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- Mar 5, 2002
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Tenerife for a week.
Woke 4.30am, arrived 2pm, hired car, settled in, drink at poolside in evening.
Day 2: Drove to capital city, Santa Cruz, along mountain lanes, twisty turny, countryside kinda monotonous, you see one cactus, you seen one villa, you seen ‘em all. Traffic jam at Santa Cruz. Capital City sortta boring, but not without charm.
Ate possibly the best fillet steak in black pepper sauce I’ve ever had in my life, open air shaded tables. Observed females walking by. Reached conclusion that something in the water at Santa Cruz makes them all large breasted. Back to Los Christianos, seafront pub crawl to Los Americanos.
Day 3: Drove to the top of the island to see volcano El Teide. Best day of hols. Scenery quite breathtaking. Lots of green. Very steep roads. Twisty turny. The island is in two halves, barren, almost desert like in the south, but lush and green to the north and inland.
Took the cable car to the top, but not the very top, as you needed a special pass for that. Big drop in temperature, everybody shivering and very windy. Sun still as intense though, could catch you unawares as you don’t realize it’s burning you. Nice views.
Drove North to Puerto Cruz, stopped, took a leak in the mountains and surprised a whole bunch of lizards who scattered everywhere. Don’t know who was the most surprised, them or me. Pic below of one lizard, though a little indistinct.
Puerto Cruz was nice. Back to Los Christianos, repeated pub crawl of previous day. Cabs are dead cheap and plentiful here, and they know every last spot on the island. Friendly bunch of buggers too.
Day 4: Boat trip on a catamaran. That was good. Each hull had glass panels below the waterline. Saw dolphins and a couple of whale water spouts, but didn’t get to see whales close up. Some young kids got seasick, that was funny.
Drove north, stopped off at a few seaside resorts, not much to write home about. Took wrong road, got lost, ended up at a lighthouse and a dead end. Had to negotiate some of the most lethal roads ever, real high up, sharp bends, long drop to sea and danger of rock falls. Almost called for a change in underwear.
Found road on map that looked like a short cut, it went up and up and up. It was getting dark and misty. Road turned into dirt track, now at peak of small mountain, very hairy. Eventually found main road, returned to apartment. Another pub and bar crawl.
Day 5: Saturday. Woke up late, didn’t drink all day. Went out at 9.30pm, saw some dance thingie going on round this really great swimming pool, went in, big sound system, all trance music, lottsa lights, packed. At last! This is more like it. But – it finished at 11pm. Bugger. So we went to this club facing the sea, Latino music one side, trance the other.
Really, really, enjoyed that, full on music nice and loud and the horniest bar staff I’ve seen for a long time. All Spanish peeps as well, barely a Brit in there. Stayed there til 4am, staggered into Los Americanos and found a bar open. Caught the Tyson fight on TV there, got home at 6am.
Day 6: They say Sunday is a day of rest, and for me, so it should be. Recovery time. Jeez, my head.
Eventually took in a few bars in the evening. Spent most of the day on apartment balcony in sun reading a book.
Day 7: Visited a few more coastal resorts, I think we took in just about every last spot on the island. Went to a Tamla Motown bar, an Irish bar and ended up in a big pub named the Dubliners, where a half decent band were playing. Took a wander, went into a bar named Linekers, run by Gary Lineker, apparently.
For the first time, I felt a little out of my depth. Man, they were so young. And I am not young. It was like full on, girls dancing on tables and window ledges everywhere. Still, not many looked at us funny. Me mate helped some young girl up on to a table to dance but she fell off it after five minutes, she was somewhat inebriated.
Left there, and got constantly hustled to go into other clubs. A gorgeous young female specimen actually tugged my T-Shirt trying to get me into a club. Still, at my age I’m kinda chuffed somebody thinks I’m still up for it.
Back to The Dubliners Bar, talking to girls from Preston, Blackpool and Newcastle. Overdone it. Cab home, dizzy.
Day 8. Ouch. Came home.
Tenerife is kinda like a Brit coastal resort only with Palm trees and more sunshine. A lot more sunshine. If you’re looking for authentic Spanish culture, forget it. The place is dominated by Brit themed bars, fish and chips, The News Of The World newspaper and fake pubs. Also, mostly all Brits are Northerners, I didn’t meet one fellow Londoner/South Easterner.
Not a Yank in sight, but a good sprinkling of Germans, Dutch and holidaying Spanish.
There are some nice places to see, but you could take in everything in five days. The beaches are very varied, the good ones being scarce. Those that are good are very very good indeed. And there’s some good surfing to be had here.
Myself, I don’t like the commercialism and the obvious pandering to Brits. When I go away, I want to feel like I’m getting to know a foreign culture, I don’t want to be made to feel comfortable by being surrounded with familiar sights and accents. It was almost kinda like a day trip to Hastings.
Well, that was me week’s break, I’ll tick that one off, won’t be going again but I’m glad I went. All in all, enjoyable, and I will add a great place to have a holiday if you’re a family with young children. Also, all Spanish peeps I met were really nice folk, be they in the main tourist spots or living somewhere more remote.
And here’s some pix, reduced from 2272 x 1704 to 1000 x 750:
Woke 4.30am, arrived 2pm, hired car, settled in, drink at poolside in evening.
Day 2: Drove to capital city, Santa Cruz, along mountain lanes, twisty turny, countryside kinda monotonous, you see one cactus, you seen one villa, you seen ‘em all. Traffic jam at Santa Cruz. Capital City sortta boring, but not without charm.
Ate possibly the best fillet steak in black pepper sauce I’ve ever had in my life, open air shaded tables. Observed females walking by. Reached conclusion that something in the water at Santa Cruz makes them all large breasted. Back to Los Christianos, seafront pub crawl to Los Americanos.
Day 3: Drove to the top of the island to see volcano El Teide. Best day of hols. Scenery quite breathtaking. Lots of green. Very steep roads. Twisty turny. The island is in two halves, barren, almost desert like in the south, but lush and green to the north and inland.
Took the cable car to the top, but not the very top, as you needed a special pass for that. Big drop in temperature, everybody shivering and very windy. Sun still as intense though, could catch you unawares as you don’t realize it’s burning you. Nice views.
Drove North to Puerto Cruz, stopped, took a leak in the mountains and surprised a whole bunch of lizards who scattered everywhere. Don’t know who was the most surprised, them or me. Pic below of one lizard, though a little indistinct.
Puerto Cruz was nice. Back to Los Christianos, repeated pub crawl of previous day. Cabs are dead cheap and plentiful here, and they know every last spot on the island. Friendly bunch of buggers too.
Day 4: Boat trip on a catamaran. That was good. Each hull had glass panels below the waterline. Saw dolphins and a couple of whale water spouts, but didn’t get to see whales close up. Some young kids got seasick, that was funny.
Drove north, stopped off at a few seaside resorts, not much to write home about. Took wrong road, got lost, ended up at a lighthouse and a dead end. Had to negotiate some of the most lethal roads ever, real high up, sharp bends, long drop to sea and danger of rock falls. Almost called for a change in underwear.
Found road on map that looked like a short cut, it went up and up and up. It was getting dark and misty. Road turned into dirt track, now at peak of small mountain, very hairy. Eventually found main road, returned to apartment. Another pub and bar crawl.
Day 5: Saturday. Woke up late, didn’t drink all day. Went out at 9.30pm, saw some dance thingie going on round this really great swimming pool, went in, big sound system, all trance music, lottsa lights, packed. At last! This is more like it. But – it finished at 11pm. Bugger. So we went to this club facing the sea, Latino music one side, trance the other.
Really, really, enjoyed that, full on music nice and loud and the horniest bar staff I’ve seen for a long time. All Spanish peeps as well, barely a Brit in there. Stayed there til 4am, staggered into Los Americanos and found a bar open. Caught the Tyson fight on TV there, got home at 6am.
Day 6: They say Sunday is a day of rest, and for me, so it should be. Recovery time. Jeez, my head.
Eventually took in a few bars in the evening. Spent most of the day on apartment balcony in sun reading a book.
Day 7: Visited a few more coastal resorts, I think we took in just about every last spot on the island. Went to a Tamla Motown bar, an Irish bar and ended up in a big pub named the Dubliners, where a half decent band were playing. Took a wander, went into a bar named Linekers, run by Gary Lineker, apparently.
For the first time, I felt a little out of my depth. Man, they were so young. And I am not young. It was like full on, girls dancing on tables and window ledges everywhere. Still, not many looked at us funny. Me mate helped some young girl up on to a table to dance but she fell off it after five minutes, she was somewhat inebriated.
Left there, and got constantly hustled to go into other clubs. A gorgeous young female specimen actually tugged my T-Shirt trying to get me into a club. Still, at my age I’m kinda chuffed somebody thinks I’m still up for it.
Back to The Dubliners Bar, talking to girls from Preston, Blackpool and Newcastle. Overdone it. Cab home, dizzy.
Day 8. Ouch. Came home.
Tenerife is kinda like a Brit coastal resort only with Palm trees and more sunshine. A lot more sunshine. If you’re looking for authentic Spanish culture, forget it. The place is dominated by Brit themed bars, fish and chips, The News Of The World newspaper and fake pubs. Also, mostly all Brits are Northerners, I didn’t meet one fellow Londoner/South Easterner.
Not a Yank in sight, but a good sprinkling of Germans, Dutch and holidaying Spanish.
There are some nice places to see, but you could take in everything in five days. The beaches are very varied, the good ones being scarce. Those that are good are very very good indeed. And there’s some good surfing to be had here.
Myself, I don’t like the commercialism and the obvious pandering to Brits. When I go away, I want to feel like I’m getting to know a foreign culture, I don’t want to be made to feel comfortable by being surrounded with familiar sights and accents. It was almost kinda like a day trip to Hastings.
Well, that was me week’s break, I’ll tick that one off, won’t be going again but I’m glad I went. All in all, enjoyable, and I will add a great place to have a holiday if you’re a family with young children. Also, all Spanish peeps I met were really nice folk, be they in the main tourist spots or living somewhere more remote.
And here’s some pix, reduced from 2272 x 1704 to 1000 x 750:
