive with the message that the checked in bags had not made it. But, at least we got home only a few hours later than planned and our bag was delivered a few days later, so all in all, it went okay. A was not having a great time on the plane to Oslo (and therefore, neither was I) but we made it.
And overall, we felt super happy with how the trip turned out. Fantastic nature, beautiful hikes and views, good food, and better weather than we expected on most days.
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