Tenerife
Went to Tenerife for a week's vacation last week. Posting a travelogue for that trip here goes
Day 1
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The day started with a lot of tension. Got delayed in the morning and it was 6:30 when we finally left for Gatwick airport (departure 8:45 am). Normally its a one hour journey to Gatwick so we should still have been OK. There was a big traffic jam and a few road closure which meant we reached the parking at 8:15. By this time we were virtually convinced that we have missed out flight and would need to rebook the flight leaving that afternoon. The parking providers (BCP) said we might still be able to make it and did a meet and greet service for us and got us to the airport terminal at 8:30. Luckily, there was an issue with thye check in system which had already delayed the check in on that flight. We were checked in and given fast track security pass which meant we could still board the flight we had booked for.
Reached the hotel in Tenerife at around 3 PM. Just dropped the bags in the room and as we were hungry, we decided to out to get something to eat. Then we realised that getting veggie food is a tough ask. We finally found a british pub and ate a veggie sandwich. Spent rest of the evening on the beach and then came back to the hotel in time for dinner. The dinner in hotel was great. They did not have much veggie options but they did have a veggie soup and they did a veggie pizza at our request. The dinner was really great finally.
Day 2
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We tried calling the operater we had booked the tours with (Whale watching and Las Canadas). He confirmed the whale watching trip for day 3 and said that they have cancelled Las Canadas trip as there werent enough people. We then booked a trip for Day 4 to La Gomera instead.
Spent almost the whole day walking along the beach till Costa Adeje on one side and Los Christianos on the other. It was a wonderful day. The weather was great. Nice, no wind, warm and lots of sunshine. Really the kind of weather to brighten up the mood
Day 3
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We went on the whale watching trip. This was with an operator called Must cat Catamaran. Really a good trip on the whole. We say about 5 or 6 whales. They werent huge but still pretty big whales. The tour didnt have a lot of people so the boat wasnt very crowded. This made us enjoy even more. There were complimentary drinks and snacks on boards for people on the tour. Definitely recommended for people wishing to go to Tenerife (playa de las americas). The boat trips start from Puerto Colon and cost almost 40 euros a ticket. After the whale watching they docked at a place where water wasnt very deep for people to swim or snorkel. It was a nice experience as i hadnt swum in anything bigger than a swimming pool before. Water was a bit cold but once we were inside the water we didnt feel very cold and enjoyed our swim a lot. Also saw a lot of small and colourful fishes while snorkelling
Spent the evening strolling around the shopping street of Playa de Las Americas. The shopping street there were mich better than those in London. Most of the shops were open till 9 in the evening and had lots of nice cafes. One of the cafe was showing highlights of the India - West Indies Cricket match. So just sat there for some time and had some delicious cakes and banana split in the mean time.
Day 4
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We started early in the morning for the trip to island of La Gomera. La Gomera is an island close to Tenerife much smaller in size compared to Tenerife. Its about a 40 min journey on the jet ferry (operated by Fred Olsen www.fredolsen.es) from the port of Los Christianos. This island does not attract a lot of tourist like tenerife and hence it is pretty much unspoilt and is amazingly beautiful. There is a huge contrast in the vegetation on that small islands. That island has tropical forests to banana,papaya and mango plantations to desert like vegetation. It was amazing to see so many different types of vegetation in such a small area. This island was Christopher columbus's last stop before he set out to discover the continent of America. From here you can get amazing views of Tenerife and snow covered peak of Mount Teide jutting above the clouds.
Lunch was included as a part of the trip and here is the menu:
1. Starters - Vegetable soup server with maize (toasted and powdered) and bread. This was very nice.
2. Main course - Patata Arrugadas (small potatoes boiled in sea water). Veal Meat and Tuna preperation. Since they realised that we were veggies they served some salad. We also had the boiled potatoes with the garlic sauce. The sauce was very nice and spicy. They also had goat cheese cubes with the food. It was nice but didnt taste as strong as the goat's cheese ia m used to in London.
3. Dessert - One Banana (yes you read it right) :)
Ended the tour with a stroll around La Gomera's capital town San Sabastien. We then took the ferry back to Los Christianos and ended the day after an early dinner as we had to take the early fligh back home the next day.
Day 1
-----------
The day started with a lot of tension. Got delayed in the morning and it was 6:30 when we finally left for Gatwick airport (departure 8:45 am). Normally its a one hour journey to Gatwick so we should still have been OK. There was a big traffic jam and a few road closure which meant we reached the parking at 8:15. By this time we were virtually convinced that we have missed out flight and would need to rebook the flight leaving that afternoon. The parking providers (BCP) said we might still be able to make it and did a meet and greet service for us and got us to the airport terminal at 8:30. Luckily, there was an issue with thye check in system which had already delayed the check in on that flight. We were checked in and given fast track security pass which meant we could still board the flight we had booked for.
Reached the hotel in Tenerife at around 3 PM. Just dropped the bags in the room and as we were hungry, we decided to out to get something to eat. Then we realised that getting veggie food is a tough ask. We finally found a british pub and ate a veggie sandwich. Spent rest of the evening on the beach and then came back to the hotel in time for dinner. The dinner in hotel was great. They did not have much veggie options but they did have a veggie soup and they did a veggie pizza at our request. The dinner was really great finally.
Day 2
-----------
We tried calling the operater we had booked the tours with (Whale watching and Las Canadas). He confirmed the whale watching trip for day 3 and said that they have cancelled Las Canadas trip as there werent enough people. We then booked a trip for Day 4 to La Gomera instead.
Spent almost the whole day walking along the beach till Costa Adeje on one side and Los Christianos on the other. It was a wonderful day. The weather was great. Nice, no wind, warm and lots of sunshine. Really the kind of weather to brighten up the mood
Day 3
---------------
We went on the whale watching trip. This was with an operator called Must cat Catamaran. Really a good trip on the whole. We say about 5 or 6 whales. They werent huge but still pretty big whales. The tour didnt have a lot of people so the boat wasnt very crowded. This made us enjoy even more. There were complimentary drinks and snacks on boards for people on the tour. Definitely recommended for people wishing to go to Tenerife (playa de las americas). The boat trips start from Puerto Colon and cost almost 40 euros a ticket. After the whale watching they docked at a place where water wasnt very deep for people to swim or snorkel. It was a nice experience as i hadnt swum in anything bigger than a swimming pool before. Water was a bit cold but once we were inside the water we didnt feel very cold and enjoyed our swim a lot. Also saw a lot of small and colourful fishes while snorkelling
Spent the evening strolling around the shopping street of Playa de Las Americas. The shopping street there were mich better than those in London. Most of the shops were open till 9 in the evening and had lots of nice cafes. One of the cafe was showing highlights of the India - West Indies Cricket match. So just sat there for some time and had some delicious cakes and banana split in the mean time.
Day 4
-------------
We started early in the morning for the trip to island of La Gomera. La Gomera is an island close to Tenerife much smaller in size compared to Tenerife. Its about a 40 min journey on the jet ferry (operated by Fred Olsen www.fredolsen.es) from the port of Los Christianos. This island does not attract a lot of tourist like tenerife and hence it is pretty much unspoilt and is amazingly beautiful. There is a huge contrast in the vegetation on that small islands. That island has tropical forests to banana,papaya and mango plantations to desert like vegetation. It was amazing to see so many different types of vegetation in such a small area. This island was Christopher columbus's last stop before he set out to discover the continent of America. From here you can get amazing views of Tenerife and snow covered peak of Mount Teide jutting above the clouds.
Lunch was included as a part of the trip and here is the menu:
1. Starters - Vegetable soup server with maize (toasted and powdered) and bread. This was very nice.
2. Main course - Patata Arrugadas (small potatoes boiled in sea water). Veal Meat and Tuna preperation. Since they realised that we were veggies they served some salad. We also had the boiled potatoes with the garlic sauce. The sauce was very nice and spicy. They also had goat cheese cubes with the food. It was nice but didnt taste as strong as the goat's cheese ia m used to in London.
3. Dessert - One Banana (yes you read it right) :)
Ended the tour with a stroll around La Gomera's capital town San Sabastien. We then took the ferry back to Los Christianos and ended the day after an early dinner as we had to take the early fligh back home the next day.