Index
Day 1 - Inaugural
Day 2 - Arrival
Day 3 - Lanzarote
Day 4 - Island hopping
Day 5 - Island hopping
Day 6 - Tenerife
Day 7 - Return
Canary Islands
It's a bit ridiculous that only the "club" rooms come with breakfast: the breakfast buffet at El Mirador is pretty good, and the view of the ocean is even better, but the exclusivity they sell seems silly. The funicular down to the private beach was an unexpected surprise, and on the walk back to my room, got a close enough look at the greenhouses across the way to see they're full of banana trees (kinda cool).
El Teide National Park is a solid hour's drive from Abama, and you can easily spend the day if you want to explore the ancient volcano at the center of the island. The landscape as you climb in elevation goes from tall green forests to barren volcanic rock, and El Teide's claim to fame is not just a single 3,718 meter high peak, the but nearly 20,000 square kilometers of terrain that surround it. Astronomy is also a major thing, with obsevatories from more than 60 institutions in 19 countries located on some of the subsidary peaks within the national park.
High winds unfortunately closed the cable car up El Teide today, settled for a few quick hikes before the howling winds got too unplesaant. Next part of the journey within the park was the drive to Mirador de Chipeque, for the famed views of El Teide above the clouds. Turns out you don't need to go to Mirador de Chipeque to get the view, but true to its reputation, Mirador de Chipeque is indeed the best view if you have the time. Several other turnouts right before Mirador de Chipeque also had great views, one or two of the east side of the island instead of the west or north.
After ascending above the clouds you have to descend below them... spent a fair amount of time winding down with nearly zero visibility from Mirador de Chipeque towards the east coast of Tenerife. Not the most pleasant experience, but was the only car on the road for most part and was able to take my time, so in the end it wasn't that bad. Debated heading up to Santa Cruz de Tenerife for dinner, but instead decided to head back the western coast for the cliffs at Los Gigantes. Like so much else on this trip, the cliffs of Los Gigantes were impressive but a bit short of their promise, the viewpoints were considerably further away than I expected. (maybe I missed some better ones?)
Back at the hotel, sunset at Txoko was a pleasant enough way to end the day. Clearly several cuts above any other meal on the trip, two hours for three courses still seemed a bit excessive, even accounting for leisurely Spanish meals and the poolside location. The tartares, of seabass, waygu, and red tuna belly, were delicious if diminutive in portion. The omelet was well presented but I was hoping for something a bit more Spanish; finally, the octopus and potatoes lived up to expectations, a properly Spanish dish. And of course, the wine did not disappoint.
Honestly, going back to the ocean view villa I had to enjoy the sunset instead Txoko might have been the thing to do-- but then I would have still have had to find dinner. *grins*