All these sights maybe easily visited within one day, and we did it the next day after the rainy Paisaje Lunar. This day we decided to keep close to the car for the case of the bad weather.
On our way to Masca village the weather cheered us with the sun:
But as soon as we turned to the narrow mountain road leading to Masca, the rain started drizzling. It even prevented us to get out of the car at miradores for some time, but the need of beauty was stronger:
The road leading to Masca is a mountain lacet, extremely beautiful (no matter from which part of the island you go, you will have to take it to get to Masca, so you won’t miss it):
Meanwhile, the weather was getting worse 🙁 Taking into account, that this was the first lacet driving in our life, the rain caused not only sadness, but also danger.
But the closer we got to Masca, the clearer the sky became.
Masca (coordinates: 28.305278, -16.840278) is well-known for its excellent views of the gorge. Indeed, it is breathtaking. There are only about 100 people living here, and it is often said to be a pirate village (being that far and also that difficult to access, it as if was the place to hide for pirates and smugglers), although a visitor won’t notice anything associated with pirates in it.
There is also a hiking route starting from the parking lot (a walk will take about 3 hours, but recommended in a good weather only).
But we shouldn’t complain about the weather: due to it we were rewarded by unforgettable rainbow. After coming back from Tenerife, Vitya was writing a review on our trip on the forum dedicated solely to Tenerife, and many people reading his review (who had been to the island for many times) were envious: they have never seen a rainbow at Masca. That is why you should never complain about the weather!
Then we decided to go downstairs and take a walk at Masca streets. Only narrow stone paths leaded to Masca before 1960s, so it was possible to get there only on foot or by mules.
The streets of this pueblito finish before they start.
After Masca we made several photos on the way to Montaña la Sahorra.
Montaña la Sahorra, our second destination is also called a “cut pie” – a victim of landslides: (the coordinates of the mirador 28.329315,-16.856632):
After the “Pie” we were planning to visit the lighthouse “Teno”, but were lost and ended up in the beach “Buenvista del Norte”:
There we asked a local woman about the lighthouse, she showed the way, but recommended not to go there due to the strong wind and rain (the road was mountaneous). We decided to try though, but there were signs on the road after every 5 meters (and in different languages), stating that the road is closed and one may drive it only on his/her own responsibility. We decided not to risk and to come back on another day. We turned back and drove to Garachico, a town and municipality of 29 sq. kms.
Next to the information center it has free wi-fi access, a great possibility to show the ocean to your parents and friends on skype, which Nastya started to do:
The coast is very beautiful:
Swimming in natural pools is very dangerous in such weather:
Then we took a walk through local shops to buy souvenirs and cigars:
And then walked around the city:
Since we did not succeed with the lighthouse, we decided to go around the whole island, and our next stop was Icod de los Vinos, where we visited the butterfly garden (Mariposario del Drago, Calle Nicolas Estevez Borges, s/n, 38430 Icod de los Vinos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, +34 922 81 51 6, grown-ups 8,50, kids 5,0, students 7,0 евро, in winter 10.00-18.00, summer 10.00-19.00). In the garden, there are a lot of flying butterflies of all kinds.
Here you may also observe how a butterfly appears from chrysalis. There is a lab, where they take care of these babies.
Next to the butterfly garden, there is an arboretum, famous for the dragon tree, one of the oldest on the earth (about 2,500 years old) (Plaza de la Constitución, 1, 38430 Icod de los Vinos, +34 922 81 22 26, €4 for adults, €2.50 for students and pensioners, €2 for children, April-September 09:00-20:00, the rest 10:00 -18:00). It is surrounded by multiple legends and many other plants constituting the botanical garden.
Thus, we finished that day and went back home along the coastline by TF-5, ТF-2 and then TF-1, having done a circle around the island.
Next day we went to El Medano Beach, Candelaria, La Laguna, and Anaga Mountains.
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