African Cruise
Photos by Philip and Yoko Galvin
7. Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Island
The Canary Islands consists of 7 islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. We visited two of these islands, namely Tenerife and La Palma.
Although the Canary Islands are close to Africa, all the islands belong to Spain and are considered part of Europe. because of this we were away from the poverty of Africa and back to the more affluent European lifestyle. We felt a little safer being there as the sights were familiar and so much like any other European country we had visited in the past.
Views from the Ship
Around the Port
Tenerife Auditorium: Opera, Dance, Theatre
Close to the port, there was a park which resembled a skating rink but given the climate probably was for some other purpose. We can picture the place used as a gathering place for different events. The statues around the park were quite impressive.
The garden right n front of the park was well kept and very beautiful with various types of flowers.
Once we passed the park, we saw restaurants and shops,
Then we saw an impressive building called Circula de Amistad XII de Enero. Apparently, it is a club and there are theatre, cafeteria, gym, and various function rooms inside.
We walked around the building and saw some interesting sights as shown below.
Visiting Volcano
Our excursion was a bus tour to visit an active volcano called Mount Teide in Tenerife. Apparently, it is the third-highest volcano in the world as ranked by UNESCO and NASA. Its summit is the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic with a height of 3715m (12,188 ft). Teide’s elevation above sea level makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. The most recent eruption occurred in late 1909.
Apparently, the volcano and its surroundings make up Teide National Park. It has an area of18,900 hectares (47,000 acres) and in 2007, it was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. By 2015, Teide National Park became the 8th most visited site in the world. In addition, in 2016, this park was visited by 4,079,823 visitors and tourists, reaching a historical record but we didn’t even know of its existence.
On the Way to Mount Teide
To get to Mount Teide, we had to drive through a forest of burned trees due to fire.
Bus Stopped at a Point Where We Could See Mount Teide in the Distance
Then our bus drove through an ancient gigantic caldera. The original volcano must have been huge!
The landscape on both sides of the bus looked like the surface of Mars. No wonder so many people choose to visit this place.
There we took a cable car almost to the summit. It was around 10000 feet in elevation, and we were above clouds. In the cable car, there were few middle-aged ladies who decided to have fun by making some noise whenever the cable car reached each tower as it made the cable car sway back and forth. It sure was a fun ride. Once we arrived at the top, there was a display of a mummy in a white cloth in a glass case and also some kind of cartoon display.
When we went outside of the building, it was very windy and cold. Good thing we took our jackets to visit there. Phil proceeded to climb up the volcano, but Yoko decided to stay behind as the footage was not that secure with crumbling volcano rocks. The views from there were spectacular and made us understand why there was a line up to get up to the top.
The Views from the Top
Trail to the Mountain Top
A few months after we came back from the African cruise, we were watching a TV program called “Foundations”. In it, they showed many sights from the surrounding areas of Mount Teide. We felt very pleased to see that we were actually there to see an area that famous that we didn’t even know existed before we visited there.
This excursion became one of Phil’s favorites though he generally doesn’t like high altitude and riding in a cable car.
