6th time in Tenerife - comparative review of impressions. Part 1
I'll start with the fact that there was nothing special to choose for the rest (Turkey, the Balkans, Egypt - I'm not very interested), but we missed the rest and plus I decided that I want to teach my child scuba diving (in Tenerife I know one very good instructor) decided to fly to Tenerife again.
Let's skip the trip organization story, and here we are flying out - hooray!
Our flight passed through Milan - transfer, something around 6h. I was already at this airport 6 years ago, then this airport was full of people, this time there were practically no people. I didn’t manage to check in my luggage before departure - I went to the airline’s counter 3 times in the hope of checking in my luggage in order to be a little freer, but each time I was refused. I had to arrive at the airport all the time and guard my own luggage. If we checked in our luggage, we could probably go to Milan - trains run from the airport. We waited for check-in for the flight, went through all the procedures and stood in line for boarding. I was a little surprised by the number of people - as if there was no pandemic. The plane was packed with passengers. The flight is three hours with a penny and here we are on the TFS (Tenerife Sur) runway. I look forward to and admire the familiar views from the porthole. And then I hear the clapping of passengers. As one pilot said: Why don't you clap the minibus driver at every stop? ! This is my attitude to clapping on the plane. But then I understand that this is not clapping for the crew, but this is the joy that people were able to escape and fly here. How did I get it? And immediately after the clapping, the company began to sing a song. In general, class, well done!
We arrived around 19.30, checked in and went to dinner at a restaurant where we decided to discuss our plans. The first two or three days we decided to lie down on the beach, then diving, then we rent a car and drive around the island, and at the end of another 4-5 days we relax on the beach and go shopping - nowhere without it.
I watched Live Camera a week before departure - empty beaches, almost no people. Upon arrival, it turned out that there were significantly more people, but still not as usual, when there was no pandemic and there were no restrictions. Many establishments (restaurants, shops) are closed - many could not stand it. The structure of vacationers has also changed. Previously, the main tourists were the British and Germans, and in 18-19. Russian-speaking tourists began to actively relax. Now there are practically no Russian speakers, the bulk are Spaniards. There are Germans, but not much. As it turned out from a conversation with one family that has moved from Moldova to Germany for more than 30 years, in Germany it is actively not recommended at the government level to go on vacation to Spain due to the high incidence of COVID-19. But here it should be noted that this growth refers to mainland Spain, and the Canary archipelago has an extremely low incidence rate.
If you are interested in more details about diving in Tenerife - ask questions. I will not describe it here.
Days go by, already you need to start looking for a car to rent. We start looking. Prices on car rental sites - wow. Around 100 euros per day for a Toyota Prius class car. Posted an ad on FB in Tenerife groups. Several people responded to my ad. Let's just say - there is not much to choose from. Someone breaks not the real price, someone offers a car, something like Fiat Panda. Someone suggested Citroen C3 - I think, okay, there is not much choice, you have to book, which I did. For 5 days agreed on 175 euros. And then one of our fellow travelers decided that there were cars (there must be) and joined the search. He found a group in a telegram, and there he found a great option - Lexus GS 300.2008 onwards. Citroen C3 - goes nafig.
Agreed for 350 euros in 7 days. Cool!
On the first day (Monday) we decided to go to the town of Garachico in the north of the island. Planned a route and flew. We left on the TF-1, drove to Santiago del Teide, where we turned onto the highway to Garachico.
The features of the island are such that most places can be reached by different roads, the navigator took us on a very difficult road - we drove into the city neither on the left nor on the right, but from above to the center along the steepest serpentine with an angle descent degrees 50-55. Sometimes it seemed that now the car would just roll over. Anyone who went to Maska and considers the most difficult and dangerous serpentine there - no, this one is more difficult. The town itself is not big, you can’t really say anything about it, but the fact that it is located in the mountains makes it attractive enough to visit, because the views are beautiful. Something reminded Crimea. Here we went swimming (we sat on the rocks), the water is warm and clear, you can swim with a mask - there is a fish that you can look at.
Tuesday, we drive to a village in the north of the island - Benijo. This is the end point of our today's route. But since our route passes through the town of Candelaria and Santa Cruz, we stop at each and do a sightseeing tour. Candelaria - stopped not far from the waterfront (lucky with a parking space), walked along the waterfront to the square with the town hall and the Guanches statues photographed a billion times. That's all the sights of Candelaria. Maybe, on the strength, we stayed in this town for an hour and a half and drove on. My verdict - there is nothing to do here, except just to look in passing and go further. Next is Santa Cruz. We parked the car in the parking lot of the exhibition center (Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife) and went towards the main attraction - the theater (Auditorio de Tenerife Adá n Martí n). The theater is closed due to quarantine. They walked around the theater, and then the question arose: “What else can you see here? ” I confidently stated that I wanted to go ahead to see the port (it is not very far from the theater). OK! And what else? We go to Google and look for what to see in Santa Cruz and find two (as many as two! ) castle-fortresses 700 meters from us towards the port, travel time 15 minutes. Wow, this is fantastic, such luck! Let's go see them. We passed part of the port, we have already passed not 700 meters, but a kilometer and a half - two. Where are our castles? ! We look in Google - dudes, you passed them! And here we understand that there were two small buildings in the style of the 13th-15th centuries near the theater - these are our castles-fortresses. We returned to the car, had a snack, sit down and drive on. On the way, we share our impressions of Santa Cruz: there is nothing particularly interesting, there is nothing special to see.
The road to Benijo passes through a pass in the mountains, with serpentines as always. We rise to the top, on the way we stop to take pictures - the views are beautiful. Slowly, but confidently reached Benijo. When they read about this place, they write about problems with parking everywhere. There are many who want to visit here, but there are very few places. There are three restaurants they have parking, but only for restaurant visitors. Bullshit question: we put the car, we go to the beach, on our return we go to them and order something - such a daring plan has matured in our pure minds! Everything, the car was parked, and went to the beach. Restaurants are located at the top of the mountain, and the beach below and the descent to it goes along a steep staircase. We went down for 10-15 minutes - this is no exaggeration. We went down and found a place where we can settle down - class! The sand is black-black! On our beach, where we always stop, we now consider the sand to be gray, but once considered black. And there are waves! We do not waste time, change clothes and go ahead to conquer the waves. Everything here is great: beautiful views, you can indulge in the waves, which everyone does, there is no toilet. The toilet is only at the top, in restaurants. And if there is no toilet, then what does it mean? This means that someone will definitely want to go to the toilet! The time is 17:00, our gang is already hungry and everyone unanimously voted to roll up and climb to the top. Ana and I were delegated the honorable mission to get ahead and book a table in a restaurant so that we could have a bite to eat while admiring the views of Benijo.
It takes a little longer to climb up - 15-20 minutes, and here we are at the top. We pass the first restaurant, and we see that there are no people there anymore. Hmm, I thought weird. We rush to our car to drop things and go to our restaurant. We approach, and we see that there is almost no one in our restaurant either. And then I turn to the sign at the exit of the restaurant parking lot that the restaurant and parking close at 18.00. And it’s already 17.30 on the clock - I’m starting to worry and I’m thinking about overtaking the car. At 17.50 everyone was already in the car, and we calmly moved home. Verdict - a must-see place.
View from Malpensa Airport
The queue for boarding a flight in Tenerife
Manki Beach
Manki Beach
Our iron horse
On the way to Garachico
Serpentine on the road to Garachico
We got to Garachico
We swim, the water is clear
The central square in Kandilaria
The pass on the road to Benijo
Waves on the beach
6th time in Tenerife – a comparative overview of experiences. Part 2
