From Morro Jable on Fuerteventura, we take the fast ferry to Tenerife. During this crossing we make a stop on Gran Canaria. The boarding takes place smoothly and after 2h we are already on the second island of our time on the Canary Islands. Until the onward journey we have 3h time, enough for us to make a small city tour through Las Palmas. When we are back at the harbor of Las Palmas after an hour, we make ourselves comfortable, there is still about 1.5h to the next ferry. However, it is unusually quiet at the port and the supposed pier of our next ferry. From a gut feeling we look again at our tickets and oh shock – the ferry leaves on the other side of the island and not in Las Palmas. Fortunately, a highway leads from Las Palmas to Agaete, so we are still close to departure, but in time at the correct port. Note for us – and all who want to take the ferry between the Canary Islands – always head for the exact port of departure!
From Agaete, Gran Canaria, the crossing takes only 80 minutes and we are on Tenerife!

Playa de las Teresitas

The most beautiful beach of all Tenerife is right next to Santa Cruz. The beach of Las Teresitas is equipped with very good infrastructure and in the low season with enough parking spaces. On this beach we spend the first night, there is everything here: sea, sandy beach, showers and public toilets. We are completely satisfied for the moment.
Just behind Playa de las Teresitas the green hills of the Anaga Nature Park begin. Finally, denser and green vegetation – we missed this already strongly after the good three weeks on Fuerteventura. Just the view into the green hills while swimming in the sea is really nice.
In addition, there are several cafes on the beach, where we enjoy a cool beer in the sun.

Nature Park Anaga and Roque de las Bodegas

Only from the view of the green hills of the Natural Park Anaga we don’t have enough. We drive from Playa de las Teresitas on curvy roads over a first small pass in the mountains. And on the other side immediately down to the sea at the beach Roque de las Bodegas. On the way we can hardly get enough of the different plants. Many cacti grow directly at the roadside and there are sections with densely wooded areas. The green is interrupted by isolated settlements of white groups of houses on the slopes. A picturesque sight, for us this pass is already worthwhile by the view.

The beach Roque de las Bodegas offers black sand. Between the steep hills behind us and the beach there is just enough space for a road, but no more. Nevertheless, we can park at the roadside and enjoy the seclusion of this beach. Because of the well-built road there are tourists during the day, but it gets really quiet in the evening and at night. It is also a well-known surf spot for tourists and locals alike and so we can watch smaller groups of surfers riding the waves.

Driving through the Anaga Nature Reserve

From the pass in the hills of Anaga, where we turned off for the last stop at Roque de las Bodegas, the road continues more or less on the crest of the hill range in southwestern direction. Thereby we find a place to sleep in the hills of Anaga, near Chinamada, via Park4Night. It is also a popular viewpoint with tourists and we can only share the joy about it. From the viewpoint at Chinamada there is a beautiful panoramic view into little touched nature and solidified lava outflow gorges. The rock around the outlets has eroded in the meantime, resulting in columnar mountain formations. Impressive with the dark gray rock, the sandy brown sandstone and the magnificent vegetation growing on it in various shades of green. From Chinamada we look down to the coastline at Punta del Hidalgo. Civilization is visibly near and yet quite distant at the same time.

Piscina Natural de Jover

Continuing southwest on Tenerife, we pass the Piscina Natural de Jover. There are natural pools here again, similar to those on Fuerteventura, but much more accessible. Around the natural pool the edges have been fortified, there are sunbathing areas and an access to the open sea. But all this in a way that preserves the naturalness of the pool. So, the use of natural resources in a mindful way goes exactly to our liking. Very exciting!

We like this natural water pool at Jover so much that we immediately look at another one at Bajamar. There is also a clear contrast. In Bajamar a real swimming pool was built around the natural pool. And therefore, the natural pool loses some of its charm.

Puerto de la Cruz

Puerto de la Cruz is the first bigger city we visit in Tenerife. It is a real tourist center on the northwest side of Tenerife. It just seems that many visitors stay here for a long time. In Puerto de la Cruz, there are two or three older alleys in the city center and good restaurants, which invite to eat. We even find large street art paintings on some walls. It is a pleasant mixture between touristy consumption and cozy island atmosphere. In Puerto de la Cruz we could stay longer, but there is not an ideal place for us to stay overnight, so we move on soon.
At Puerto de la Cruz we also visit the botanical garden of La Orotava. For only 3€ per person we can dive in the middle of the urban area into a beautifully prepared garden with some very old trees. Among other things, there is a tree which must have been standing in the same place for decades and some aerial roots have developed into regular branch supports. Such trees remind us directly of our Asia trip. There we had also seen such trees in the jungle.

Of course, this is only the beginning of Tenerife and there is still a lot to see for us. The next experiences we will document as with Fuerteventura in several parts. In four weeks stay, there is enough time to experience so much that not everything fits into one blog post.