.. exploring beautiful places at home, in the Alps or far away
Today we spent most of the time laying in the sun, reading, relaxing! In the afternoon we took the bikes and cycled down to Puerto Naos. We went to a beach bar and enjoyed some patatas arrugadas and fresh orange juice. Puerto Naos offers some souvenir shops and restaurants. There is a big pedestrian area and a huge hotel. Still we decided we like the beach in Tazacorte a lot more 😉
Before we booked the holiday we already decided that this time we want to walk on the Ruta de los Volcanes! We had read about it so many positive things that we wanted to do the hike now. The hike starts at Rifugio de Pilar and ends in Fuencaliente. It takes about 6 hours. So we thought about how to get there and get back because by bus was no option... so we decided to walk only half of it and then go back to the starting point. We parked the car at Rifugio Pilar. From there we walked up to Pico Birigoyo. From there the view is already perfect! Then we continue south via the next volcano! Now we realized that this path is actually closed. We come to the main path and meet a lot of other hikers. Now we walk to the highest point of the hike the Deseada which is 1949m high. It is a unique experience to walk through this volcanic landscape! Here we take a long break and enjoy the view before going back to our car. This hike offers beautiful views and really should be a todo when there are no clouds covering the cumbre vieja! 🙂
Today we rent our mountainbikes at bikenfun in Los Llanos! From Todoque we cycled to Jedey and from there a small road leads up and up and then turns into a paths and leads more up. In the end we pass a field of lava where we take a long break! We are now on a forest road below the Ruta de los volcanes. Actually our plan was to cycle around the cumbre vieja, but this would have taken too much time... so instead we decided to cycle to Llano del Jable which is a perfect view point at the side of an ash field. On this way we pass a deep cave! Cycling down to El Paso from Llano del Jable we are freezing!! Temperature must have dropped by about 10 degrees 😮 From El Paso we continue on the road back to Todoque.
Today we did a really great hike! In the beginning we were not sure what to do, but then we decided to drive to the visitors center and park the car there. From there we walked to the Pino de la Virgen. The pine is about 800 years old and there is a small chapel next to it. The canary pine trees are very special. Their needles always consist of three and they can take water from the clouds and they are very robust even against fire. So we passed this special pine tree and then a nice "camino real" begins. It is an old path that connects the West and East of the island. After about one hour we arrived at the Reventon Pass. From there we continue along the caldera. For about 5 minutes we walk through some trees that look a bit like the foggy forest on La Gomera! But shortly after we leave the trees behind and enjoy the view around! We walk for about two hours until we reach the Refugio Punta de los Roques. This is a small hut where one can stay overnight! This sounds really interesting, so next time we will bring our sleeping bags with us. To look at the sky from here must be perfect! In front of the hut is also the place where we can look inside the caldera for the first time today! Amazing! We stay there for some time, being watched by ravens, before heading home the same way. This hike can be highly recommended! 🙂
Finally we are back on the island La Palma! This time we booked a finca in Todoque which makes exploring the South of the island easier because we do not have to drive the turns up and down from Tazacorte to Tijarafe every time! After a long time travelling because of a delayed flight from Gran Canaria we were quite exhausted after we arrived. So we spent the rest of the day laying in the sun. The feeling to be in sunny and warm weather when there is cold winter in Germany is the best!! For our first day on the island we decided to explore the southern part of the island. Last year we went up volcano Teneguia and that was really cool. So we went there again. Going up on the volcano is a great experience. We spent a long time there and then decided to walk down to the light house! Next to the light house at the southernmost part of the island are the Salinas de Fuencaliente. There is also a restaurant and a nice bar. The Salinas produce salt from the ocean, everything is hand made and of high quality! You can just walk around all of the area which is very cool. We stayed there a long time before going back to Los Canarios where we parked the car. A really nice first day of our vacation 🙂
