We woke to hear the engines revving and pulling as the ship manoeuvred its way into berth. The portholes were still battened down, so we couldn't see anything yet, but it's nice to know that once again we were pulling into land. Solid ground and perhaps some sunshine........ Yippee!
The weather forecast was cloudy and 17°C. Good eh? From what we can tell, it's not that good back in Blighty, and 17°C is definitely not to be sniffed at. After breakfast we went back to the cabin to get our stuff and go ashore and guess what.......... The man in the oily overall, (only he wasn't wearing one this time), came in and took the big metal covers off the portholes. Another yippeeee! He also demonstrated that one leaks, as quite a bit of water came out from behind the cover as he took it off. Hmmmmmmmm.....
The ship was to be in port until 9.30pm, so we knew we could take it easy and do whatever we wanted. We'd had half a mind to make our way to the cable cars on Mount Teide and maybe get to the top, but we weren't organised enough. Basically you need the taxi fare to the cable car, the cable car ride itself (€25 each), and a licence to walk the last stretch from the cable car to the volcano crater. Next time we'll be better prepared.
Instead we walked through the city and it kept us occupied all day. First, there's a lovely little craft market right outside the port and which leads onto the Plaza de Espana, a dramatic park area with an underground museum showing excavations of the old castle walls, closed on Sundays though.
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| We loved this street cleaner. Hows that for an ecologically friendly broom! |
Then we made our way to the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Conception, a lovely little church.......
And a glance in at the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Museum of Nature and Man), where we sat for a drink and took advantage of the free wifi. Being a bit tight, we decided we didn't want to spend the €10 to go around the museum.
As we left the museum cafe, the day had turned to bright glorious sunshine and we removed a layer as we walked along. Ahead there were market stalls, and as we approached, we were soon enveloped and surrounded by one of the biggest markets we've seen. It was an amazing place, with a large number of stalls which would have been very at home on a car boot sale. And there were hundreds of them, rows and rows of stalls and tables extending in all directions and into all the streets all around us. We meandered up and down overwhelmed by it all until our aimless wandering led us to a wonderful, purpose built, fresh food and deli market. The sights and smells were glorious; oils, herbs, cheeses, meats, sausages, pastries, sweets, fruit and vegetables. We wanted to live in La Palma just so we could come and do our shopping here, and in the massive market outside.
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| A fantastic stall full of old electricals and tools. Amazing stuff! |
It took us forever to make our out of this place, and I admit to purchasing a couple of shoulder bags that I didn't know I needed, but how can you not?
Our next destination was the Tenerife Auditorium. Likened to the Sydney Opera House, we had been able to see it from the ship, and knowing there was a little mini fort and a park just the other side, we thought it would be nice to take a look.
I've never been to Sydney, so I can't compare, but I can tell you that the architecture of the Tenerife Auditorium was amazing.
It was full of geometric shapes in the spaces as well as the construction. We walked all around the outside in awe of the design, and unable to stop taking pictures until eventually, hunger got the better of us, and it was time to go inside to take advantage of the cafe, which was a really good cafe, with wonderful food, in an awesome setting. Sadly service was abysmal, so it was a good job the weather was as good as it was and kept us in a good mood.
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| Geometric shapes everywhere you looked at the Tenerife Auditorio |
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| The cafe inside |
After a delicious chicken sandwich, we pottered over to the fort (which was closed) and the surrounding park, mostly to take more pictures of the Auditorium from a different view.
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| Someone had used the he rocks making up part of the sea defences as an art gallery. There must of been over a hundred portraits, all of the legendary or famous musical stars |
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| The Castillo de San Juan. An absolutely tiny fortress. |
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| The old and the new. Tenerife Auditorio and the Castillo de San Juan. |
And then it was time to make our way back to the ship, thoroughly warmed through from the sun, and comfortably tired from the pottering. A really lovely day.
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| Even the walk back along the sea front was filled with entertainment, Not least three exercise machines to play on, and further on, a group of dancers preparing for some sort of televised event. All good fun. |
Tomorrow we are in Santa Cruz La Palma. More land and sun. Class!
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