Items filtered by date: May 2024

This video was taken in July 2012 at the display to celebrate the fiesta of Our Lady of Carmen in Puerto de Santiago, Tenerife. The firework display was superb and lasted over 20 minuites, but this clip is of the last few minutes.

This this stunning time-lapse video sequence by Daniel López of Mount Teide and the Las Cañadas Caldera on Tenerife above the clouds, shows how beautiful it really is on Tenerife. It is put perfectly to music and shows the sea like movement of the clouds you don't get to see in normal time. It really is just amazing and awe inspiring. It makes you feel quite emotional watching it.

British airways are starting a new route from London Gatwick to Tenerife south (Reina Sophia) airport on 31st March 2013. The new route will be competing directly with the budget airlines, easyJet, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thompson and will operate return flights 5 times a week.

The introduction of this flight brings a premier service to the island with full Business Class service available to those who want it and introduces an important niche product to the market. There will be 134 seats available on each flight and 25 of these will be Business Class.

The BA flights will reinforce flights to the island and also put Tenerife in the premium market.

BA flights include complimentary drinks and meal depending on the time of day of the flight, early morning flights include a breakfast. The hold baggage allowance is 23kgs each with unlimited hand luggage weight but the dimensions of hand luggage are limited.

BA previously flew to Tenerife from 2000 to 2008 although this was via the GB Airways franchise. For those longing for an upmarket alternative to the budget airlines this will be a welcome return.

Convento de San Francisco

The Convent de San Francisco on the Plaza Glorieta de San Francisco is a former convent that now houses various exhibitions, one being a very interesting account of the 1706 volcanic eruption that partially destroyed Garachico. This exhibition is displayed in Spanish so you may need you phrase book to help with the translation but the picture displays are very good at visually explaining the event.

Convento de San Francisco Garachico Tenerife

Iglesia de Santa Ana

Garachico’s church that was rebuilt between 1714 and 1721 after it was mostly destroyed by the volcanic eruption of 1707.

Iglesia de Santa Ana Garachico Tenerife

Castillo de San Miguel

The small castle on the sea front built to defend the old port against pirates in 1575. It houses some small exhibitions.

Castillo de San Miguel Garachico

Swim in the Natural Rock Pools

Swim in the natural sea rock pools that were formed by the volcanic eruption of 1702. You’ll need to make sure the sea is not too rough as the sea surges in to the rock pools.

Natural Sea Pools Garachico Tenerife

Hotel La Quinta Roja

Take a look at the Hotel La Quinta Roja the 17th century mansion built by the Ponte family from Genoa in Italy, with a superb example of an Canarian court yard.

Hotel La Quinta Roja Garachico Tenerife

Walks

You can take a walk on a route that starts from Garachico up to the mountains and the volcanoes of Negro and Chinyero on a walking route known as Sendero (Trail) PR-TF 43.

PR-TF 43 Waking Route Tenerife

Out of all the Canary Islands Gran Canaria has the largest gay scene. The Island of Tenerife is now promoting more venues and beaches, for the gay scene. It is beginning to catch up with Gran Canaria.

There are some nice gay bars in the South of Tenerife, these are all in Playa de las Americas. There are various bars in the Salytien commercial shopping centre on the seafront.  The bars are not always easy to find but the shopping centre is not large. The clientele for these bars is a mix of Spanish, European and English. Nightlife for the gay scene does not start to liven up until after 11pm.

For Chaplin’s bar you go down a few stairs, Chaplin’s has two entrances and sometimes only one entrance will be open. This bar is popular and stays open until the early hours of the morning. There are private cabins, some evenings there is a drag cabaret.

Playa Flor bar and terrace is a great place to start your evening. It is part of the Playaflor apartment complex which is exclusively gay. The bar is decorated in Moroccon style, and has a large terrace. If you just want to take it easy, Playaflor is a good place to stay. You can sunbath around a nice size pool, and with the South’s good climate this makes a relaxing holiday.

The town that has the most gay clubs and bars is Puerto de la Cruz in the North of Tenerife.  Puerto de la Cruz offers a colourful range of entertainment for the gay scene. There are discos, bars, restaurants, and the town even has a sex shop for those holiday essentials. Every year there is a parade this has a lively party atmosphere, and the high heels dash is for drag queens only. Vampis is a popular gay club, it also attracts open minded people, and there is a drag show around 2am.

Puerto de la Cruz has its own parade this is around the time of the main Carnival in Santa Cruz mid-February. The main event of this yearly parade is the High Heels dash for drag queens only. Contestants turn up in outrageous costumes, and the heels are measured with some as high as stilts. The contestants race around an obstacle course. This event is around 16^th- 25^th February and has a good party atmosphere.

There are a number of Nude beaches in Tenerife, and there is usually a gay/cruising area. There is a small pebbly beach in Los Cristianos at the far end of the resort. The beach area in front of the above mentioned Salytien shopping centre in Las Americas attracts a lot of cruising. Also in this area there is a beach called Bora Bora, and this is popular for evening cruising. There is a large beautiful sandy nudist beach at El Medano. The beach is nice so does attract families as well, however there are sand dunes around so some privacy can be obtained. El Medano is in the South and famous for the windsurfing.

The Water Park Lago Martinez in Puerto de la Cruz offers a gay area, and this is to the left as you walk into the park. Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz have gay saunas.

One event that must go on Tenerife’s gay calendar is the Santa Cruz Carnival, it is second in the world to the Rio de Janeirro Carnival in Brazil. The main Carnival is in the capital of the Island Santa Cruz, Feb-March time. The Carnival is loud, colourful, with stunning girls and guys dressed in elaborate costumes. Lots of glamour is all put into this entertaining show.

If you decide to have a holiday around carnival time, the hotels in Santa Cruz get booked up early, so plan well ahead. There are gay friendly hotels throughout the Island. Which leaves us to say have a good holiday from etenerifeholidays.co.uk

Agatha Christie a writer of Murder Mystery books was known as the Mystery Lady. It was during the year 1927 that she herself disappeared for a while. This was a difficult time for Agatha. Her husband had an affair, and divorced her. Also Agatha had got into debt. Due to these circumstances she had an emotional breakdown, and could not be found for ten days. She then reappeared in a Hotel in Harrogate, claiming she had suffered from amnesia caused by her breakdown. There was a headline in the Daily Sketch newspaper that read ‘Mrs Agatha Christie Found Alive'. Some thought that the puzzling disappearance was in fact intentional so she could escape from the public eye for a while.

Agatha had become weak and could not face writing. To get away from it all she decided to take a trip to the Canary Islands with her twelve year old daughter Rosalind, and her secretary Charlotte Fischer.

She arrived at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the 4th February 1927, aboard a ship from the Union Castle Mail Steam Ship Company. She travelled to Puerto de la Cruz; there were no hotels there, as Puerto de la Cruz was just a little Fishermen’s village. In the centre of the village accommodation could be found in the old mansions, which were being turned into guest houses for the tourists that were now visiting the Island. Among these mansions were the Hotels Martianez, Monopol, and Marquesa. The Hotels are still there accommodating tourists to this day.

Agatha Christie Daily Sketch HeadlineAt the time of Agatha’s visit there was one Hotel called Hotel Taoro. This was situated on a hill in Puerto de la Cruz. It was a luxury hotel with elaborate décor, and modern comforts of that time. The hotel was surrounded by typical English gardens, and lawns. Agatha found that by walking around these beautiful gardens she could concentrate on taking notes for her books. Most of her book titled ‘The Mystery of the Blue Train’ was written while staying on the Island, and it was while finishing this particular book that Agatha first realized that her writing had in fact become her job. She decided to pay off her debts with the sales from the book.

Agatha based another story ‘The Man from the Sea’ on a particular setting in Tenerife. This short story is in her book ‘The Mysterious Mr Quin’, and is based around the estate of La Paz in Puerto de la Cruz. The house was the holiday home of the famous Cologan family. She used the country estate as the setting to write this short story.

 
Tenerife’s perfect weather was known to have an improvement on people’s health, especially any condition to do with the lungs. Agatha found her own pastimes on the Island that proved good for her health, relaxing in the sea baths, and enjoying being outside in the steady temperatures and mild trade winds.

The beauty of the botanical diversity that Tenerife has, with the Islands variety of assorted trees, flowers and shrubs, and the majestic El Teide looking down on it all gave Agatha a lot of enthusiasm for her writing. The spectacular landscape and the peace of the Island helped the writer to continue with her career.

Agatha thought Orotava was lovely; however she did not like the mist and fog that came down from the mountain. Her other dislike was that she found some of the beaches were unsafe for swimming. Agatha made a decision to try one of the other Canary Islands and set off to stay on the Island of Gran Canaria.

To this day the people of Tenerife are very proud that Agatha Christie stayed on the Island. There is an International Agatha Christie Festival that takes place in Puerto de la Cruz once a year. The murder mystery festival has a variety of events; these include theatre productions in Spanish and English, book presentations, music, lectures, and film shows. There are even English afternoon teas.

The festival is relatively new compared to Tenerife’s traditional festivals. Christie fans arrive from all over the world, but particularly from Britain. Agatha would never have thought her stay back in 1927 would have created such an interest; she bought a little bit of England to Tenerife.

Jubo Jubogha was a merchant prince, and founder of Opobo state which is in the Southern area of Nigeria. At the age of twelve he was sold as a slave. Jubo had good business sense at an early age, and worked his way out of slavery. Jubo became known as Ja- Ja for his dealings with the Europeans and British. He arrived in Opobo in 1870.

Jubo became involved in palm oil trading. He started a trading post in the town which he called The Kingdom of Opobo. The European traders called him King Jaja. A war started between Jubo and the Annang and Ibibio people who lived on the Southeast coast of Nigeria. He had never got on with them, and when he made himself the middle man for the palm oil trading, he asked the Annang and Ibibio people to stop dealing with the Europeans. This is when they fell out with Jubo, he was then exiled to the West Indies.Jaja of Opobo

In 1881 Jubo was granted permission to return to Opobo. While travelling back he died, it is thought he was poisoned with a cup of tea. Following his exile and death the state of Opobo lost its power.

Somehow his body was shipped to Tenerife in the Canary Islands and he was buried there. His people were so angry about this and the exile they demanded the body of their king was returned to Opobo. Jubo was exhumed and returned to his people who had never given up hope that one day their beloved king would come back to them.

In his memory his people spent two years in mourning and held a special ceremony so that Jubo would be remembered forever.

Tenerife has had more than its fair share of being involved with historic events over the years. Some very interesting people have visited the Island or their story has involved the Island in some way like King Jaja of Opobo.

With all the history that the Island of Tenerife holds, you cannot book a Ghost Tour anywhere. It’s as if all the old Mansion houses, chapels, and other historic buildings are to remain in a shroud of mystery.  Tenerife does not wish to promote any ghostly activity.

If you do some research it will reveal a lot of interesting stories around the Island, and evidence that Tenerife does have ghosts. If a place is haunted the people of Tenerife would not be proud of this and neither would they promote it even for the tourism trade. Below are short stories that we have come across on our travels.

Gaunche Ghosts

There are many caves around Tenerife which the Gaunche people used to live in. Tenerife was their homeland; the Spanish betrayed them, and killed many Gaunches. Some of the Gaunche men committed suicide rather than be killed by the Spanish soldiers. Some of the caves are believed to be haunted by the Gaunche men who used to live there.

Vilaflor Ghost

In the mountains there is a village called Vilaflor. Before the Spanish conquest the Gaunche people lived on Tenerife, and the village was known as Chasna. There is a legend how Vilaflor got its name. According to traditional beliefs a Spanish captain fell in love with a Gaunche young woman. He   imprisoned her so she could not leave him, but she managed to escape. The intense anguish of the Captains heartache was so bad that he died. The last words he said were Vi la flor de chasna which means I saw the flower of Chasna.
There has been paranormal activity in the village of Vilaflor, and this takes place where there is a very old Canarian tree.

Ghosts of Slaves

Back in the days when there was a work force of slaves on the banana plantations, many of the slaves were killed. It is believed there are mass graves under some of the banana plantations. The spirits of the dead slaves come back appearing as ghosts.

Guimar Mysteries

The town of Guimar is best known for its mysterious pyramids. Near to this town is a ravine known as Barranco de Badajoz. It is here at this ravine that paranormal activity is most likely to be encountered. There is a story about a young girl who was sent by her parents to look for fruit on the trees in the ravine. The girl disappeared there were lots of searches for her, but she had just vanished. This happened between 1890 and 1910. Decades later the little girl appeared again looking the same as when she had disappeared, and she did not think she had been gone that long. Some people say the truth is the Barranco is a portal to another time or dimension. Sightings of ghosts and UFOS have also been seen here at Barranco de Badajoz.

Barranco de Badajoz

Haunted Garachico

Garachico is a very old town it used to be a seaport. Today it attracts tourists who find the historic town full of interesting old manor houses, churches and other old buildings. Many of these are said to be haunted.

The Ghost of Catherine in La Laguna

The Museum of the History of Tenerife in La Laguna has a ghost of a young woman called Catherine. Her story is sad and more can be read about her tragic death by going to The Ghost of Catherine.

The Ghost Island Mystery

The most unusual Tenerife ghost is an Island. It is called San Borondon and exists as the eighth Canary Island. The Mystery Island is also known as Ghost Island. It is not visible most of the time but throughout history people have confirmed seeing the Island. On a bright clear day it is possible to see La Gomeraand La Palma so maybe these islands are what people have seen. When there is cloud cover, you cannot see either of these Islands.

The Island of San Borondon is an unusual story for our imagination. And the accounts above show that Tenerife is just like other places and does have its fair share of ghostly goings on.

Sandos San Blas Nature Resort is situated on the Gulf Del Sur in the South of Tenerife and is a five star all-inclusive Hotel. When you arrive at the large reception area of the Sandos Hotel, you will find the staff are friendly and helpful. They give you all the information you will need to know about your stay.

A porter will help with your luggage to your room, and on the way there point out a few things you may find helpful to know. The porter will then take the time to show you where certain things are in the room before leaving you to unpack and settle in. The Sandos Hotel is a relatively new modern design building, and the rooms represent this unusual design with a touch of luxury. They are bright and spacious in contemporary design.

The standard of cleaning in the rooms is high. Suites are available to book as well. The bathrooms have showers and hydro massage baths, also included is an excellent range of toiletries and special soaps for you to enjoy.

The balconies have nice comfortable wicker chairs and a table. In the rooms is a safety deposit box, television, extra towels for pool use, hairdryer, and fridge. All rooms have air conditioning. A minibar pricelist is available at reception. You can phone the 24 hour reception anytime for room service. Wi Fi is available in the rooms at no extra cost, and there is free parking on site. A reservation is needed for a parking space.

There are eight swimming pools on different levels, two of the pools are heated. On the top level is an adult only pool, the lower level pools tends to be busy with families who have small children. There are plenty of sunbeds around the pools and two bars.

The bars serve alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, ice creams, and coffee as part of the all-inclusive plan. There is a drinks menu so you will know what drinks are included in the all-inclusive package, such as Gordon's Gin, and other local branded alcoholic drinks as well.

There is some entertainment put on for the children during the day, and there is a Mini Club for children from four to twelve years old, and a Mini disco every night.

Next to the Mini Club is a little shop selling sun creams and other holiday items. However Gulf Del Sur is within walking distance where there is a supermarket and a few other shops. If you want a book to read during your stay you will not have to go far to choose one as there is a library on the third floor of the main building of the Hotel.

The Hotel has a fitness centre, tennis and volleyball courts, and Kayak in the boating lake. This is supervised and you would need to book. There are weekly sports and activities, just a couple of examples are Salsa lessons, and Traditional Canarian Sport games.

If you want to go out without going through the reception area you will find a gate near the pools by the sea. There is a small beach just over the road, with a few sunbeds and coconut umbrellas to use. Then there is Gulf del Sur to look around, plus two renowned nearby golf courses. For those who want to venture out further there is a tour desk in the Hotel for booking trips, and a free shuttle bus service to Playa Las Americas. You will need to book this in advance at reception.

The Sandos Hotel is in a Nature reserve area. In some of the rooms in the hotel there are large pictures with details of what you may see around the nature reserve area. Hence this is not a busy tourist area.
The main restaurant offers all meals included in the all-inclusive package. There is another restaurant on the Sandos complex called La Proa, advanced booking is required. This restaurant faces the ocean, serving a Gourmet menu, and is not included in the all-inclusive plan.

The All-inclusive plan offers the first meal of the day which is breakfast. Brunch is from 11:00 till 12:00 with cold meats, salad, pastries, juices, tea and coffee. Lunch is at one, and afternoon tea is from 16:00 till 18:00. This is a buffet of cheese, meats, fresh bread, fruit, and cakes. There are also hot dogs, or chicken with chips. If you missed the lunch the afternoon tea will keep you going until the evening meal. The dress code for dinner is casual elegant.

After the evening meal during the summer season, you can sit outside on a large terrace and enjoy the entertainment. Out of the summer season there is a Show Hall in the main building. There are live shows every night for the whole family. The bars serve all-inclusive drinks up until 23:00 hours, after which time you have to pay full price for all drinks. The bar opening times may change subject to the season.
The Lobby Bar by the reception area has live music in the evenings, and in here you will find late night snacks from 22:30 till 23:30. Mainly this is a selection of sandwiches, which is most welcome if you have been out for the day and missed the evening meal.