Wednesday 25 March 2009

After breakfast we leave El Tendal and drive through the new tunnel across the central mountain range to  Santa Cruz. We arrive at the hotel San Telmo around 11am. We get a lovely room with sea view. The kind owner gives us a warm welcome. We have to hunt for parking space, as the narrow streets in the centre of town are full of cars. We have a drink in the centre of town before we start on a tour outside the town. WE drive up the mountains looking over Santa Cruz to the sanctuary of  las Nieves. Here they keep a Maria statue, that supposedly is responsible for a few miracles, like causing rain after a serious drought. The chapel was built in the 15th century, inspired by St Mary chapel near Rome, devoted to the Modonna of the Snow. After a look around the chapel and its silver plated altar piece we go on to  Mirador de la Concepcion. Here we have fine views of the capital town and its airport. We have lunch nearby at Casa Osmunda. Nice restaurant and lovely dishes (duck liver followed by octopus with rice in its ink) . 

We have a break and call the Diving Centre La Palma in Los Cancajos. I can dive tomorrow at 3pm. Around six we go out again. We stroll along the shops on  Calle O’Daly and end up at  Bar El Negresco, where sit down at the outdoor tables for tapas and a local beer. We get the house special (potato with something on it), grilled cheese with mojo and boquerones (sardines in vinaigrette). Delicious but filling. We go back to the hotel and watch some tv. Around nine we walk to restaurant La Placeta, where we have a very nice dinner (Dorade). The waiter is tasty too. 

Weather: in S/C cloudy and some sunny spells. Around 19 degrees.

Thursday 26 March 2009

We have breakfast in bar La Palma on the calle O’Daly, because the hotel does not serve breakfast. Bar la Palma is nothing special, but it fills the stomach and the fresh orange juice is nice. The staff is a bit grumpy to say the least. It starts to rain and we wait for it to stop at the hotel. The very thoughtful owner provides us with extra pillows. When it gets dry we go out to explore Santa Cruz. We walk the length of O’Daly street. This is the main pedestrian shopping street. It continues as calle Perez Brito. We notice that there are lots of tiny independent specialised shops and that the big chain stores have not yet got a hold on the local economy. We end up at the Alameda square. A nice square with outside tables and bars. At the end of it is a copy of Columbus's ship that serves a maritime museum. La Palma was Columbus last stop before he crossed the Atlantic to the Americas. We have a drink and walk back via the Avenida Maritima along the sea shore. Here we find the  Casas de los Balcones, the houses with balconies. They date back to the 16th century and were built by Portuguese merchants.  We take the car to the Parador of La Palma to see whether we have dinner here on Saturday night. Yes we can. Reservations are not necessary. Just come! We then move on to Cancajos. Cancajos is also a tourist trap with large hotels and appartment buildings. It is a nasty contrast to the rural and laid back character of the rest of the island. We are here because I will take part in dive from here at 3pm. We eat a sandwich at one of the many eateries and then head for the dive centre La Palma. Uwe welcomes us and we go through the paper work. I am fitted with all the necessary gear. Together with dive master  Alicia and a second diver I walk to the beach. From the beach we walk into the sea and swim after Alicia to our point of descent. Down there we find various type of fish like I did near Puerto Naos. After a while Alicia gets ear problems, which is why we cannot descend further than 8.5 metres (instead of 18). We cannot make it to the fish basket. A pity, but that's how it is.  The dive through the canyon was nice enough though. After 40 minutes we surface again. 

After the dive we have a drink in the sun before we drive back to town. After a break we have tapas at  bar Slogan, on the Av. Maritima. After that dinner at restaurant La Barada. 

Weather: rain and 12 degrees in the morning. sunny and 20 degrees in the afternoon

Friday 27 March 2009

We have again breakfast at bar La Palma. After that we grab the car. We stop for coffee on the Av. Maritima and then charge on to the North East of the island. We stop at a number of Miradors (lookouts), like Mirador San Bartolo. The view is superb and there are a few typical dragon trees. We carry on to  Los Sauces. This is an ugly village, where turn left to a steeply rising road towards the Molina Hidraulico el Regente. This is an old water mill, that should be open for visitors. It turns out to be closed. I walk an exhausting 600 metres uphill for another Mirador, looking out over a valley. The view is very nice and I can see the narrow winding road with a liner bus making its way towards the remote hamlets. After all this we buy a bottle of honey rum in a souvenir shop in Los Sauces as well a pot of honey, both are typical local produce of La Palma. We carry on to  Barlovento. Here we eat in the hotel Romantico. Not so romantic after all. It takes like forever for our lunch to be served and it tastes very bland indeed. 

We drive on to Mirador La Tosca. Despite the oncoming fog, the view is still very interesting. We continue a bit to Roque Forte and double back via a high level narrow mountain road. The road is new, well surfaced, but very narrow indeed.  Fortunately there is not a lot of traffic. The road leads us through dense forests and winds itself around the flanks of the mountains. The fog becomes thicker and it starts to rain. When descend to a lower altitude the fog subsides and the sun returns. Beyond  Barlovento we stop at restaurant Goviota next to nature pool La Fajana on the rocky coast. The nature pool is a tub out of solid lava next to a light house. You can swim here in sea water protected from the big waves. We have a drink with a view of the wild sea and the sheltered pool. 

We drive back to Santa Cruz and park near the hotel. At night we go for tapas at  bar el Negresco. This time just the boquerones and a potatoe salad. The servings are very generous. After that we eat a very good dinner at La Placeta (duck breast). The cute waiter is on duty again and the food is excellent.

Weather:  its is clear and sunny in Santa Cruz, 22 degrees. In the north cloudy, foggy and rainy, 8 degrees

Saturday 28 March 2009

De day starts sunny in Santa Cruz. We drive up North for a forest walk from a parking lot towards Cubo de Galga, a "rock kettle". It is a fairly easy walk. The surfaced road starts rather steep, but levels out when we get further up. The the surfucing ends and the walking stocks come in  handy.  The walk continues uphill until the Cubo, where we find a small waterfall. We go back the same way we came. Meanwhile it has started raining and the sun has had to give way to grey clouds. We drive back to Santa Cruz and on to Los Llanos. On the West side of the central mountain range the sun is shining. We eat in  Los Llanos atj El Real. Owner David is a bit peculiar. He has to step out for a short while to do some shopping for the ingredients. He did not have any pork chops at hand. After lunch we drive to Puerto Naos to Las Monjas beach.  Not so easy to find. Coming from Puerto Naos towards El Remo you have turn off to a narrow road at house no. 56. The beach is a rocky bay with a good stairwell down, where we have climb over rocks to find a good sun bathing spot. We stay for an hour or so. 

At night we eat at the Parador of La Palma. It is about ten minutes' drive from the town. It is a modern Parador, but no highrise. We have a good dinner (mushels and duck) and the ambiance is totally up to scratch. Back in town we go for a late night drink at  the outside tables of La Placeta.

Weer: regen in de ochtend  bij de wandeling. 12 graden. In Los Llanos en aan het strand 22 graden en zon.

Sunday 29 March 2009

We have to find a different breakfast joint, because bar La Palma is closed Sundays. A bit further up the street of calle O' Daly we find one open. The bar girl is unusually unfriendly. She does not say a word and has an award winning grumpy look on her face. After the ordeal we drive to Vila de Mazo. Here we visit the weekly farmers market for biological farm produce and handicraft. Nice to sea. It is very sunny. We buy some jam and drink bamboo juice with passion fruit. Back at the hotel we just relax. 

Early afernoon we go out for lunch at cafetaria Tajurgo. A very simple eatery with plastic table cloths, a tv firmly fixed on all day sport channel. The bar and tables are occupied by people from the neighbourhood. We order from the menu with colour photos of the meals, in order to avoid any misunderstanding over what you are ordering.  The food is not so bad and the tv is not too loud. There is a constant drizzle outside. In the afternoon we decide to stroll around town and sit down under an umbrella for a drink. It is very quiet in the streets and the poor weather is not helping. 

In the evening we go out to the Alameda square to Alameda square where Antonio en Laressa from Italy have their Pizzeria. We eat delicious pizza, preceeded by an Italian tomato soup. We walk back, watch some tv and go to bed early.  

Weather: morning sunny and  20 degrees. Afternoon drizzle and 16 degrees

Monday 30 March 2009

We leave Santa Cruz for the final time. At the airport we have some trouble finding the drop off point for our rental car. It turns out that we have to turn into a road that is signposted as blocked, but we have to ignore the signs. It is probably connected to the major reconstruction of the airport. We return the car key and check in for our flight. We something to eat in the cafetaria on the first floor. When our flight is called we go through security. After that there are no more shops. We can go on to the platform and walk towards the aircraft. We leave on schedule and arrive more on less on time in Amsterdam. After a length wait for our baggage we can take the train back home to Rotterdam.