Adonis Resort Castalia Park Playa de las Americas

I first visited Tenerife in 1970 with my parents, it was our second holiday abroad. I have been returning ever since. First with my young children, and now just my wife and I. Although the children, now adults in there 20s still ask, 'when can we come'.

A couple of years ago, we bought a second home just outside Puerto de la Cruz, with a view of spending the winter months here in our retirement. In the meantime we come out two or three times a year 'on holiday'.

Ein bisschen wie nach Hause kommen...
im Anflug auf den Nordflughafen kommt der so oft erklommene Teide mit seinen nun allerdings betrachtet ein wenig laecherlich anmutenden 3817 metern in den Blick,
ein Schritt aus dem Flughafengebaeude und man ist in bekannten Gefilden, wartet auf den seit Jahren bekannten Bus und steht eine halbe Stunde spaeter vor dem wohlbekannten Appartement in Puerto de la Cruz...
mit einem eigenen Herd, einem Kuehlschrank ...

... la carte restaurant. The Jardin Tropical marks the beginning of the Costa Adeje coast which is where all the new top standard hotels are located. At the far end of Playa Fanabe is the Jardins de Nivaria, a five star hotel ...

... sympatycznie. Rano musialam byc na gangway`u i robic zdjecia. Potem, w poludnie, poszlismy z cala mafia fotografow na obiad do naszej ulubionej chinskiej restauracji. Tak, urodziny spedzilam na Teneryfie, nalezacej do Wysp Kanaryjskich. I bylo naprawde milo. Niczego wiecej do szczescia nie bylo mi potrzeba. Ale 2 noce pozniej stalo sie cos, czego zupelnie sie nie spodziewalam. Bylo po nocy formalnej, co w praktyce oznaczalo, ze czulam sie potwornie ...

... that's on the boardwalk. It was very quiet along the boardwalk - not sure why...maybe the weather...but it still was comfortable - around 15 C. Andy was still feeling unwell so I brought him back a salad from the restaurant and a nasal spray from the pharmacy. You can't get many over the counter drugs commonly found in North America without seeing a doctor first. Not many pictures to post today - only the sunset and the cactus tree with a very common morning dove sitting on it. My ...

... car trips time). There were no trails or hikes you could take at the top. After the mountain topping cable car ride, we travelled to another viewpoint where there are volcanic rock formations sticking out of the ground called 'pipes'. The soil around them had eroded away, leaving the pipes sticking up from the surrounding landscape. Again, great views.One other stop was at the last volcano to erupt on the island in 1909. The lava flows were ...

... homemade tapas, we had our John's coconut shrimp, Andy's Cesear salad, 'croquettes' (frozen from supermarket, cooked on stove), bread and cheese, prosciutto and ham, olives and finally, red wine. It was very good and much easier then trying to figure out which restaurant to go to! Afterwards, we played Kaiser again (and drank a wonderful Spanish bottle of cabernet wine) and as usually, John and Andy kicked our butts.

... the balcony watching the evening lights come on also helped make for a great dinner. We decided to try a couple of bars we had seen on the internet but when we arrived they weren't open. The 1 bar only opens at 10pm, we were told by an arriving employee and the other after midnite! Well, that's much too late for old ***** like us so we went back home and had a nightcap there.

... a cheap Chinese buffet restuarant. It was only 6.75E. The best part was the coconut ice cream. One annoying feature of the boardwalk is that each restuarant has a 'hawker' outside of it trying to get you to eat there. You have to just ignore them. There are alot of British tourists here and it doesn't feel very Spanish in this part of the island. On Wednesday, Andy and I went exploring along the boardwalk. It was partly sunny and warm - it feels great to ...

Tenerife 1999 For me the jury is still out on the canary islands. On two occasions we have travelled there after a miserable winter looking for a bit of sunshine to less the seasonal affective disorder. We went to Tenerife in 1999 and got a late deal to stay in Playa de las Americas. The accommodation (assigned on arrival) was O.K. bordering on average and the resort itself is a bit like Blackpool on heat but minus a funfair. Walking ...