Dolphins

Our lovely Citroen C3!

Suffering slightly, (no, actually really, really badly!), from sore feet and legs, we decided to take things easy and use the car. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the car before now. After the debacle at the airport and Orlando cars becoming our least favourite car hire company, we got our car from Gold Cars who seem very good and have outlets all over the world. Our car is not gold, (maybe a flaw in their marketing?), but is, in fact, red. The car is a Citroen C3 – odd that we should end up with a French car on our holiday in Spain! Now, I am not one to complain, but I have the seat back as far as it will go and I still find it a little too far forwards. Being one who, shall we say, does not generally suffer from vertigo due to my height, I find this rather strange. I should also mention that I am not used to driving small cars – in fact, Captain Clarke did allude to this when I was driving down a particularly twisty and difficult road on the mountain, when he said, “Maybe next time you should get a bigger car … you don’t seem able to drive this one very well”. Cheeky little sh**, how many accidents have I had in the last 30 years – that’ll be none then. How many has he had? That’ll be several! How dare he!!!!! 😡

Driving towards Los Gigantes

And so, we went out in the car. First of all we drove to Adeje. Yes, I know you are all thinking that we are already in Adeje … and to some degree you are right. We are in Costa Adeje, but it turns out this is the Ajuntamente of Adeje, (like a Parish, but goodness knows I hope it is better run than ours!), the town of Adeje is about 9km away. We went there because there is a restaurant there that is apparently number 1 in all of Tenerife according to trip advisor. Having eventually found it, (not at all easy), all I can say is that they must have paid a little Indian, (or other sub-continental cheap labour), to keep submitting positive reviews – it is nothing to look at from the outside and I guarantee that not many holiday makers have bothered to take the tortuous route to find it!

Can you see the Dolphins?

Following our trip to Adeje, we decided to carry on to Los Gigantes which is where you can see whales and dolphins in the sea. The journey turned out to be an interesting journey down very windy mountain roads, (those that remember the Valley of the Nuns, this was worse!), to a place called Puerto de Santiago – it turns out that Los Gigantes is not a place, but a spot where you can see the whales and dolphins. Having negotiated the roads down to Puerto de Santiago we felt compelled to get out and observe the whales and dolphins. If you look carefully at the photo you might just see some … we didn’t!

Banana plantations are everywhere!

I took an executive decision to use a different road to drive back to Costa Adeje. It turned out to be the old coastal road. Much more pleasant, much less windy, much more to look at and altogether a better journey – even Captain Clarke stopped moaning about my ability to drive small cars! On the way we passed banana plantation after banana plantation. In fact, (not my usual style, you have to read Great Uncle Bulgaria’s holiday blogs for facts!), Tenerife produces over 150,000 tonnes of bananas every year from plantations that cover over 4,200 hectares of land! They are almost all Dwarf Cavendish, so let us all hope that the ‘Panama Disease’ never reaches Tenerife! Anyway, enough of these facts, back to the day’s events.

Schindler’s Lift!

Having returned from our excursion to see the whales and dolphins, we took a late lunch in the pool bar. Captain Clarke ordered squid – which I thought was odd as he doesn’t like squid – and I had a salad. I must say that the squid was delicious! After lunch we sought a little refuge in our room as my legs were still not up to much and, in any event, I had a call to do relating to some work, (I know! On a Sunday too!). Having taken a little rest, we ventured out in the evening for dinner. I should mention at this point that it is somewhat ironic that in a hotel that is largely under German occupation, we should have to get a Schindler’s Lift to go out! However …

Captain Clarke had found a restaurant, (also on Trip Advisor), that was number 5 on the island. We decided to give it a try. It appeared to be only a short walk from the hotel, which suited my poor damaged legs and feet. We walked out of the hotel, down the street, UP the hill, OVER the top and never found the restaurant. We walked around, (actually, by this time I should stress I was more hobbling than walking), and back again before finally finding a sign to the restaurant. We climbed yet another hill, (passing the restaurant by accident), and eventually on our way back down from another abortive climb, we found the restaurant. It had shut down!!!!! There is definitely a learning point here … never trust Trip Advisor! (And I say that as one of their ‘Level 4 Trusted Trip Advisors’!)

The Restaurant Martini!

Having failed to find, (or at least, found, but found closed down), our restaurant, we walked back to the hotel, passed through it, (better done than stopping if you don’t like German food), and down to the prom by the beach. There is restaurant very near to our hotel, (which with my legs is very welcome!), called Martini. We knew it was part of a chain as we had seen a couple of others and, although this would normally put us off, we decided that, largely due to its proximity to the hotel, we would give it a go. It transpires that it is part of a chain … of three, and we have seen the other two! The food was actually very good, obviously cheap, and I would have no problem with going back there again but for one small matter. It is very mechanical. They get you in, take your order, serve you your food and give you a bill. There is not much personality to it, which is a shame.

Cheers!

We eventually returned to our hotel via a different route that Captain Clarke thought would be good – this involved a long hard slope, several steps and a hill climb to finish … he really doesn’t get this leg thing! Upon arrival at our hotel I felt the need for some sustenence, so we went to visit Ernesto in the bar, (actually his name is Mateo but when I said previously his name was Mateo Captain Clarke insisted that I was wrong and he was called Ernesto!). I imbibed a small whiskey – purely for medicinal purposes – and retired to bed. Today the forecast is that the temperature will be 27 degrees. I shall not be leaving the hotel without a hat and I shall not be walking far … it is RudyMenTerry!