Hey guys!
Our weather has improved substantially in the last few weeks which has finally allowed us to go out and see the areas a little more. The South East side of Portugal was fantastic once we got into the mountains a bit more. Have to say we are more of mountain landscape people than beach people. The beaches of the Algarve are beautiful but the mountains always seem to offer such a better array of visuals.
We had some really good rides in Portugal with one of them emmm…not so good. Well it started out good enough. The plan was to ride from our casa (more about that later) to a little seaside village just on the border to spain. It was supposed to be just a casual 3 hours. As we are riding Lisa points out that we are only about 30kms from this river town (Alcoutim) which apparently has this fantastic beach. I was thinking to myself ‘that’s gonna be a long return but we might be able to grab a bus back’. So we get to the town. First thing I do is hit a tourist bureau as I am tired (didn’t eat for a big day) to ask if there is a bus back to Tavira. Turns out there is and it will be here in 1.5hours. Perfect. Can we take bikes? ‘Yes I believe so’. Perfect. Lets eat. A hearty meal of French fries and fried meat takes us to 4pm where the bus driver says ‘no bikes’. What the F@#$ do you mean no bikes? ‘No Bikes.’
Alright well double time back home then. Mmmm… french fries say no way. So we decide lets take a ‘shortcut’. If you ever find yourself in the backcountry of small European countries and decide to take a ‘shortcut’ you can pretty well say you will get lost. ‘Won’t be a problem we have a map that links this town to that town to our town’. Off we go. We get to the proverbial crossroads. Easy LONG route home the way we came or ‘shortcut’ route. We take shortcut route. First turnoff puts us on a dirt road. Not liking the look of this. Well its only 4km to the next village. Might be a road there. Its now 5:45pm. Sunset at 6:45. We are so screwed. Get to the bottom of the dirt road. There is a river. There is no bridge. You have got to be kidding. So we flip it and head back up the dirt road. Full carbon road bikes on dirt roads is not recommended. We finally make it back to pavement around 6:15. I don’t know how we managed it but somehow we find a cab in this 400 person town and it turns out to be a station wagon. 50 Euro later we are home. Cabbie was impressed we got to his town though. http://connect.garmin.com/player/27410196 this is the ride. If you zoom into the map you will see Furnazinhas and the turnoff we did to hit a river and have to return.
Our stay in Eastern Portugal was interesting to say the least. Our first place that we stayed at was supposed to be this Fantastic ‘upgrade’ of being right on the water with a beautiful view of the islands etc… well the place did have a nice view however the interior was somewhat a little less. Note: When deciding to rent places and all they show you is pictures of the view and the outside…. There is something wrong. We are welcomed to a cottage that must have been designed by ‘old and depressed inc.’ Picture old dark crappy furniture covered in doilies and knick knacks. I could’t turn around without knocking a doll off a table. It was really weird. You have this beautiful setting on an acreage, but no windows. And not a bulb above 40w. I checked. Place sucked. No heat. Every time we turned on the toaster and forgot to turn off the oil heater (that had to travel from room to room) we would blow the power. It totally sucked. I was actually out in the forest collecting wood to burn it was so cold. AND THE BEDS…..Oh my God. They had to have been found from behind a second hand store where the second hand store was throwing them out. SO BAD. I digress… moving on.
Turns out that we had booked almost 10 days with this company and we were actually moving to a second place with them. We decided this was not going to happen if the next place was as bad as this one. So we ride out to it one day. http://www.eastoffaro.com/Accommodation/Brook_Cottage . Looks super rural. Turns out YES it is super rural. If you look at the photos, it kind of makes it seem like the place is within a bunch of little homes. Well the reality is that it is one 500sf place within a series of completely rundown not habitated house that are connected by a 500m dirt road. Lol. It was certainly country livin’. The place though was great as the weather finally turned for us and got quite nice. This got the place tolerable for temperature. One thing was that it was so old, the doorways were all original height (5ft) so I had a few cuts on my head. It was good though. Its funny for some reason people seem to think you need so much to make the person happy when really all they need is heat, a good bed, cooking facility. If you fail on 3/3 perhaps home rental is not your forte. Movin on.
Hello Seville, Spain.
Ok remember your lessons… do not enter city at night. Check. Get directions before arriving. Check. Be calm. Check. New lesson learned. Once you realize yes you are lost…. Stay in the roundabout until you figure out where to go. Picture the bickers circling in their little car and maps everywhere trying to figure out how to get to the apartment 2 blocks away. Its just not that easy in these towns. Finally make it. Place is good. Parking is crazy though. I thought Lisbon and Porto were crazy. Spain is insanity. People park wherever they can put their car. They actually hire beggars off the street to move their car when someone wants to get out as everyone is double parked. As in there is a row of cars parked down the road and right beside it is a second row of cars constantly being moved to allow the other cars to leave. Seville is crazy. Needless to say once the car was parked it was never moved again. One cool thing in Seville is that they have free bike usage. Essentially they take a deposit on your CC and have bike kiosks all through the town. So you ride a bike from one area to another, park it, go do something and take another if you want. Really cool system as the walking can get tiring. I got tired of Seville quickly. The monuments and churches were starting to blur together. No riding as it was too hard to get out of the city.
Hello Granada
Granada is cool. One again the parking/car scene is crazy but once you have it figured out it is good. The vibe in Granada is very laid back and easy going. It is quite a bit smaller than Seville. Went to a Moorish bath house the first night as it was kind of rainy and cool. Very nice experience. About 7 pools all of differing temp from cold to hot. Lots of walking down little alleyways and streets. Been here now about 6 days with a couple more in the countryside again. We are right at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada so the nights are chilly. The views are fantastic though.
That’s is my report for now. Hope everyone is good.
Mac
PS: I will post up some pics later as my internet connection is really slow.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Arrived on the West Coast! Its Raining!
West Algarve
Alentejo highlights
Sintra
Lisbon
porto
Mac here.
Wheww what a crazy past few weeks. I figured it was about time I ran an update about this trip from my point of view this time.
Well we landed in Porto around Feb 17 and have been on the mainland since. Getting off the plane we were greeted by our AutoEurope rep who had our ride ready for us. For anyone who is planning on doing extended travel in Europe, this is a great way to do it. They meet you at the airport and have a brand new... ie 13kms on odometer car waiting for you.
Porto:
This was our first venture into an 'old' city. Lucky for us we happened to have booked a hotel in the heart of the 'old' city. As romantic as that sounds, it happens to be a total nightmare to drive in. Add night to that and a healthy splash on torrential downpour and funometer drops considerably. I was having chest pains. After 10 or 12 wrong turns we made it. Only to find we missed the car park by about 75 metres. No we can't back up. 2kms of left turns and we make it into the car park. Mental note: Always arrive into new cities in the daylight.
Things that people might care about Porto.
Weather: Sucked.
Cost: Pretty damn cheap.
Food: Uninspiring. We mostly ate in the standup cafes. The best things were the simplest. ie. Soups / Sandwiches. Everything else is drenched in oil.
Sights: Pretty impressive. Lots of churches and museums if you like churches and museums. The riverfront where they would ship the Port is prominent and maintains its charm. Roads and walkways are completely closed to cars which is pretty nice.
Cool things we saw: Casa de Musica (google it) Caught a rehersal of the Porto orchestra. Beaches. First sandy beach that was easily accessible. Really cool all glass emporium where you could drink coffee and watch people go by. Go to Sintra. Pretty much the coolest park and country grounds you will ever see. Some guy back in the 1700s had way too much time on his hands so he just made this crazy park of tunnels and grottos.
People: Nice.
Riding: Oh that is pretty.... WHAM... you died.
la la la click click. smile click. Off to Lisbon.
Lisbon.
Arrived in Lisbon at around 7:30pm in total downpour. Damn. I Thought Porto was bad for figuring things out. We happened to have rented an apartment on what could only be described as the smallest alley in Lisbon that happens to have a name. Think 1 block long alley way with a name. Getting somewhere in these old towns is not just go straight, turn left. Usually you have series of nerve shattering corners with people parked on the sidewalk that are all one way going the wrong way. Waiting at light... BOOM! wtf was that Lisa? 'oh this temporary fence beside us just blew apart from the wind'. Fantastic and it scratched and dented the car with less than 200kms on it. Hope that 0/0 Damage Deductable is true to word. Got in. Found the place. Nice place. oi... 4th floor and no lift. Pissing rain.
THings people might care about Lisbon.
Food: Sucks but we ate in a lot. having a hard time with the all oil meals.
Cost: Relative.
Ease to get around:Super easy.
Attractions: Super old buildings.. totally new buildings inside old buildings.. Churches museums. Funky old Trolly cars that are original that actually do more than carry tourists.
Riding: HAHAH. none... you will die.
la la la click click. smile click. Off to the Alentejo coast
The Alentejo is this rural section of land that is between the South coast and Lisbon. Its really pretty with cork trees everywhere and a very laid back atmosphere. We finally got to a place that we were able to find with no craziness. 3kms down a dirt road we arrived at the ranch. Herdadae de Matinha. (google it). We arrived... Pissing rain.
The place was very nice. As the weather was super bad though, there was a lot of time just hanging out on the grounds. The property spanned over 10 hectares (I am told a hectare is the size of a soccer field) so it was really cool to explore. We managed to borrow a couple of mtn bikes the next day and spend the day exploring the dunes and back beaches that only 4x4 and locals would know about. The next few days were spent sightseeing and hanging out. Weather was terrible. Terrible as in 170km wind that literally ripped the garage door off and hasn't been seen since.
Things people might care about.
Size: Alentejo is really big area with very small towns. Think Interior of BC.
Cost: Average. Our place was kind of spendy as it is featured as a boutique B&B with a dining experience that people from Lisbon drive 200kms for just the meal.
Sights: Major surf mecca with sprawling huge beaches.
Cool things: Took part in meal prep and had mild concerns over the fact that entire 1.5 litre bottles of olive oil were being used to cook in. Everything gets cooked in oil. Everything. Mtn biking on old Roman roads was pretty neat. Horseback riding in the forest was beautiful.
Riding: Would have been really good but the weather was too poor/dangerous.
Off to the Algrave... where expats go to die.
We arrived in Burgau...during the day (yay!). In the pissing rain :( . The algarve is pretty much the bottom 100kms or so of Portugal and a point of call for many Euros (mostly brits) who want an easy cheap vacation. Tons.... and tons of beautiful beaches. So many beaches I would be surprised to see them 'busy' outside of the main tourist towns. It's touristy though. Think Concrete seagulls and googly eyes. Kind of like hanging out at BC Ferries gift shop. oh look...more postcards and crap on a stick.
Burgau is situated on the south coast of the algarve West of Lagos. Its not much to write home about. Good location to ride out of though. Weather is finally starting to come around. Today was the first day of no wind/rain so far.
Things people might care about the Algarve
Sights: Small touristy towns, fantastic beaches and natural sights.
Food: sucks
Cost: little higher on some things. Major investment by the EU though on things like supermarket.
Getting around: need a car.
Riding: really good. EU put some major dollars into road improvement.
Okay that about covers our last 3 weeks or so. Check the picassa web gallery for pics if you want later (internet is slowwwwww here). Fingers crossed that this horrible weather is now behind us and we have the next 3 weeks or so of moderately nice weather.
Adios
Mac
Alentejo highlights
Sintra
Lisbon
porto
Mac here.
Wheww what a crazy past few weeks. I figured it was about time I ran an update about this trip from my point of view this time.
Well we landed in Porto around Feb 17 and have been on the mainland since. Getting off the plane we were greeted by our AutoEurope rep who had our ride ready for us. For anyone who is planning on doing extended travel in Europe, this is a great way to do it. They meet you at the airport and have a brand new... ie 13kms on odometer car waiting for you.
Porto:
This was our first venture into an 'old' city. Lucky for us we happened to have booked a hotel in the heart of the 'old' city. As romantic as that sounds, it happens to be a total nightmare to drive in. Add night to that and a healthy splash on torrential downpour and funometer drops considerably. I was having chest pains. After 10 or 12 wrong turns we made it. Only to find we missed the car park by about 75 metres. No we can't back up. 2kms of left turns and we make it into the car park. Mental note: Always arrive into new cities in the daylight.
Things that people might care about Porto.
Weather: Sucked.
Cost: Pretty damn cheap.
Food: Uninspiring. We mostly ate in the standup cafes. The best things were the simplest. ie. Soups / Sandwiches. Everything else is drenched in oil.
Sights: Pretty impressive. Lots of churches and museums if you like churches and museums. The riverfront where they would ship the Port is prominent and maintains its charm. Roads and walkways are completely closed to cars which is pretty nice.
Cool things we saw: Casa de Musica (google it) Caught a rehersal of the Porto orchestra. Beaches. First sandy beach that was easily accessible. Really cool all glass emporium where you could drink coffee and watch people go by. Go to Sintra. Pretty much the coolest park and country grounds you will ever see. Some guy back in the 1700s had way too much time on his hands so he just made this crazy park of tunnels and grottos.
People: Nice.
Riding: Oh that is pretty.... WHAM... you died.
la la la click click. smile click. Off to Lisbon.
Lisbon.
Arrived in Lisbon at around 7:30pm in total downpour. Damn. I Thought Porto was bad for figuring things out. We happened to have rented an apartment on what could only be described as the smallest alley in Lisbon that happens to have a name. Think 1 block long alley way with a name. Getting somewhere in these old towns is not just go straight, turn left. Usually you have series of nerve shattering corners with people parked on the sidewalk that are all one way going the wrong way. Waiting at light... BOOM! wtf was that Lisa? 'oh this temporary fence beside us just blew apart from the wind'. Fantastic and it scratched and dented the car with less than 200kms on it. Hope that 0/0 Damage Deductable is true to word. Got in. Found the place. Nice place. oi... 4th floor and no lift. Pissing rain.
THings people might care about Lisbon.
Food: Sucks but we ate in a lot. having a hard time with the all oil meals.
Cost: Relative.
Ease to get around:Super easy.
Attractions: Super old buildings.. totally new buildings inside old buildings.. Churches museums. Funky old Trolly cars that are original that actually do more than carry tourists.
Riding: HAHAH. none... you will die.
la la la click click. smile click. Off to the Alentejo coast
The Alentejo is this rural section of land that is between the South coast and Lisbon. Its really pretty with cork trees everywhere and a very laid back atmosphere. We finally got to a place that we were able to find with no craziness. 3kms down a dirt road we arrived at the ranch. Herdadae de Matinha. (google it). We arrived... Pissing rain.
The place was very nice. As the weather was super bad though, there was a lot of time just hanging out on the grounds. The property spanned over 10 hectares (I am told a hectare is the size of a soccer field) so it was really cool to explore. We managed to borrow a couple of mtn bikes the next day and spend the day exploring the dunes and back beaches that only 4x4 and locals would know about. The next few days were spent sightseeing and hanging out. Weather was terrible. Terrible as in 170km wind that literally ripped the garage door off and hasn't been seen since.
Things people might care about.
Size: Alentejo is really big area with very small towns. Think Interior of BC.
Cost: Average. Our place was kind of spendy as it is featured as a boutique B&B with a dining experience that people from Lisbon drive 200kms for just the meal.
Sights: Major surf mecca with sprawling huge beaches.
Cool things: Took part in meal prep and had mild concerns over the fact that entire 1.5 litre bottles of olive oil were being used to cook in. Everything gets cooked in oil. Everything. Mtn biking on old Roman roads was pretty neat. Horseback riding in the forest was beautiful.
Riding: Would have been really good but the weather was too poor/dangerous.
Off to the Algrave... where expats go to die.
We arrived in Burgau...during the day (yay!). In the pissing rain :( . The algarve is pretty much the bottom 100kms or so of Portugal and a point of call for many Euros (mostly brits) who want an easy cheap vacation. Tons.... and tons of beautiful beaches. So many beaches I would be surprised to see them 'busy' outside of the main tourist towns. It's touristy though. Think Concrete seagulls and googly eyes. Kind of like hanging out at BC Ferries gift shop. oh look...more postcards and crap on a stick.
Burgau is situated on the south coast of the algarve West of Lagos. Its not much to write home about. Good location to ride out of though. Weather is finally starting to come around. Today was the first day of no wind/rain so far.
Things people might care about the Algarve
Sights: Small touristy towns, fantastic beaches and natural sights.
Food: sucks
Cost: little higher on some things. Major investment by the EU though on things like supermarket.
Getting around: need a car.
Riding: really good. EU put some major dollars into road improvement.
Okay that about covers our last 3 weeks or so. Check the picassa web gallery for pics if you want later (internet is slowwwwww here). Fingers crossed that this horrible weather is now behind us and we have the next 3 weeks or so of moderately nice weather.
Adios
Mac
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Week 2: Adios Tenerife
Feb. 17th 5 pm
Highlights from Tenerife and Canary Islands
It’s a rainy Wed. as we prepare to leave the Tenerife airport relieved to be at the gate for our flight to Porto after a stressful drive due to heavy rains that made traffic stand still for over an hour and a half.
Overall our 2nd week was even more enjoyable than the first. We thoroughly enjoyed the town of Garachico and the beautiful surroundings of Hotel la Quinta Roja (great breakfast & staff too) where we stayed for 8 nights.
The highlights of our second week included two Carnaval celebrations-one I saw right in front of our hotel/town square put on by the local elementary school children (dressed in pro-recycling outfits!!) and the other one we sent to the big city of Santa Cruz to see. The latter went on for over 3.5 hours; in addition to elaborate costume and float designs, we saw a lot of people dressed up as if it were Halloween.
We rode up Teide for a 3rd time (ugh!) where we also saw 6 of the pro Liquigas (Tour de France) riders. Mac chatted with one rider for a bit; they don’t ride up the mtn-just stay at the top and train at high altitude to oxygenate their blood.
The touristy area of Las Americas was utterly horrible, so bad we just kept driving all the way around the island back to Garachico. We also saw the world's oldest(1000 yrs+) and largest Dragon tree in Icod!
Yesterday I did my last ride, Mac on Sunday. We climbed the steep 9km of switchbacks above Garachico until we got to a smooth wide road (5-6% grade) that went for another 15 km until turning around to descend (gotta trust those brake pads!).
Believe it or not we didn’t swim once in the ocean, not a lot of sandy beaches here due to its volcanic nature but that’s okay since the south of Portugal awaits us!
Highlights from Tenerife and Canary Islands
It’s a rainy Wed. as we prepare to leave the Tenerife airport relieved to be at the gate for our flight to Porto after a stressful drive due to heavy rains that made traffic stand still for over an hour and a half.
Overall our 2nd week was even more enjoyable than the first. We thoroughly enjoyed the town of Garachico and the beautiful surroundings of Hotel la Quinta Roja (great breakfast & staff too) where we stayed for 8 nights.
The highlights of our second week included two Carnaval celebrations-one I saw right in front of our hotel/town square put on by the local elementary school children (dressed in pro-recycling outfits!!) and the other one we sent to the big city of Santa Cruz to see. The latter went on for over 3.5 hours; in addition to elaborate costume and float designs, we saw a lot of people dressed up as if it were Halloween.
We rode up Teide for a 3rd time (ugh!) where we also saw 6 of the pro Liquigas (Tour de France) riders. Mac chatted with one rider for a bit; they don’t ride up the mtn-just stay at the top and train at high altitude to oxygenate their blood.
The touristy area of Las Americas was utterly horrible, so bad we just kept driving all the way around the island back to Garachico. We also saw the world's oldest(1000 yrs+) and largest Dragon tree in Icod!
Yesterday I did my last ride, Mac on Sunday. We climbed the steep 9km of switchbacks above Garachico until we got to a smooth wide road (5-6% grade) that went for another 15 km until turning around to descend (gotta trust those brake pads!).
Believe it or not we didn’t swim once in the ocean, not a lot of sandy beaches here due to its volcanic nature but that’s okay since the south of Portugal awaits us!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Well we have definitely settled into our new digs in the little town of Garachico on the Northwest side of the island. Fantastic little hotel called la quinta roja. The converted this old house from the 1700s to a very unique hotel that has probably only about 15 rooms in total. There is a large open terrazza in the middle to take in the midday espresso and evening wine...Which is exactly where we are right now.
Went for a short 65km ride today out the the end of the earth essentially accoring to the island and then climbed forever to some little town that should not exist in the middle of the island.
Coolest things today:
Were riding along in a pitch black tunnel 'towards the light' for about half a kilometre. Seriously this tunnel was so friggin dark you could not tell where the walls were.
Riding 17% grade hills... It was really weird when we got to ride 13%...they were so much easier.
data and pis up later.
I find I am easing into vacation mode very easily.
Went for a short 65km ride today out the the end of the earth essentially accoring to the island and then climbed forever to some little town that should not exist in the middle of the island.
Coolest things today:
Were riding along in a pitch black tunnel 'towards the light' for about half a kilometre. Seriously this tunnel was so friggin dark you could not tell where the walls were.
Riding 17% grade hills... It was really weird when we got to ride 13%...they were so much easier.
data and pis up later.
I find I am easing into vacation mode very easily.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Weezies first week on Tenerife.
Semana 1
for those of you who are more 'visual' stimulus types... pics are here
It is Feb 6th Sunday morning in El Sauzal, Tenerife-sun doesn’t come up over to our side until 8:30 so there is the usual morning misty cloud which will soon burn off.
We arrived here after a brief visit to London arriving there in the early pm which was enough time to take the subway into the city to take in some sights (Mac’s suggestion since it was his first time to London, a better way to see parts of the city). London was sunny but by the time we got to Victoria Station from Heathrow it was closer to 4:30 and it had cooled considerably (7 degrees)-we Vancouverites found it very chilly but walked around anyway after putting our luggage into storage (for a hefty fee of 32 quid!). London was cold and colourless, and I am sure there are worse places to be in winter but after spending a night in Gatwick airport getting little sleep listening to security announcements over and over, we were happy to board our 7 am plane to Tenerife.
Tenerife belongs to the Canary Islands. They are part of Spain but are located 300 km off the coast of Western Sahara so technically speaking they are in the continent of Africa. I guess you could say they are to the Europeans what Hawaii is to us (and judging by a few “Canarias no es de Espana” graffiti signs, there are some locals who also feel they are not part of the bigger country). We arrived to a slightly muggy cloudy island and picked up our rental car. My first impression as we started driving northeast into sunny skies from Tenerife Sur airport was “pretty landscape, ugly buildings” but that soon changed once we headed north to where we are staying in a beautiful house near a small quaint town called El Sauzal which is about 20 min drive west to the city of Puerta de la Cruz. The structures all fit well into this hilly landscape and Mac was surprised how many gates and walls there are that line the streets and homes. He mentioned yesterday how glad he is that our car is standard as some of the streets here are reeeally steep!).
We arrived Feb 2nd but we were so tired we slept a lot the 1st couple of days which was just as well since it was quite rainy. During our first night, jetlag woke us and Mac got up at 3 am to put the bikes together. We found out on the news the next morning that prior to our arrival the sunnier south part of the island had horrible damaging flooding but we didn’t see any evidence of it here in the north.
We drove to Pt. de la Cruz Wed morning and had a yummy cheap breakfast (café con leche only cost ~1-1.40 euro). They seem to eat a lot of buns (bocadilla) with cheese and ham here. We walked around for a bit but realized we were illegally parked so we moved locations to find ourselves in the “*wrong part of town” in La Paz. After searching high and low in a downpour (which quickly ended) for a supermercado to buy some groceries, we walked around again to find we were surrounded by *German retirees and quickly departed! This island draws a lot of Brits and Germans and it is evident some areas cater to them.
We went to the cuidad of La Laguna (“the lake”) our 2nd night to find some internet access but also to see this Unesco heritage sight. It was getting dark and almost impossible to park not to mention I didn’t have a map of the city so we didn’t see much. We found a bike shop where we were able to buy some CO2 air (se-o-dos!) and to replace Mac’s bike tool that was confiscated by Gatwick officials. We also got in touch with Leslie Brown, an Aussie who has been living here for 4 years and rents bikes-Mac had been emailing him from Vancouver to get some info about cycling here on Tenerife (http://www.tenerife-training.net/). We drove to La Orotava at 9 pm to meet him to get a map and route suggestions. It was kind of funny- he told us to meet him at a roundabout and then seconds later he appeared walking up the hill. It was like we had a secret service meeting as we looked at the map on our car hood lit by the street light. We found out that the weather had been terrible recently but that it wasn’t typical. Leslie recommended what seemed to be a hard to find restaurant called La Bodeguita de Enfrente but we found it without incident and enjoyed some tapas and wine and walked into its Bodega (wine cellar) which also stored fresh veges.
We woke up Thursday to find clear blue sunny skies and by the time we got to Los Realejos near Pt. de la Cruz it was comfortably warm. After spending an hour in a bike shop there trying to figure out Mac’s cranks (turned out he wasn’t missing a part just needed to be tightened with a torque tool), we drove to La Orotava and at the 6 km marker started our ride up Mt. Tiede, the world’s 4th tallest volcano. It wasn’t our plan to have a long hill climb as our first ride (think ~3 Cypress climbs with just a bit of flat at the top) but the weather was perfect so off we went. Our winter legs felt pretty good but I was worried about running out of water. Luckily at the 32 km marker there was a restaurant so we fueled up for the finish. This island is known to draw Tour de France riders for its steep warm training but we have seen a variety of riders so far.
There we met Jan from Germany who had ridden up from the bike shop (we saw him there). He rode up on his mtn bike so he could take the trail down. We rode to the base of the mountain together which stopped just after the 42 km marker (2358 m). The last 10 km is worth it since it is up, down and flatter not to mention the landscape gets really interesting due to the unique setting (a bit similar to Haleakala Crater, Maui, only with canyons/cliffs). The middle part of this ride goes thru the Los Pinos forest so it was peaceful, cool with little traffic; easier than Mt Baker and Haleakala but can be made longer depending on where you start. The descent was chilly for the first 15km so I was glad I had a jacket but could have worn two.
Friday was a lazy day, doing laundry, shopping for groceries, going to an internet café, checking out the town of El Sauzal and reading by our private pool. We have neighbours in the other part of the house from the UK but I have yet to see them so it is very quiet and private here, not to mention we have a beautiful view from the terrace towards the water but there is no beach for swimming in this area.
Yesterday we drove along the windy, steep coastal roads east of el Sauzal and started cycling from the town of Valle de Guerra which started flat but less than 2 km into the ride we started climbing again non-stop through Tegueste, Tajina and thru the Monte de las Mercedes range (beautiful quiet windy route); our goal was to cycle to Chinobra which is the NE tip of the island but we met a very large cycling group (more than 60 men) at a rest stop/café who said they were riding to Santa Cruz and shortly after we met another guy who recommend we go to Santa Cruz as well and then take the streetcar from there to La Laguna (~30 min) where we could resume our ride back to Valle de Guerra.
The descent towards S. Cruz turned out to be amazing and the views were stunning-it was hard to tell what country/continent we were on and there were very few cars which made going fast around the tight corners safe and fun. We rode along the ocean to the busy city of Santa Cruz, eventually found the streetcar route (there a lot of one way streets!), stopped for a drink then caught the Transvia streetcar to La Laguna. We got off at the last stop which put us into the most beautiful part of town full of pedestrian only cobble streets. The architecture of La Laguna is stunning and worth an afternoon but all we managed was a few photos with our small camera then back to cycling the return of our ride. What must go up must go down so we had a very enjoyable return ride to our car. We rewarded ourselves with helados and a short nap before walking over to a nearby restaurant for a less than amazing meal (the croquetas pescados were yummy). Last night I asked the waiter what “Dorada” means since it is both the local beer and the name of a fish that Mac prepared on the bbq-turns out it is a colour (golden). So far Mac’s favourite dish was the tortilla (~pastry less quiche) with onion and potato.
All in all we have really enjoyed our first week; weather now is perfect, my Spanish vocab increases daily and the cycling and sights so far are fantastic. Hopefully for Mac’s birthday tomorrow we can find an authentic Canarias meal for dinner (that won’t get ruined by smokers!). Mac is out for a solo ride right now; he started from “home” towards the same area we went yesterday, now that we know those roads are suitable for cycling. I will walk down the steep road to the cobble trail that takes you to the ocean’s edge/pathway. On Tuesday we move west to the historical town of Garachico for our last week where we will continue our exploration of this unique island.
Hasta la proxima semana y gracias por su visita nos blog.
Lisa and Mac
for those of you who are more 'visual' stimulus types... pics are here
It is Feb 6th Sunday morning in El Sauzal, Tenerife-sun doesn’t come up over to our side until 8:30 so there is the usual morning misty cloud which will soon burn off.
We arrived here after a brief visit to London arriving there in the early pm which was enough time to take the subway into the city to take in some sights (Mac’s suggestion since it was his first time to London, a better way to see parts of the city). London was sunny but by the time we got to Victoria Station from Heathrow it was closer to 4:30 and it had cooled considerably (7 degrees)-we Vancouverites found it very chilly but walked around anyway after putting our luggage into storage (for a hefty fee of 32 quid!). London was cold and colourless, and I am sure there are worse places to be in winter but after spending a night in Gatwick airport getting little sleep listening to security announcements over and over, we were happy to board our 7 am plane to Tenerife.
Tenerife belongs to the Canary Islands. They are part of Spain but are located 300 km off the coast of Western Sahara so technically speaking they are in the continent of Africa. I guess you could say they are to the Europeans what Hawaii is to us (and judging by a few “Canarias no es de Espana” graffiti signs, there are some locals who also feel they are not part of the bigger country). We arrived to a slightly muggy cloudy island and picked up our rental car. My first impression as we started driving northeast into sunny skies from Tenerife Sur airport was “pretty landscape, ugly buildings” but that soon changed once we headed north to where we are staying in a beautiful house near a small quaint town called El Sauzal which is about 20 min drive west to the city of Puerta de la Cruz. The structures all fit well into this hilly landscape and Mac was surprised how many gates and walls there are that line the streets and homes. He mentioned yesterday how glad he is that our car is standard as some of the streets here are reeeally steep!).
We arrived Feb 2nd but we were so tired we slept a lot the 1st couple of days which was just as well since it was quite rainy. During our first night, jetlag woke us and Mac got up at 3 am to put the bikes together. We found out on the news the next morning that prior to our arrival the sunnier south part of the island had horrible damaging flooding but we didn’t see any evidence of it here in the north.
We drove to Pt. de la Cruz Wed morning and had a yummy cheap breakfast (café con leche only cost ~1-1.40 euro). They seem to eat a lot of buns (bocadilla) with cheese and ham here. We walked around for a bit but realized we were illegally parked so we moved locations to find ourselves in the “*wrong part of town” in La Paz. After searching high and low in a downpour (which quickly ended) for a supermercado to buy some groceries, we walked around again to find we were surrounded by *German retirees and quickly departed! This island draws a lot of Brits and Germans and it is evident some areas cater to them.
We went to the cuidad of La Laguna (“the lake”) our 2nd night to find some internet access but also to see this Unesco heritage sight. It was getting dark and almost impossible to park not to mention I didn’t have a map of the city so we didn’t see much. We found a bike shop where we were able to buy some CO2 air (se-o-dos!) and to replace Mac’s bike tool that was confiscated by Gatwick officials. We also got in touch with Leslie Brown, an Aussie who has been living here for 4 years and rents bikes-Mac had been emailing him from Vancouver to get some info about cycling here on Tenerife (http://www.tenerife-training.net/). We drove to La Orotava at 9 pm to meet him to get a map and route suggestions. It was kind of funny- he told us to meet him at a roundabout and then seconds later he appeared walking up the hill. It was like we had a secret service meeting as we looked at the map on our car hood lit by the street light. We found out that the weather had been terrible recently but that it wasn’t typical. Leslie recommended what seemed to be a hard to find restaurant called La Bodeguita de Enfrente but we found it without incident and enjoyed some tapas and wine and walked into its Bodega (wine cellar) which also stored fresh veges.
We woke up Thursday to find clear blue sunny skies and by the time we got to Los Realejos near Pt. de la Cruz it was comfortably warm. After spending an hour in a bike shop there trying to figure out Mac’s cranks (turned out he wasn’t missing a part just needed to be tightened with a torque tool), we drove to La Orotava and at the 6 km marker started our ride up Mt. Tiede, the world’s 4th tallest volcano. It wasn’t our plan to have a long hill climb as our first ride (think ~3 Cypress climbs with just a bit of flat at the top) but the weather was perfect so off we went. Our winter legs felt pretty good but I was worried about running out of water. Luckily at the 32 km marker there was a restaurant so we fueled up for the finish. This island is known to draw Tour de France riders for its steep warm training but we have seen a variety of riders so far.
There we met Jan from Germany who had ridden up from the bike shop (we saw him there). He rode up on his mtn bike so he could take the trail down. We rode to the base of the mountain together which stopped just after the 42 km marker (2358 m). The last 10 km is worth it since it is up, down and flatter not to mention the landscape gets really interesting due to the unique setting (a bit similar to Haleakala Crater, Maui, only with canyons/cliffs). The middle part of this ride goes thru the Los Pinos forest so it was peaceful, cool with little traffic; easier than Mt Baker and Haleakala but can be made longer depending on where you start. The descent was chilly for the first 15km so I was glad I had a jacket but could have worn two.
Friday was a lazy day, doing laundry, shopping for groceries, going to an internet café, checking out the town of El Sauzal and reading by our private pool. We have neighbours in the other part of the house from the UK but I have yet to see them so it is very quiet and private here, not to mention we have a beautiful view from the terrace towards the water but there is no beach for swimming in this area.
Yesterday we drove along the windy, steep coastal roads east of el Sauzal and started cycling from the town of Valle de Guerra which started flat but less than 2 km into the ride we started climbing again non-stop through Tegueste, Tajina and thru the Monte de las Mercedes range (beautiful quiet windy route); our goal was to cycle to Chinobra which is the NE tip of the island but we met a very large cycling group (more than 60 men) at a rest stop/café who said they were riding to Santa Cruz and shortly after we met another guy who recommend we go to Santa Cruz as well and then take the streetcar from there to La Laguna (~30 min) where we could resume our ride back to Valle de Guerra.
The descent towards S. Cruz turned out to be amazing and the views were stunning-it was hard to tell what country/continent we were on and there were very few cars which made going fast around the tight corners safe and fun. We rode along the ocean to the busy city of Santa Cruz, eventually found the streetcar route (there a lot of one way streets!), stopped for a drink then caught the Transvia streetcar to La Laguna. We got off at the last stop which put us into the most beautiful part of town full of pedestrian only cobble streets. The architecture of La Laguna is stunning and worth an afternoon but all we managed was a few photos with our small camera then back to cycling the return of our ride. What must go up must go down so we had a very enjoyable return ride to our car. We rewarded ourselves with helados and a short nap before walking over to a nearby restaurant for a less than amazing meal (the croquetas pescados were yummy). Last night I asked the waiter what “Dorada” means since it is both the local beer and the name of a fish that Mac prepared on the bbq-turns out it is a colour (golden). So far Mac’s favourite dish was the tortilla (~pastry less quiche) with onion and potato.
All in all we have really enjoyed our first week; weather now is perfect, my Spanish vocab increases daily and the cycling and sights so far are fantastic. Hopefully for Mac’s birthday tomorrow we can find an authentic Canarias meal for dinner (that won’t get ruined by smokers!). Mac is out for a solo ride right now; he started from “home” towards the same area we went yesterday, now that we know those roads are suitable for cycling. I will walk down the steep road to the cobble trail that takes you to the ocean’s edge/pathway. On Tuesday we move west to the historical town of Garachico for our last week where we will continue our exploration of this unique island.
Hasta la proxima semana y gracias por su visita nos blog.
Lisa and Mac
Friday, February 5, 2010
Our first ride on the island.
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Mt.Teide
pics are here
El Teide is an asskicker. roughly 32 kms of uphill. the good part is that is it fairly gently though at only 5-7%
pics are here
El Teide is an asskicker. roughly 32 kms of uphill. the good part is that is it fairly gently though at only 5-7%
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