Santa Cruz, Tenerife

"Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?" said Peter, as once again, I suggested that we make an easy morning of it in Santa Cruz. 

We'd already had a late start, the day was creeping on, and we had to be back on ship by 12ish so that we could have lunch and get ready for Peter's classes.  It was another beautifully sunny day, and it didn't seem worth chasing around the city in the short time we had.  Last time we came to Tenerife, we found the opera house a little way down from the port, so we decided to go visit it again.

So we got off the ship and turned left, following Commercial Avenue for about 30 minutes.  On the way, we came across the exercise area that we'd found before, complete with the laughs we'd had the first time around as we tried out the difference pieces of equipment.

We weren't disappointed when we got to the Opera House either, it's an amazing piece of architecture, and not something we could get bored of looking at.

We enjoyed a cold drink in the restaurant there before taking a short wander in the surrounding area.

Then back along Commercial Avenue to the commemorative lake near the port, and several photographs trying to get the images of the reflections.

For the shopping lovers, there is a lovely craft fair near the lake.  There were a few items I would have really loved to take home with us, but I resisted temptation.

Back on board, we ate lunch and set up the conference room ready for Peter's classes.  The ship set sail at 2pm,  the sun high in the sky.   I'm not sure how people stayed out on the back deck, it was burning hot out there. 

The sea decided to gift us with a bit of a swell again this afternoon, so the ride out to our next stop, Madeira, isn't as smooth as we'd hoped. We'll get to Funchal in the morning, the ship will anchor out in the bay, because their won't be any space in the dock, and we'll get tenders into the city. The high point of the day will be at night as Madeira is known for its New Year firework display. Bring it on.