Scenes from Flight Air Iberia 5848 (Operated as Vueling 3217)

July 18, 2016 by tdelora

Time to move on. Although the itinerary said Air Iberia we were really on Vueling Airlines to and from the Canary Islands. A low cost airlines and it showed. But we made it and that was the purpose.

We left from Tenerife-North Airport, a place that has always interested me as an airplane nerd. Aviation history was was made here, that is all I will say.

Bye bye Tenerife.

Landfall near Sagres, Portugal.

Great views today.

Montserrat

Getting ready to land in Barcelona.

Well this is not bad…

Volcano Time

July 16, 2016 by tdelora

We can’t resist climbing nearby volcanoes it seems. Last year it was Etna, this year El Teide. Syd saw Vesuvius when she visited Pompeii a few weeks ago so she is one up (kind of) on her parents.

Like Etna access to El Teide has been made easy with the installation of a cable car that climbs 3500+ feet in 8 minutes. And with the cable car base station at an elevation of 7700 feet meant we were at 11000 feet for the start of our hike. We had a great view for those moments we got winded and needed a rest. El Teide (the highest point in Spain, 90 miles off the coast of Morocco???) is an active volcano with the last major eruption in 1909 while Etna is in a constant state of slow but steady eruption. Christopher Columbus reported that El Teide was erupting when he sailed by Tenerife on his way to ‘India’ in 1492. I always smile when I think how much the world has changed since Admiral Columbus’s time, imagine trying to explain to him that the Canary Islands would one day be full of something called tourists who would have access to the islands from Europe in a matter of hours. Would he believe you? Now take the same thought and roll it forward, where is the world going to be in 2516, would we believe it?

After climbing El Teide we decided to visit some towns on the north side of the island but as they say, what goes up must go down. With the cable car base station at an elevation of 7700 feet and our hotel at ~300 feet (a beach hotel) we had a ways to drop. And although the mileage was low the road layout meant endless switchbacks so even short distances took time. Kim said think of the part of the big island of Hawaii that you are not allowed to drive on but with roads. By the time we got back to ‘sea-level’ we decided we had had enough and headed back towards the hotel with frequent stops. This place is beautiful so we hardly suffered.

My motto is “So far away I can’t walk home.” Can’t swim home either from here.

In El Parque Nacional del Teide, already at 7700 feet.

Hey I am in a picture!

The ride up.

El Teide.

The beginning was easy.

The rough way forward.

Syd and El Teide.

Looking north to Puerto de la Cruz from El Teide.

A fish eye view…

Another load to the top to El Teide.

I think I see my car…

On the way down…

… but still have 3500 feet to go…

Beautiful water.

On TF-42 near San Juan de la Rambla. Looks like Hawaii eh?

Garachico, Tenerife.

Los Gigantes.

S L O W Day (Two)

July 15, 2016 by tdelora

We planned an even balance of touring and down days on this trip. Sitting around is not something that comes naturally to me, I start to twitch after a while. But it is good for us, no pressure except when to get into the pool.

Not that there was no (minor) drama, the Internet service has been spotty and my roll as IT head at home also extends to travel issues. I did my research and when I asked the hotel staff what was up with their internet connection I was told to cycle the wifi and if that does not fix it the device itself. I told them that the devices are fine and the problem was either with their modem to their ISP or at their ISP itself. Ohh was the response I got to that information. The staff later confirmed I was correct and they were working with their ISP to fix the issue. They apologized rather profusely for the problems, and I told them I was on an island in the Atlantic Ocean and the fact that I had internet service at all was pretty amazing. We had a good laugh over that.

Back to relaxing… Twitch…