Our trip to Tenerife

Thanks to our friends Ingo and Ilse who had been to Tenerife before and who planned and organized this trip we saw many different places on this so diverse island.  Tenerife is part of the Canary Islands which are located off the west coast of Africa.  The flight from Berlin took 5 1/2 hours. Volcanic in origin, Teide, very impressive looking from the plane, is at 3,714 meters Spain's highest mountain. . 

Though only 80 km long, the island has distinctly different geographic areas and climates.  The southern part is sunny with craggy volcanic expanses, little water, but plenty of recently developed touristy towns with modern apartments.  Bananas grow here, hidden under large beige canvasses to protect them from wind.  Water is piped down from Teide in thousands of pipes, water hoses, and aquaducts.   Northern Tenerife is less sunny, greener and has older towns and harbors.  For the first week we stayed in the little fishing town Alcala at the north-west end of the dry south.  It is a perfect place to relax.

 

 

 

 

Walking towards Los Gigantes where cliffs come down hundred of meters directly into the ocean: 

 

 

From Alcala we did day tours which meant driving up steep inclines to get above the layer of clouds at about 1,500 meters and into the sun at the foot of mount Teide at 2,200 meters where many hiking paths start.
Here we are above where trees and plants grow:

 

Las Roces in the middle of one of the large craters at the foot of Teide:

A view over the Atlantic towards another Canary island:

Volcanic debris all around.  Teide in the background:

 

 

 

After a week of touring from Alcala we left for Villaflor, a village at 1,550 meters.  Unfortunately, it was hidden in clouds and rain during our three-day stay. So up we drove towards Teide to hike up there...

 

 

 Yep, the clouds behind Bill hide a vertical incline going straight down, probably 500+ meters!

The little town of Villaflor.  The Church was built in the 16th century when the Spaniards conquered the native Canarian population. 

 

And more hikes:

 

 

 In the meantime it snowed on Mount Teide:

Instead of taking a hike here we did sight-seeing in Orotavo, an old town with plenty of interesting sites:

 

 

The last four days were spent in La Laguna, Tenerife's former capital, a town in the northern part of the island with 130,000 inhabitants (Santa Cruz is the capital now).  Tenerife's north is very different from the south, green and more suitable for agriculture of sorts.  Its importance from colonial times is visible still today, especially in the downtown pedestrian area.  Fortunately, many buildings from the 17th and 18th century have been well maintained and some have become world UNESCO treasures.  

 

 

 

The Catholic bishop has his offices / residence in the most solidly built villa in all of Tenerife, built completely with volcanic stones. 

 

 

 

 

The food anywhere on the island was always fresh and tasty.  A bakery shop window: 

 

 

At the Food Mercardo:

 

 

 

 

On the last day we took another spectacular hike, this one in the Anaga mountains. The road ends in Benijo and the northernmost tip of the island has no roads, villages or places to stay. To get to our hike we drove on endlessly windy roads to Benijo.  Buses have the right-of-way which means cars have to drive backwards until they find a spot wide enough for the bus to pass...  Needless to say we experienced a few dicey moments...



 

 

 

 

 

Surrounded by steep ravines and mountains this village lies at the end of a dirt street.  The only other exit is a steep footpath up the mountain (which we took).

 

Houses along the path:

 

 

 

Behind stone walls we saw this tiny potato field.  Another patch contained a few grapes vines.  It difficult to imagine how the inhabitants manage to live off the products of their stony land.

Potatoes, grapes, and vegetables are raised on man-made terraces like these all over the island:

 

 

In March there we were surprised by a plethora of wild flowers:

 

 

 

And the icing on the cake:  the cafe at the end of the hike. 

 

 Good-bye, Tenerife:

 

Castle ruins near Freiburg

Before I describe our trip to Tenerife, here a few photos of one of the many walks and hikes we have taken around the Freiburg-Munzingen area.  The ruins you see are from a time long gone by when the area was dotted with fortifications and castles, fought for and destroyed by other Counts and Markgrafs in the area, and by armies moving thru the Rhine valley from as far away as Sweden, Austria (in fact, the area around Freiburg belonged to Austria for many years), Russia, France, etc. Built on top of a hill with a great view of the Rhine valley and backed by the Black Forest mountains, the Hochburg was thought to be a good location to defend itself, an illusion as was found out time and again.
The castles in the Rhine valley were rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt,  until finally they became obsolete as a form of defense. Now they are just fun to visit. The Hochburg, first built in the 13th century by the Markgraf of Baden, is the second largest castle in Baden (Heidelberg has the largest and better preserved).

This walk can be expanded to include the ruins of three other castles. Caught in a rain storm Bill, my brother Ruediger and I visited just the Hochburg and then went to lunch in the nearby little town of Emmendingen.

 

 

The downtown of Emmendingen is now a pedestrian area.

 

The townhall built on top of medieval foundations

 

Goethe's sister lived here; Goethe and several famous 18th century authors visited and stayed here before she died at a young age.

 

 

 

This came as a surprise:  the German Archives for Diaries.

 

 

Half time

Actually we are way past half of our yearly stay in Berlin.  It has been and continues to be a terrific adventure.  When we started it in July we did not know how it would turn out, if the nomadic life style would be unsettling, if we could stand it in a one-bedroom apartment without killing each other and, as you can imagine, we had plenty of other questions and concerns.  Well, here we are and in a later entry I will describe more of our time in this fascinating city where the Berliners, both East and West, have been more than interested in our experiment, where we love to roam about, have been visiting theatres, plays, concerts, museums, eateries and restaurants, and lots of other points of interest.  The winter has been mild, if often grey with high fog, which made it easy to continue our daily trips. Most of all we have been fascinated by the conversations we have had.  So many opinions, so many experiences that reflect the city's past 100 years.  More of that another time.

Today we're off to fly to Teneriffe with Easy Jet, a five hour flight from Berlin Schoenefeld airport. After all this time we're finally starting what the Europeans do: in winter fly south.