Late Night Tapas

After an early wake up, we got ready and left our nice room in Puerto de Tazacorte. We left Angela, the woman who helped us, and her friend 10€ for their trouble and friendliness. Jeanette bought some bread, cheese, and candy in the supermercado and that was our lunch in the car. I took a few more photos of the town before we headed out. I think we both could have stayed there longer at Don Pancho Apartmentos, Jeanette to enjoy the ambiance and me to hike the rim. Unfortunately, we had reservations in two nights in Grand Canaria and it would take us a bit to get there.

Our drive south to Fuencaliente de La Palma, a volcanic area at the south of the island, passed quickly, including a stop at a cool old church and some slowing down at the nice vistas of the Atlantic. We found the visitor center quite easily and watched an overly dramatic film on the regional volcanoes before doing a little hike around the rim of one near the coast. It was cool to see views of Tenerife, La Gomera, and El Hiero from the tip of La Palma. The cooled lava varied in color and texture, but the cone seemed a little more sandy and quiet than I expected.

From the top of the small volcano, we could see a cone that seemed younger and more violently disturbed. We got in the car and found a 'scary' (Jeanette's term) road leading to a 'scarier' (ditto) dirt road that us around to the second cone's access path. We made a 45 minute hike to the summit of the cone and back, from which we got some great photos and views. On the way up, Jeanette got to test her 'fear' of heights as she jumped over a several hundred foot drop that was at a break in the path. We could see the old lighthouse at the point (the oldest in Europe) and the banana and grape plantation on the new lava fields from 1971.

Before we headed up the road to Mazo and Santa Cruz, we stopped at another supermercado to buy some water and booze. We bought one of the local liqueurs that we were hoping was like the liqueur we had the previous night. We also bought a La Palma red to try while we were there.

The drive northeast took us through beautiful countryside. We saw many more of the intricately joined stone walls and the flowers that grace the islands. We stopped at a small market in Mazo and bought some fruit and embroidery, one of the local crafts. After that, we continued on to Santa Cruz.

Once again, we arrived in a 'major' city at siesta time. Instead of shopping, we bought ferry tickets and went for a lunch in the cute Plaza de Borredo(?) where we had taken photos on Friday. We strolled down Calle O'Daly a bit after gazpacho and salad, then headed for the ferry. This time I took some Dramamine and I had no problems.

On the ferry, we settled in and then I went for a stroll about the top deck. You could get all around the outside of this ship and the view of La Palma was fantastic. The voyage passed uneventfully and we spent it reading British trash magazines and writing postcards. When we got into Tenerife, we directly headed out of Los Christianos to get to Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  The highway was new and easy to navigate, plus nice and flat after the last few days on La Palma! We made the trip in 45 minutes, even with a stop for gas and a call to Club Puerto Calma in Gran Canaria.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife turned out to be a larger city around a good sized port. We found our way to the town center and decided to stay at the Hotel El Dorado after we saw that our room would be on the top floor with a great view of the city. We retrieved the luggage from the car, but then decided to park it elsewhere after noticing it was in a shady area. Jeanette was quick to point out the prostitute!

Changing quickly, we strolled through the area near the performing arts center. At about 10 at night, we spotted a neat looking restaurant (El Hiesador?) that was in an old city house. We had discovered a crowded tapas restaurant, but we were seated easily. The waitress was cute and expressive and seemed worried when we said that we spoke English, but we ended up doing OK in Spanish. We ordered the house red wine, prawns in cheese paste, vegetable croquettes, and bananas fried in mojo. The was was one of the best we tasted on the trip. The prawns were good. I thought the croquettes were incredible and Jeanette loved the bananas. The bananas were slices of the fruit that came whole with the peel, and I ate one with the peel, though Jeanette decided not to do so. We asked and the waitress indicated that in fact, we were not supposed to eat the peel. So it goes in foreign countries. I just reinforced Jeanette's opinion that I'll eat anything. We finished up with some decent chocolate mousse. The whole dinner was fantastic.

Before turning in, we briefly enjoyed the view from the roof. As Jeanette had a mild cold, we didn't stay out there too long.