Casa del Vino

On Saturday a group of us from the IAC decided to go to Casa del Vino, which is literally house of wine. They sell all Tenerife wines and generally better ones at cheaper prices than in the supermarkets. The bus trip was as usual fun, as google maps is failing epically on Tenerife at the moment. But thankfully the bus driver helped. (And the others speak a lot better Spanish than me, which isn't hard, so that helped.)
First step, wine tasting!

let the tasting begin!

Here you have to buy the "glass", so we got 2 each glasses (more like 1/4 glasses) of 4 whites and 2 reds, between the 4 of use. The first and last 2 were amazing, the middle 2 ok. But we all loved the last red, 1861 which was amazing. Of course, probably one of the most expensive but so good. I think we all brought a bottle (or 2 in my case - they are going home! Maybe.)

Best red (photo stolen/borrowed from Heidi)

tasting room

We ended up spending about 2.5 hrs there, partly because the tasting lady kept wondering off and leaving us. But we had wine and cheese and a cute cat to keep us occupied.

chilled out (or drunk) cat

After the tasting, before our dinner reservation, we wandered around the museums. The wine museum was interesting and happily translated into English. I wish I had thought to get some photos of the buildings before it got dark. But we were all too eager to get to the tasting room. :) The best I can do is an shot of the model of the place. It really was a very pretty place. And the view was amazing down the coast and of the ocean. (Of course I forgot to get a photo of that too until it was too dark.)

what the place looks like

Poetic

I was quite surprised how many wineries and vineyards there are on Tenerife. Traveling around, I have mainly seen banana plantations. And the wines real are very good and reasonably priced. Unfortunately they don't export them our of the Canaries. :(

ranges of Tenerife wines

There was also a Bee museum. Most of this was very random and all in Spanish so honestly I had no clue. But the big honey comb complete with bees was both cool and creepy.

Bees!

Slightly creepy baby bees

And they had left a bee keeper outfit out. So I had to try it on. Of course! (I am a big 5 yr old and love the museums for kids as they are the most fun by far!) I was the only one as everyone else was being very sensible.

Playing bee keeper

breaking the bee hive. Oops!

 We walked around randomly and found a tunnel to no where.

Following down a random tunnel

 And also an agricultural museum. Which was vaguely interesting.

Something to do with removing wheat.

In the end we got to the restaurant (part of Casa del Vino) quite early but thankfully they weren't very busy and let us in early. The food was ok. I think I picked the wrong thing. It's usually a good assumption it is a bad choice when it comes with chips. :( But the wine was good, the starters very nice and the company lovely. We did miss out on dessert however as they seemed to forget about us. You can never say you get hassled or rushed in a Spanish restaurant. We were there about 3.5 hrs!

I would recommend Casa del Vino to anyone visiting the north part of Tenerife. Definitely worth a visit for a chilled out and relaxing afternoon.
We got a taxi back to the tram. There was a festival on in town, which I thought about going too, but I was carrying my wine and it was packed. So I decided to just go home to bed instead.

Los Gigantes - Day 3

On the last day, I slept in and had breakfast on the harbor front. The weather wasn't as good Sunday, but as I was going to be spending most of the day traveling back to La Laguna, I didn't mind. Plus I got to see the weirdest rainbow.

Rainbow over Los Gigantos

The rainbow seem to sink into the sea. 

I thought It was maybe going behind the horizon. But no, it really did sink into the ocean. (None of the photos are touched.)

In front over some of the cliffs

No photo shop involved

Because of the cliffs the beach doesn't get the sun until early afternoon so the beach was practically empty. And I had it to myself for about an hour before having to head home.

Relaxing

Last view of the cliffs from the beach

The trip back was long (~4hrs) thanks to bus connections and one bus just never showing up. I really need to remember that a Spanish timetable is more a suggestion of times of when the bus might show up. The odds of those times being correct vary and depend on the bus driver and whether he cares or not. (Usually not.) I just wish they wouldn't sort out the change/cash while driving. On mountain roads. It does make me nervous.
The weather got worse the further east we travelled until we got to Santa Cruz where it was raining!
:( The weather is getting colder though still a lot better than either Blacksburg or the UK so I can't complain too much. I was told that when it gets colder the cockroaches go away. Not in Roachville apparently given the one that freaked me out in the bathroom last night. Big one too. There are some advantages of living in a cold country. 

Los Gigantes - Day 2

On the Saturday, after a lazy morning, I booked a trip on the Flipper Uno, a Canarian made pirate sailing ship. Because why not? The boat was beautiful. And Los Gigantes is quite small so there is a limited choice.

Flipper Uno

Pirate ship

There were quite a few people on board and I really shouldn't have been so lazy that morning as most of the seat were already taken and I got there "early" or so I thought! Still I managed to grab a seat on the main deck so I was close to the water. 

This guys was staring all trip

Skull and cross bones

and cannons

Sailing

They really got into the pirate thing! (And one was very pretty - not the one in the next photo; he was just insane!)

This pirate was nuts!

The boat was bigger than the one the day before, so we headed out further and found a pod of pilot whales. It wasn't as good as the last time I went whale watching, but still fun.

Whale sighting

The pod

Coming up for air

After watching the whales for a while, we headed along the cliffs and to Masca Bay. I was looking for a boat that did a different trip, but they all do pretty much the same trip, just in different boats. 

Los Gigantes cliffs

The white boat is a reasonably big boat. 

They fed us and all drinks were free. Some people made good use of this as it included beer and wine. But we set out at 11.30am. That is just way too early for me to be drinking!

After stopping in Masca Bay, there was a chance to go swimming. I decided not to bother as I knew the water was quite cool and I was enjoying sitting in the sun. Though I did get a little pink. Whoops! 

Instead of the normal way to go swimming, they continued in the pirate theme and there was a swing to get in. I saw some people going on it several times. It was very popular.

Swinging...

... And falling

While they were getting ready to sail, they gave us what they called (and pardon the language) "piss of the shark".  The crazy one squirted it into your mouth. And just kept going. A lot of us ended up with it over us! We had no choose than to pull away or drowned! Though I think I managed to get about 3 shots out it. (I have no idea what the drink was but it tasted like a weak honey rum.)

Quick drink

And to continue the slightly nuts theme, on the way back the crazy one fed the seagulls. At first just throwing food (chips I think) to them.

Catching food

Then hand feeding them.

Hand feeding the seagulls

Then mouth feeding. It was an interesting spectacle but having had my food stolen by seagulls on several occasions, it seemed like encouraging bad habits. :)

Mouth feeding the seagulls

Got it

I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping or chilling out with my iPad on the balcony. It was nice to to relax in the peace and quiet and warmth.
This time I check the time of the sunset and set out early. I do love the golden hour light.

Golden hour

For the evening I had booked a really nice restaurant, with ex-Michelin star chefs. My reservation wasn't until 9.30pm which was a bit late but worth it. 

As I was celebrating, I started with a glass of cava. They gave me a free starter, a cone of squid and an expresso cup of squid juice. I think something got lost in the translation. I was skeptical but it was amazing. I wish the cup had been bigger.

My main was, as again celebrating, fillet steak and truffle sauce (it was a very posh restaurant but tenerife style so still laid back, if that makes sense). For desert, I choose the mango soup because it sounded weird. But so good. If the restaurant hadn't been so nice, I might have licked the bowl! And the desert wine was perfect. 

Dessert - mango soup, coconut tapioca and sherry ice cream plus dessert wine!

Ready for a night out.

It was a lovely night and I finished with a moon lit walk on the beach which was right by my hotel. And the perfect way to celebrate!

Los Gigantes - Day 1

Last weekend I took friday off and went to Los Gigantes for the weekend. A few years ago, some bad stuff happened on this weekend so now I take myself off and have a fun time instead of sitting home and remembering. Plus last weekend I spent the weekend sick in bed so it was nice to out.

It takes a tram ride and 2 buses to get there. Unfortunately google maps failed me and told me to get off at the wrong bus stop. (I followed their instructions honestly!) I ended up having a longer walk than I expected (though thanks to a lovely older couple I stopped for directions, not as long as it would have been as I was going in completely the wrong direction). Still the walk had some great views, and the weather was gorgeous.

lost but good view

Los Gigantes cliffs

I finally found my hotel and changed into summer clothes again (La Laguna is a bit cooler). My apartment was lovely. Right on the harbor front (though my balcony was overlooking the court yard) and massive, sleeping 6 people. After a quick unpack (i.e., dumping everything on a spare bed), I got to the harbor in time to take a catamaran out for a few hours. 

Sailing

I love being on the water so would have been happy just sailing. But we found a pod of dolphins so even better! This is the first time I have actually seen wild dolphins close (that I remember anyway). Usually they hide from me.

Dolphins!

Going under

Up for air

And there was a baby in the group.

Baby!

Running ahead.

"Hello?"

Baby saying hi

Racing mom.

Checking us out

After watching for a while, we sailed to Masca Bay to stop for some late lunch. There is a hike you can do down from Masca, a small town in the hills. You get a bus/taxi to the village, hike down the gorge and then get a boat back to Los Gigantes. I thought about doing it this weekend but my current level of fitness isn't great. And chilling out and sailing are much more fun!

Masca bay (boat for scale)

Lunch was good and I managed to get in a quick swim, which was nice though a little cool. The staff lent me a mask and snorkel which unfortunately was rubbish and leaked. :( But still, that might be the last swim of the year.

Great view for a Friday lunch

The only bad part was, after lunch, we had to pick a up a bunch of hikers to take back to Los Gigantes so the trip back was a bit crowded. (For the first part of the trip though there were only ~12 of us on the boat.) The trip back is along the Los Gigantes cliffs which are huge! The photos don't really do the size justice. I think I have some photos from the Saturday trip with a boat for scale, which gives a better idea.

Back in harbor I got some food from the supermarket (and was very shocked at the prices - nearly 3 times what I pay in La Laguna) and feed the fish for a bit.

Fish feeding frenzy

They did however have some ... interesting different foods. I am not sure whether this is a big tourist flavor or what. I haven't tried them yet. Haven't really worked up the desire to be honest!

Because I could

The Kinder Surprise was a treat! And the toy was perfect, even in the perfect color for the weekend. She is actually more purple in person! And she has a little comb on the stand so you can brush her tail. Yes, I am a big kid at heart and proud of it!

Perfect color for the weekend

I had asked for some advice on where to watch the sunset. The location I was given was spot on. The time of the sunset however was not. And I missed it. :(
But it was my own fault for not checking the time. And honestly I feel asleep too.

Late sunset

I did managed to find a nice restaurant on the harbor that served food very early for Spain (~8pm) and had an amazing French style seafood stew and a couple of nice glasses of wine. Which was good as the  Lanzarote wine I brought was unusually really bad and got put down the drain after a few mouthfuls.