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| Mount Teide Volcano |
The weather has been amazing here in Tenerife. We love walking along the water or beach just to soak in the sun. We ventured out to see the Teide volcano since basking in the sun on the beach isn’t the only thing to do here.
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| 3 reptiles in the park: Gecko, Lizard and Skink. This looked more like a lizard. They were everywhere. Some visitors were throwing small apple pieces and they would run and grab them. I counted at least 15 running in the small area by the trees. |
It took us almost two hours to drive up the windy roads and Chuck was having way too much fun trying to see how fast he could take the curves.
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| Beautiful view looking through the green Canary Island Pine Trees |
I think he enjoys tormenting me! As we drove to the top, there were many photo opportunities so I tried to pick out the best ones. There are so many. We also had to stop and watch some paragliders jumping off.
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| Paragliders getting ready to launch. |
That was interesting and fun! It was another beautiful hot day. Everything I read indicated one should wear long pants and a jacket because it is much cooler at the top.
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| And they’re off! |
Chuck wore his usual shorts and t-shirt and took a jacket just in case. I wore a long sleeve shirt and long pants, however the bottom of the pants zip off to make shorts.
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| They were riding tandem which means one was driving while the other was taking selfies! |
Those came off as soon as we arrived and I had to roll up my sleeves. It as a little cooler but not enough for long pants.
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| Gliding down to the water |
The name of the volcano on Tenerife is Mount Teide. Its summit (at 3,718 m (12,198 ft)) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic.
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| The red hue of the rocks and gravel were pretty |
Its is an amazing view. I made the mistake of thinking I could compare it to Denali but found it was hard to compare since Denali in Alaska is 20,310 feet and is a mountain.
So, in its own right, it has a beauty to it when it comes to volcano’s and not mountains.
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| Rock formations were in various places. Kind of like a Stonehenge of sorts |
The volcano and its surroundings comprise Teide National Park, which has an area of 47,000 acres and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007. It is the most visited natural wonder of Spain, the most visited national park in Spain and Europe and – by 2015 – the eighth most visited in the world, with some 3 million visitors yearly.
In 2016, it was visited by 4,079,823 visitors reaching a historical record.
It’s considered an active volcano. However, Teide’s last eruption was in 1909.
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| An Observatory was available. They have night time tours that will allow you to view the stars. I’m sure its amazing. |
Much of the rocks can be seen along side the road as you drive. The further up you drive, the trees and shrubbery turn into desolate rocks.
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| Panoramic view of the volcano floor |
An interesting historical event was Christopher Columbus reported seeing “a great fire in the Orotava Valley” as he sailed past Tenerife on his voyage to discover the New World in 1492.
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| The rock formations along the road were beautiful |
This was interpreted as indicating that he had witnessed an eruption there. Radiometric dating of possible lavas indicates that in 1492 no eruption occurred in the Orotava Valley, but one did occur from the Boca Cangrejo area, which is on the other side of the island, closer to where we are staying.
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| The winding roads through made for an interesting photo |
A fun fact is that Teide casts the world’s largest shadow projected on the sea. This phenomenon occurs during sunset. One characteristic is that the shadow has a perfectly triangular shape, even though Teide’s silhouette does not; this is an effect of perspective.
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| Photo from the website showing the shadow. Very cool! |
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| The very top of Mount Teide. Would need to ride the cable cars to get to the very top. |
Maybe if we are ambitious, we’ll go back and see if we can see this sunset and shadow. They have cable cars that can take you all the way to the top of the summit but we chose to stay at the highest point drivable, i.e. the gift shop and cable car entrance.
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| This was a life size statue beside the cable car access. Maybe a memorial? |
We really enjoyed the drive there and back. Chuck said it would have been better if we had a convertible. I agree! It had some true beauty in the colors of the rocks and trees as well as looking down on the villages below.
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| View from close to the top. |
God sure has a way of showing off this beauty in all that He creates, even if its just a volcano.
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 