Here we are in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, where it’s rainy and quite chilly at around 11°C. People may come here for the sun, but the place is no stranger to rain, either.
We arrived here yesterday from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, via the Anaga Rural Park, where we stopped to do a couple of short, but pleasant hikes at Cruz del Carmen. After doing the Llanos de los Loros trail through the laurel forest and one other trail, whose name I can’t remember, but which was conducted in the pouring rain, we stopped for some tasty fare at a roadside restaurant and then continued along the winding road to La Laguna.
La Laguna is an unassuming place, home to the islands’ only university. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and is pretty enough, but from my point of view suffers from a dearth of good restaurants.
As in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there are far too many snack bars serving hamburguesas and other fast food. Dinner last night ended up being rather average pizza and chapatas, followed by churros and hot chocolate. The dessert somewhat compensated for the main dish. Actually, Sarah wasn’t as vocal about the food as I was.
Another thing about Spain is that it still has pre-enlightenment smoking policies, i.e. every establishment makes its own rules. This very liberal policy means, of course, that the non-smokers have to suffer, and so we do. It’s either that or not eat.
Siesta, too, makes life as a tourist a little difficult. Nothing’s open in the afternoon, which wouldn’t have to be a problem, except for when the rain is coming down in buckets outside. So, we came back to the hotel this afternoon, had a bath and will be heading out again soon.
Tomorrow, we leave La Laguna behind and head further.
There are very few tourists in this part of Tenerife. They all stay down in the south, where all the sun, beaches and pie and mash are to be found. Most of the few tourists who make it up here seem to be German, with a few English and Dutch thrown in for good measure. It’s harder to spot the Spanish tourists, of course, although I’m sure they’re here in force.