To Madeira, the Cape Verde & Canary Isles - Santa Cruz, Teneriffe page

We were coming in to a cloudy Teneriffe at breakfast & arrived at about 0830, berthed rather better than the two 'troop ships' there already, as Fred Olsen put Teneriffe on the map (& runs some of the ferries), so gets the closest berth, with "Adonia" & "Rotterdam" behind us. It was overcast, just as it had been last time. We were off the ship at about 0920 & walked easily into the city. Avis did not fancy going up to the gardens, so we went to the market, which had been closing when I came with Annie. This was very well organised, with the fish market underneath.

Concepcion Church from the West	Concepcion Church from the South	Balconies on the Concepcion Church
The usually dry river	The Market	Vegetables
Octopi	Tiles on a fishmonger's wall	Ahhg! Conger Eel

Then, we walked back to the ship a different way.

Creepy crawlies of the Sea

Trad. ironmonger outside

Across from the market

The gardens on the roof in the pedestrianised area were there but one was looking neglected & needed weeding.

Over the non-river

Down the non-river to the Sea

The plant wall

Neglected planted roof

Several of the shops & cafés along the front had gone bust since April. There was no time for lunch but Avis had made sandwiches at breakfast & I grabbed three biscuits, as we had to muster at 1210 for our coach trip. This took us to the viewpoint for Teide, which protruded from a cloud sea. For more Santa Cruz & Teide photos, take this link to our April 2012 cruise.

Teide over a cloud sea

Then down to the South to Guimar where there were six rather flat pyramids.

Although the Sun had come up in the morning & Avis had been glad I put her hat & sunglasses in my rucksack, it went in & it was colder in Guimar than halfway up Teide. It turned out that, although the archaeologists had thought the pyramids had been built by farmers in the 19th C to clear stones off the land, the astrophysicists in 2007 pointed out that the pyramids were exactly aligned to the Sun at the Winter & Summer solstices, so the archaeologists had had to eat shit. Thor Heyadahl & his theories are big round here & there is a large model of RaII (built of packed papyrus) but he 'knew' the answers & was trying to make the questions fit, which is the wrong way round. There is a so-called "Secret Garden" which is all plants which are poisonous to people in varying degrees. We had sangria with ice in it (! which we supplemented with coffees) & drove back to the ship by 1630.

Papyrus, as used in RaII	Pyramid 6	Restored Pyramid 5
Drago Tree	The combined pyramids	Pyramid 3 (I think) & the town
Various poisonous plants in the Secret Garden

Avis immediately went to the hairdressers, while I grabbed the last cake for tea. It was a formal evening & I had haggis, neaps & tattoos for dinner, as it was Hogmanay. After listening to the Rosario Trio, we changed into warmer clothing, although it was no longer cold, the wind having dropped.
We went up onto the top deck, where the MIT Band were preparing us for the New Year, which we celebrated with champagne, Aud Lang Syne, handshakes with the crew all round & a firework display, which was not quite as good as the Guy Fawkes one at Glossop, with us all crowded onto the ship's stern terrace of decks. There was yet more food in the Palms & we had a snack with the dance hosts (ringwooddance.co.uk) before crashing at 0045.

Santa Cruz at the New Year

The MIT Band plays us into 2013