Tenerife on a Budget -July /Aug 2007
It was not our intention to have another holiday this year, as we are saving hard for our 5 week winter trip to Australia & New Zealand in January/ February 2008. However, just after our return from Tenerife in April, we had a phone call from a promotion company, offering us a visit to Tenerife, hoping of course to sell us further holiday club weeks. Adrian jumped at the idea & accepted. We did however have to arrange our own flights. Having just returned from Tenerife, we knew how much we had paid for our tickets -£ 145 p.p. in April. We had not bargained for high season, summer school holiday prices- £ 345 p.p. This we not prepared to pay, so after much searching of the internet, we found that we could go for £199 on a Thursday ( most UK to Tenerife flights are on a Friday, but B.A fly everyday) We also had sufficient Air Miles for one fare, so we ended up with a budget holiday. In fact , what we saved on the air fares we spent on food & wine- dining out each evening! We also decided not to hire a car, but to have a ' chill out.' So armed with extra paper backs we set off. After having endured 6 weeks of rain in the wet-*test*-('") UK summer for many a year, we were hoping for plenty of sun. We had not bargained for the temperatures that we endured 41C+ for 5 days, due to the Kalima wind from the Sahara. Normal temps in Tenerife range 22C- 28C throughtout the year, making the Canary Islands year round destinations. We spent most of the 2 weeks under sun umbrellas, or in the swimming pool.
The high temperatures had sparked off Forest Fires and although the area where we were staying was not effected, we did see the smoke from the fires which covered the sun during one afternoon. 9,000 people were evacuated from the areas effected, and tourists were stopped from visiting the mountains due to the excessive heat -51C.
No visit would be complete without a walk around the harbour and we did manage a visit to Los Cristianos harbour a few times, as the ' free bus' from the apartments took us down to the harbour, on cooler days, when the temps were down to 30C. We took pictures of the ferries which ply between La Gomera and the fishing boats.
We also visited my favourite beach a couple of times, where we were tempted by a new place to eat. However, the tempetation was resisted as the day was so hot that we decided a drink was quite sufficient.
We tried the usual eating places that we knew of old, + a Mexican, which I have resisted in the past. Eventually, we ate there 3 times; the margaritas that they served were to die for.
I was sure that there was no 'booze' in the strawberry one, but on our next visit we tired the mango, and that was certainly well laced!
Instead of a glass each, we had ordered a jug, which we drank with no problem. The Kebabs were excellent too.
All in all , we had an excellent time, even though we did very little.
All too soon it was time to return home, with the anticipation of leaving for Singapore , en route to Australia, in exactly 5 months.
It was not our intention to have another holiday this year, as we are saving hard for our 5 week winter trip to Australia & New Zealand in January/ February 2008. However, just after our return from Tenerife in April, we had a phone call from a promotion company, offering us a visit to Tenerife, hoping of course to sell us further holiday club weeks. Adrian jumped at the idea & accepted. We did however have to arrange our own flights. Having just returned from Tenerife, we knew how much we had paid for our tickets -£ 145 p.p. in April. We had not bargained for high season, summer school holiday prices- £ 345 p.p. This we not prepared to pay, so after much searching of the internet, we found that we could go for £199 on a Thursday ( most UK to Tenerife flights are on a Friday, but B.A fly everyday) We also had sufficient Air Miles for one fare, so we ended up with a budget holiday. In fact , what we saved on the air fares we spent on food & wine- dining out each evening! We also decided not to hire a car, but to have a ' chill out.' So armed with extra paper backs we set off. After having endured 6 weeks of rain in the wet-*test*-('") UK summer for many a year, we were hoping for plenty of sun. We had not bargained for the temperatures that we endured 41C+ for 5 days, due to the Kalima wind from the Sahara. Normal temps in Tenerife range 22C- 28C throughtout the year, making the Canary Islands year round destinations. We spent most of the 2 weeks under sun umbrellas, or in the swimming pool.
The high temperatures had sparked off Forest Fires and although the area where we were staying was not effected, we did see the smoke from the fires which covered the sun during one afternoon. 9,000 people were evacuated from the areas effected, and tourists were stopped from visiting the mountains due to the excessive heat -51C.
No visit would be complete without a walk around the harbour and we did manage a visit to Los Cristianos harbour a few times, as the ' free bus' from the apartments took us down to the harbour, on cooler days, when the temps were down to 30C. We took pictures of the ferries which ply between La Gomera and the fishing boats.
We also visited my favourite beach a couple of times, where we were tempted by a new place to eat. However, the tempetation was resisted as the day was so hot that we decided a drink was quite sufficient.
We tried the usual eating places that we knew of old, + a Mexican, which I have resisted in the past. Eventually, we ate there 3 times; the margaritas that they served were to die for.
I was sure that there was no 'booze' in the strawberry one, but on our next visit we tired the mango, and that was certainly well laced!
Instead of a glass each, we had ordered a jug, which we drank with no problem. The Kebabs were excellent too.
All in all , we had an excellent time, even though we did very little.
All too soon it was time to return home, with the anticipation of leaving for Singapore , en route to Australia, in exactly 5 months.