Holiday in the North

We first drove to Masca, which has very winding roads,( not advisable to take this road if you have a hangover or have had a particularly large breakfast though ! ). The views from Masca are spectacular. Masca is a tiny mountain village perched on rocks with fantastic views of the sea .

Our next stop was Buenavista del Norte on the coast where we watched some amazing boogie boarders . Then had lunch on the edge of the ocean in a wonderful restaurant 'El Burgado' which was recommended by friends of ours who are travel writers link.

Boogie boarder at Buenavista

Restaurant 'El Burgado'

Our first couple of nights was spent in Puerto del la Cruz 'las Aquillas Hotel" which is a very reasonable priced hotel you get a one bedroom appartment with Jacuzzi and sea view for 140 euros for two nights half board. The breakfast is huge , it normally lasts us all day until the evening meal..

Puerto del La Cruz has amazing restaurants one night we eat at 'Mil Sabores' the meal came to 120 euros for four , but the standard of the cusine is so high. in London you would pay double for this kind of standard of cooking. The Chef in this restaurant is an artist his food not only tastes amazing but the presentation is beautiful..

Unfortunately I fell off my bike when we went cycling at our next stop 'La Esperanza' it was raining though !, but slamming on the brakes when going down a wet slope was probably not the best decision I have made lately. I basically flew over the handle bars and on my nose and ribs !. I managed to get back to the car , very slowly. I had completely bent my left brake but surprisingly it still worked.

Me at the start of our bike ride before I was covered in dirt..!

When I got back to the car my nose was starting to throb, so I went into a restaurant to ask for some ice for my nose but due to being a bit 'out of it', I forgot the word for 'ice' (helo in spanish) and asked the barman for 'helado' icecream instead. The barman then responded in a confused tone and said "What flavour, vanilla"? . I was by this time getting some funny looks from customers. I soon discovered why, when I went to the bathroom. I looked like someone who had been living in the wilds of the forest for a month. I was covered in dirt from head to toe..!

After lunch in La Esperenza and copious amounts of ice applied to my expanding nose, we made our way to the 'Parador Hotel' Mount Teide. The Parador is a fantastic place to stay to watch the sun go down and experience the silence and of course the rocky, moonscape, vista is incredible.


The evening meal at the Parador was excellant. The first course Richard had sardines with sweet red peppers and salad and I had a pan fried smoked cheese. main course Richard had goat stew in maderia and I had filets of pork in a mustard sauce, yummy !

View out of our window at The Parador late afternoon

Before sunset