Santa Cruz, Tenerife

Today, we arrived at our first port-of-call, Santa Cruz, on the Spanish island of Tenerife. We were sharing the port with three other ships, so it was quite busy. Saga had laid on a free shuttle bus to ferry passengers to and from the port entrance, so after enjoying a bit of a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast, we headed towards the gangway to take advantage of the shuttle. A good, well-marked walkway is provided for guests to walk through the port themselves, but it would take a good 15-20 minutes (each way), which is precious time out of our allotted visiting time. All-aboard time was 5:30pm.

Once ashore, we fired up Maps.Me, identified a modest peak within reasonable walking distance and headed in its direction. Our route took us into the city, through a busy park boasting an impressive waterfall where we sat and ate our lunch (bananas from the cabin), and to an old track on the outskirts of the town that led us slowly up a hill.

We were soon treated to some great views across the city. The going was steady and not steep, flanked by lots of cacti and other hardy-looking vegetation, and it was pleasantly warm but not too hot. There did seem to be rather a lot of fly-tipping, though; stuff dumped alongside the track, ranging from crates of bottles to piles of broken ceramics, some of which looked like it had probably been there a long time.

The track wound its way up the hill from terrace to terrace, reminiscent of – possibly – farming activities, long abandoned. Here and there we came across small stone huts, some of which were derelict and abandoned, whilst others clearly had people living in them (one of the most prominent tell-tale signs being washing hanging out on lines).

At the top of the hill we paused to take photographs of the port and city far below, and of the volcanic mountains stretching away into the opposite direction. Satisfied with our physical achievement, we turned and headed back down the hill.

Once back at sea level, we walked through the town, negotiating out way through extensive roadworks that just kept blocking us off and sending us off in different directions, until, at last, we arrived at the large round lake where many visitors congregate… only to find that it had been drained, and the fountain switched off, which is a shame because when it is full of water it provides some good photo opportunities, and great reflections of the city.

After resting for a while, and chatting to an American visitor from one of the other ships, we finally headed back to the port to catch the shuttle back to the ship.

Having missed lunch, we finished the afternoon off by enjoying an ice cream from the help-yourself ice cream machine on the Lido followed by a cold drink and peanuts (and crisps) in the Britannia Lounge.

This is us leaving Tenerife…