TENERIFE PART 1: SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE

I’m so happy! I just got my first week off this year (and believe me, I needed it - badly). A few weeks ago, Chris and I decided we deserved a little summer trip. We booked a flight to the Islas Canarias, Tenerife! We were there six nights in total: two nights in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and four nights in Puerto de la Cruz. Continue to read about the first part of our island adventures in Santa Cruz de Tenerife!

Goose bumps! 

Arriving in Tenerife was a strange experience. Even though the flight was over three hours and we were in a different time zone (one hour earlier), we were still in the same country! We arrived around eleven at night. Waiting outside for the bus, I felt cold for the first time in weeks. Believe me, this was not a bad thing: summers in Barcelona are beautiful, but often at night it’s too hot to sleep. It was actually great to escape the heat for a few days. It was still probably around twenty degrees, but I had goose bumps all over.

Tenerife North is a small airport, and even though they didn’t serve coffee anymore at the time we arrived (what!?), they did have an amazing Napolitana de crema, a little cream pastry with powder sugar and nuts on top, tasting like rum. I don’t know why but somehow it was extremely delicious.

Were we stayed: Silken Atlántida Santa Cruz

We stayed two nights in the four star Silken hotel, right in the city center. It was so nice to jump in a big white comfy bed after a long day of work and travelling! And I was thrilled to find out there was a bath tub. The Silken Atlántida is a very decent hotel, easy to reach from the Tenerife North Airport (direct bus line) and in general situated at a great location. It’s at walking distance from the bus stop, a big mall with a supermarket, the Auditorio de Tenerife, and the bus station where we took the bus to Puerto de la Cruz, very convenient.

View from the hotel. Mountains and sea!

Where we ate

Breakfast at the hotel was a smashing 16 euros; I haven’t seen it, but I can’t imagine it would be worth the money. Instead, we had breakfast at Rincón del Pan, right in front of the hotel. Cute little place, where you can sit outside on the terrace or inside. Their café con leche was delicious and only 1 euro. The next day, we had to come back, obviously. I had the café con leche again (maybe two cups), and two sandwhiches that also only costed 1 euro each: one with tuna and tomato, the other one with tortilla. We directly got some of these for the trip to Puerto. Great breakfast place! And did I mention the free wifi? 

Yummy breakfast at Rincón del Pan.

For lunch, we couldn’t resist trying out the menú del dia of a little Chinese restaurant we passed on the way. For less than you can imagine (I think we took the “more expensive” menu for 6,50…), we had three courses, wine and a dessert. Spring rolls, fried rice, soup, seafood… and very generous portions. I had fun noticing the waitress watching Lassie on TV; while holding the wine we just ordered, she seemed fascinated by the dog’s adventures. We tipped generously (also because Chris had a temporary mathematical black out… well, they deserved it!).

Big lunch and “Lassie” at China Express

Since we were still so full after lunch, we didn’t eat much after. I think I had a sweet bretzel with nuts and sugar from the bakery for dinner, with a side of jamón crisps and a Canary Islands Dorada beer in the hotel room.

What we did

Since we got up pretty early that day (“jet lag!”), we enjoyed a long day in the city. After breakfast, we couldn’t help but taking a peek in the mall (guess who came out of the Primark with a full bag…. shopaholic Chris). Afterwards, we walked to the Mercado de Nuestra Señora de Africa. One of the most beautiful markets I’ve ever been to. It’s a little like la Boquería, but without all the tourists!

We walked further to the church, La Concepción, a beautiful little place in the center, strangely there was no one around (siesta?). Santa Cruz is not touristic at all by the way, we barely saw any tourists. So nice to walk in quiet streets, such a contrast with the tourist flooded streets in the center of Barcelona. We sat down at the plaza in front of the church, enjoying the silence, the shadow and a refreshing mojito. 

 

I love these trees! You can find them everywhere on the island. 

 

These mojitos… Chris had a normal one, I took the one with sandía (watermelon).

We continued to Plaza de España, were Chris enjoyed the artificial lake, surrounded by mountains. 

There are so many cactuses in this city… and so many kinds!

Another place we really enjoyed in the city was the Parque García Sanabria. So green, so many different plants and trees; a beautiful park with great picnic potential, if we wouldn’t have stuffed ourselves so much for lunch. 

At night, we went to see the Auditorio, which was only a few minutes away from the hotel. We saw this great empty pool on our way. 

 

This was our first day on Tenerife! In the next post, I’ll tell you all about the second part of the trip, Puerto de la Cruz, and our road trip adventures.

For now, Chris and I are enjoying our last free day, drinking coffee with Baileys and whipped cream (yolo!), watching our series (we discovered Honey Boo Boo…) and having sushi tonight. Hope you’re all having a great summer too!

Next stop: Puerto de la Cruz.