Day 8 – Tenerife, Spain

After seven days at sea, we finally put our feet down on solid ground, in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Tenerife is the largest island in the Canary Islands, just off the coast of Morocco, but belonging to Spain. A large expedition from Spain seized the islands in 1402 from the natives, known as Guanches, tall, light skinned people of unknown origins. Columbus visited the islands on each of his four voyages to the new world. The British attempted to capture the Islands in 1797, but were driven off by cannon fire from the Spanish. Admiral Lord Nelson lost his right arm during the gun fight.

The classic question is, “are the Islands named for the yellow birds, or is it the other way around?” Actually, the ancient Romans noted the large number of wild dogs on one of the Islands, and called it Insula Canum or Dog Island. Later, when the little yellow finches were discovered there, they were called “dog island birds, or canaries. 

We took a shore excursion from the ship and traveled across a range of volcanic mountains through the Orotava Valley, a lush garden valley, and one of the oldest settlements on the island.

From there, we drove to Puerto de la Cruz on the northwest shore, which has been the island’s premier family resort area since the turn of the 19th century. We had time for shopping as well as a mid-morning coffee at a sidewalk café. 

While there, we stopped to visit a beautiful orchid garden and had time to sample some of the local beer. That was so enjoyable, that I think we’ll make it an event in each port we visit.

The weather, which has been very good to us, left something to be desired today. Although the sun came out as we were docking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as we started over the mountains to the Orotava Valley, the fog closed in, and it was misty for most of the rest of our journey. Once back on the ship, it was warm and pleasant, although not very sunny.

We sailed at 3:30pm for Gibraltar, but we’ll enjoy our last day at sea before reaching our next stop on Day 10.