Playa de las Américas; Sunday, 13 December, 2020

Another early start to the day, but todays tour would be markedly different to the previous days one. Firstly it was in a comfortable van that was easy to get in and out of and, as I was the only person on the tour, I had the front passenger seat for stunning views for the whole tour.

My guide for the day, Ángel, picked me up outside the hotel at 9am and we started by heading up the coast a little way to the town of Los Gigantes, named after the high sea cliffs that head up North from the town. The Canarians call them the highest cliffs in Europe, though the Portuguese dispute this and Geography would put them in Africa rather than Europe, but that doesn’t take away from their impressive size. The also represent the western most point on the island, and would mark the start of several hours travelling North East up the longest coast of the island.

On leaving Los Gigantes we spent a long time climbing up through the mountains before taking a very steep switchback road that descended down from around 1000m to sea level in virtually no horizontal space. This dropped us out into the small town of Garachico. At one point this was the most important town on the island, with a major port and key stopping point on the trade routes from America to Spain via the Canaries. Then in 1706 a massive volcanic eruption sent rivers of lava down the mountain and into the sea here, destroying the port. It’s still possible to see the effect today with the remains of gateway to the port lying many meters below the modern level of the town in a small park.

From Garachico we continued along the coast to the town of Icod de los Vinos, which is home to the worlds oldest Dragon Tree, thought to be at least 1,000 years old. From there it was on to the town of La Orotava where we stopped to look at the examples of Canarian Balconies as well as the beautiful cathedral, and their slightly over the top nativity scene, that takes up the whole of the town hall square with multiple life-size figures.

Back along the coast we reached the Northern most point of the tour at La Laguna where there was a stop for lunch and an opportunity to wander around the town that was, until Santa Cruz took over, the capital of the island.

After the lunch stop we started to head south again, bypassing the capital and taking our next stop at Candelaria. There is a legend that before the Spanish arrived the local Guanches people saw the image of a lady out in the sea so they built a statue to her and put it in a cave. When the Spanish arrived they immediately recognised it as the Virgin Mary and used it as a way to quickly convert the locals. Today you can still visit the cave where the statue was, and is still littered with candles and flowers. The statue itself has been moved into the significantly more impressive basilica a 100m or so back up the coast and closer to the centre of town.

In the square outside of the Basilica there are nine statues along the sea front. These depict the nine different Guanches kings who ruled different parts of the island until the Spanish completed colonisation of the island in 1496

From Candelaria we continued south to the final stop of the day at the Playa del Médano. This is a pleasant sandy beach, that today was very quiet with only gently lapping seas, but is reckoned to be one of the best beaches for kite surfing and windsailing on the island. The beach is also impressive for the perfectly shaped mini-volcano at the edge of the sea, and for the major international airport located just behind!

After stopping here for a few minutes we drove the final part of the circuit of the island back to Playa de las Américas where I was dropped off at the end of a very impressive and thorough tour – possibly helped by being the only person so having full access to the tour guide for the whole day. As I’d had a full lunch earlier in the day in La Laguna I once again quickly popped into a shop to grab a light bite for dinner before heading back to the hotel.