It has been over 20 years since we last visited the Canary Islands on a cruise ship. At that time we stopped at Las Palma, Gran Canarias, if memory serves us right. Taking a tour back then, we drove into the crater of a huge volcano where the locals had farms producing vegetables and fruit, as well as raising animals. Of course, the volcanoes were considered dormant, but who knows for sure? We do remember that local potatoes were brought onboard and they were gigantic, thin-skinned, and yellow on the inside. Also, they were full of water, making the mashed potatoes very moist and almost runny.
Today's port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a new one for us. Had it not been a Sunday, and Palm Sunday at that, the information booths may have been opened and we might have gotten a map of the area. Without a printed map, we had to rely on our memory of what we found on Google about the city.
The Canary Islands belong to Spain, and the archipelago is autonomous. They speak Canarian Spanish and use the Euro for currency. You may have heard that these islands are named after a pretty yellow canary bird, but that is not so. The word "Canarias" actually means dog. This is also based on the info we learned 20 years ago, but a specific type of dog is indigenous here, and they are like bull mastiffs. Large and powerful, some were considered dangerous. There is much more to the story, but that's all we can remember. And the internet has been so undependable, we cannot always get online to check the facts.
Anyway, these islands are volcanic and the beaches are natural black sand. Some exceptions are where the white sand is imported by the thousands of tons to create beaches here and there around the islands. What is their favorite food? A sauce called mojo is served with every meal especially one that has potatoes. They prefer fish, chicken, rabbit stew, and lots of fresh goat cheese. Wine is a big item here, as is olive oil. It is considered proper to leave a 10% tip on your restaurant bill. And before Covid, up to 4 million cruise ship passengers visited these islands every year.
The Zuiderdam arrived to the port under sunny skies with temps in the low 70's. With the clocks going ahead one hour a few days ago, it was still dark at 7am, and the island was lit up. By the way, the ship docked portside to the pier, but starboard side to the island. We had company….the Costa Fascinosa was docked directly across from us, just steps away from the downtown area. This ship is 113,000 gross tons, and was built in 2012. It holds as many as 3000 guests with a crew of 1100. It also has 650 balcony rooms. It is described as an upbeat Italian ship with décor to match. Mostly trendy families sail on her, and at Christmas and Easter, it can be half full of kids. It offers continental European dining with many Italian dishes. It is reported to have 50 pasta dishes between all of the restaurants onboard. It has a three plus star rating according to Berlitz travel book, which happens to be the same as the Zuiderdam. So we expect to see a lot of folks in town today.
There were seven tours offered here beginning with Panoramic Mt. Teide for $70 and 4 ½ hours. For $90, you could book either Tacoronte Wine and Walk for 4 ¾ hours, or gardens of the valley for 4 ½ hours. Anaga Mountains and Colonial Laguna was $80 for 4 ½ hours, while for the same price, you could see Santa Cruz and Pyramid Park for 4 hours. A Tenerife 4 x 4 adventure ride in a safari vehicle was $140 for 4 ½ hours and Mt. Teide with lunch was $150 for 8 hours.
To begin, there was no TV reception here today. We know that sometimes it will be turned off temporarily while we are docking, but then it resumes for the rest of the day. Calling the front desk, we were told that the mountains were blocking the signal. We have heard that excuse more than we like. Then we were advised that the reception would return after we left this island, so we would have to wait and try it then. Kind of funny that the islanders have TV reception from satellites that are not blocked by the volcanoes. Something was not adding up.
We left the ship by 10:15am, after watching a whole lot of produce and other items being loaded into the ship. Now we know we will not all starve. This pier looked so much like the one in Funchal with high concrete walls blocking the choppy seas on the other side. Even a few vendors had small shops opened within this wall bulkhead. There was no terminal building, but just a gate to walk through. From here we followed the blue line painted on the sidewalk, which led to the lagoon where the sailboats and yachts were moored. We walked across a pedestrian bridge that crossed the highway, putting us at the base of the downtown area. This walk took us over 20 minutes. We also found it odd that there was no shuttle to take the folks to town. We did not even see taxis near the gangway either.
Our destination was the marketplace, but had sort of an idea where it was located. There were some street signs, but not detailed enough from the pier area. So we continued on the waterside promenade walkway and ended up near the central bus depot. Right across the road was a very modern building which we were told was a new aquarium. Then directly across the busy street was a rummage sale with a block-full of tables set up with stuff from old jewelry, to used books and levis, purses, backpacks, and household knick-knacks galore. If we had walked the length of this street, we would have run right into the marketplace. Instead, we continued up the road past the bus station.
This is where the road ended, and we went around the back streets, then followed that back towards what we thought was downtown. At this end of town, were two identical towers of apartments and condos, and that's when we realized how far we had come from the pier. As luck would have it, we ran right into the old market by the name of Questra Sinosa Market, which was extremely busy today despite that fact that it was Palm Sunday. The center section of this old-tiled structure housed mostly the produce stalls. They had the nicest fresh fruit and veggies we have seen thus far, and we do hope some of it has made its way to our ship today. The outside stalls held the cheeses, chicken, deli meats, and bakery goods. There were even a few live garden plants and fresh flowers sold in stalls. Their Easter lilies were about to open up, and when they do, the aroma will carry for blocks. What a stark difference between this market and the last one we saw while in The Gambia.
Finding the main pedestrian avenues by crossing a bridge that spanned a highway and a canal, we had discovered the heart of downtown Santa Cruz. This area was full of small shops, but the cafes and restaurants were not all opened. There were a few street cafes set up with coffee and sweet pastries, but no real lunch venues. Many locals were out and about with their families and dogs. We relaxed on a nice bench in the sun watching the locals pass by. Our buddies Rich and Peg wandered by with their tablemates, and told us they had ridden the tram up the hill, then were making their way back down, also looking for the marketplace. Remarking how much this looked like Barcelona, Peg said we happened to be sitting near their La Rambla street. So we headed up the hill on this pedestrian-only avenue finding more and more people doing the same.
Many of the old colonial buildings were up this high. Some of them looked like government facilities, but others were actually clinics and a hospital. At the end of this street was a very lovely roundabout park, complete with tiled benches and a central fountain. Each bench was created by a different artist, so each one was unique . Ancient trees were in the center as well.
We did pass by one restaurant that might have been perfect for a pizza and beer lunch. However, the doors were opened to their patio seating, but no one was in there. Perhaps they opened later in the day. We continued walking back down the people-only streets until we reached a main square down by the water. There was a craft faire going on near the huge fountain and monument. At this tented faire, we did buy some almond cookies. We also saw McDonalds on the corner. It was full of lunch folks, and perhaps many cruise passengers and crew members.
Following the blue line once again, we were back to the ship by 1:45pm, where we ordered a room service lunch. Considering that many of the shorter tours were filing back on the ship, our lunch came within 20 minutes. No it was not the pizza we had wanted, but club sandwiches, and just as nice.
All aboard was at 4:30pm, but we still were not moving by 5pm. With no message from Captain Frank, we did not know what was happening. Wanting to get some photos from deck 10, we went up there to discover that we were still in the process of bunkering fuel. We watched the Costa ship leave by 5:30pm, but we did not move until close to 7:30pm. No explanation from anyone, we figured we were close to the next island of Lanzarote, and had plenty of time to get there.
Heo and Greg had dinner plans in the Canaletto, so there were just 5 of us. The salads were back on the menu. Speaking of menus, now the format was changed. There are several "everyday" items listed on one side, then the appetizers, mains, and desserts on the opposite side. Now we have a more complete list of the types of ice cream and sorbet they serve each night. If they would only drop the fancy but mysterious descriptions of the food, and use simple English, we would all be most grateful.
By the way, we did turn the TV on when we came back from dinner and guess what? No reception yet. Calling the front desk, we were told this time that the local government had blocked our signal, and it will not return until we leave Lanzarote tomorrow. How do you think the guests will like that? Has this happened to others of you that have visited these islands on a ship recently? Sure would love to know……
Bill & Mary Ann
