CANARY ISLANDS II 2018 Pico del Teide 3'717 m

We started our trip to Europe in Zürich where we stayed with Oliver and Lorena. As planned we flew 2 weeks later to Tenerife to get out of the way! On arrival at the Airport Tenerife Sur (TFS) we had to get our car from a near by car hire. Until all the procedures where done it was dark and the built in GPS was outdated, so were the installed maps! Anyway we managed and found our way to the Motorway TF1 heading North toward Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Here it became a bit tricky. After a detour we where back on track (on the TF 5 and on the way to Santa Ursula). In Santa Ursula it was difficult to find a soul, able to give us directions to our Hotel (Hotel Spa La Quinta Park Suites). Finally we learned that we have to go back on the motorway and take the next exit to Santa Ursula La Quinta! and after some serious trial and error attempts we made it just in time for the Dinner Buffet before they closed!

For a week we visited all the towns in the neighborhood and to the horror of my wive we drove up to the Pico de Teide 3'717m on the TF 5 & TF 21 from Puerto de la Cruz. The weather was good and the road up the mountain was narrow but well maintained. Of course big busses crossing left sometimes little room to the abyss. We did not get to the top by cable train due to to the may people wanted to do the same. So we got a restaurant near the station (2'350 m) and relished the beer and the dinner with view of the mountain top! Way back we took the scenic route (TF 24) via San Cristobal de Laguna.

The second week started windy and rainy and the temperature fell by some degree. We visited Shopping Malls (What else?) made some tours around and made the best out of the misery! On Wednesday we drove South where we wanted to spend the rest of the week before heading again to Switzerland. Santa Barbara Golf & Ocean Club was our destination and we got there after some trials (the Navi was a "Pain in the Ass"!). The Hotel was OK, the food as mostly on Tenerife a bit disappointing. The weather was not helpful but we visited the main sights and had a good time.