Continuation of Day 6 of Azura’s stop in Tenerife.

Readers of my blog yesterday will know, that I left you high up the top of the volcano in the middle of Tenerife, well now it’s time to head back to the coaches…

We soon started to head back down the mountain again, although we were still high enough to be above the cloud layer, so we could see right across the sea to the island of Gran Canaria in the distance.

 

We descended all the way down to the Orotava Valley where nestles the market town of Orotava one of the oldest settlements on the island. Here, after a short walk through the town, we visited the Casa de los Balcones or, the house of balconies.

In here they make and sell fabulous works in lace.

and pottery…

We headed back to the coach again and on to our next stop, lunch!

We expected it just to be in a restaurant but when we got off the coach and the guide started paying our entry through the gates of a park, we knew it was something different. When we rounded the corner we found out just what. They had recreated Tenerife in miniature, from its historical roots…

The Guanche.

The Settlers

and modern day Tenerife…

At the end of the miniature Tenerife experience was our Restaurant, with soup followed by half a chicken in a special Tenerife sauce accompanied by new potatoes. This was all followed by ice cream, a very nice lunch.

Following lunch, with of course the compulsory cup of coffee, it was back to the coach, to head on to the coastal town of Puerto de la Cruz just a short journey away.

Here we had some time to ourselves to just wander along the seafront, go in and out of the tourist shops or just sit and relax and watch the world go by in the sunshine.

There isn’t much of a natural beach in the centre of Puerto de la Cruez, it’s just a tiny bit of black sand…

To get around this they have created their own beach complete with secluded lakes and terraces right next to it…

Unfortunately you have to pay to get in to this bit though what a surprise.

Other than a few tourist shops and the promenade there wasn’t a lot to see in the town so we were glad we only had 45mins to spend looking around there.

From Puerto de la Cruz  the coach took us back up and across the island to Santa Cruz.

We went past the striking wave shaped Auditorium designed by Santiago Calatrava which is one of the top music venues on the island.

and back to where our ship the Azura was waiting for us.

It had been a long day out, but I’m sure you will agree, a really good one. The scenery had been stunning, the information given to us by the guide was brilliant and the weather had stayed perfect a great combination.

Captain Keith Dowds gave the order to cast off the lines that secured Azura and we left Tenerife aboard Azura at 5:36pm enjoying the sunshine as we went.

Tonight's menu…

Tonight’s entertainment was a bit of a mixed bag. we went first to the Malabar lounge where Andrea Dickinson was going to be performing.

With it’s gold trim and palm trees the lounge has a very Eastern feel. There are lots of soft, loose cushions everywhere making it very comfortable too. We therefore got our drinks in and settled down to listen to the acclaimed Andrea Dickenson. Unfortunately when she did come on neither of us really appreciated her singing. Her style just wasn’t for us, so we decided to go up on to the deck and join in the Tropical night party. That was much better and we had much more fun up there. Although we were on deck it wasn’t cold, the atmosphere was good, with good music, good company and great surroundings. A great way to end the day.

Thanks for touring around Tenerife with me, please stay with me as we continue our cruise on-board P&O’s Azura and we dock at another of the Canary Islands.