We were up ealier this morning, at seven o’clock, as we had a half-day tour booked and we had to meet our guide shoreside at 8.15am. The Queen Anne was making her way into the port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, where she was due to dock at 8.00am Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands and is a popular holiday destination among Britons, who tend to pronounce it Ten-er-reef (three syllables), whereas its correct, Spanish pronunciation is actually Ten-er-reef-ay, ie. four syllables.
As we went out on the balcony we could see that the weather, once again, was less than perfect, and certainly cooler than we expected for the time of year. There was lots of low cloud and mist, but we could see patches of blue in the sky, so we were hopeful that the weather would fair up as the day progressed.
We breakfasted in the Artisans’ Foodhall, choosing a table near the window so we could watch Queen Anne’s progress into port. Once she was made fast, there seemed to be several issues getting the gangplanks into place, despite there being at least two airbridges they could have used. I don’t know what was different about this port compared to the other ones, but they made hard work of getting the gangways ready for disembarkation. We could see the tour buses lined up, patiently waiting, but we were a little late getting off the ship and making our way to our coach.
Off we went through the early morning streets. As it was Sunday, there was no rush-hour traffic, and the coach wended its way through the winding streets, heading for the northern part of the island. We would be climbing up to the Anaga National Park, an area extremely popular with hikers, where you could experience a rainforest environment with cloud-covered laurel forests, huge ferns and varied terrain.
The coach climbed steadily up the hairpin bends; one side contained dense vegetation with tall trees, shrubs and ferns, the other side opening out to give us a tremendous vista over mountains, little villages and the blue sea in the distance. There was still a lot of low cloud and the ever-present threat of rain, but it was a most enjoyable ride, even if the guard rails alongside the drops looked a bit flimsy! The road was narrow for two vehicles to pass on these heights, but our driver was very careful and took the corners slowly, honking his horn loudly at any blind corners.
As we looked into the rainforest, we could see many quiet, shaded footpaths; the sort that make you want to follow them to see where they go. Our guide explained that, due to the high humidity here, the vegetation is very rich all year round, and we could see mosses, laurel trees, aloe vera plants and cactuses, as well as huge ferns which our guide said could grow up to 30 metres in height!
Up until now, we hadn’t even realised that Tenerife had a rainforest; we always associated it as being volcanic and pretty arid, almost desert-like.
Soon we arrived at a clearing at the top, and the coach parked up. We could see for miles; mountains and hills and towns and villages, the low cloud drifting lazily by. A van was parked up and the lady was obviously known to our driver, because he said that she sells locally-grown fruits, including the small, sweet bananas Tenerife is known for. As well as fruit, the vendor was selling cakes, biscuits and sweets, and our driver said we would be supporting the local economy by buying from her! 🙂
We alighted from the coach and gazed around at the amazing views before us. There were patches of blue in the sky by now which allowed us to see further, despite the constantly-moving cloud. It was quite windy at this height but not too cold, and I took lots of photographs.
Several people on our coach queued at the van where the lady selling her fruit, cakes and soft drinks was doing a roaring trade. Then, once we were all rounded up and back on the bus again, we continued on our way. Half way down, our guide told us we would be stopping for some tapas and some local red wine. That sounded good! 🙂
The driver parked the coach in a suitable place, and we all had to walk down the road for a couple of hundred yards to the restaurant. As there were still intermittent showers, Trevor carried our cagoules in his rucksack. When we arrived, I saw that the restrooms were immediately to our right, so I decided to make use of them first, rather than wait until later when there were likely to be long queues.
When I went into the restaurant, I saw that there were long tables, the width of the room, with bottles of red wine and plates containing bread, cheese, olives and jamón serrano. I poured myself a glass of wine from a nearby bottle; in fact, I emptied it as there was only one glass left.
As we sat there enjoying our wine and tapas, our guide told us that there was a church we could visit nearby afterwards, although he did add that it was over cobbles which were liable to be wet and therefore slippery. As I was only wearing flip-flops, I decided I wouldn’t go. In the meantime, we just enjoyed the company of our fellow visitors and joined in with any conversation. During this time (and without actively eavesdropping) I could hear a repeated phrase, spoken with much gusto: “After all, it’s what we’ve PAID for!” (with the emphasis on PAID) I turned to see a lady and her husband sitting to the left of us; an American couple sat opposite them and the lady was pontificating to them while the level in her wine glass went down at a remarkable speed. “We’re in Queen’s GRILL”, we heard her say for the umpteenth time. “We have our own restaurant, our own bar and our own deck area. It’s what we’ve PAID for!”
By now, I was unashamedly openly eavesdropping. This lady and her husband travelled regularly with Cunard but had not enjoyed their last experience, on Queen Victoria, and they made sure they related every detail to the American couple, who couldn’t get a word in edgeways. When the gentleman started to say something, he was admonished with a “No, no, no… please do not interrupt me. It’s important that you listen. You might learn something!” Wow. Was this lady full of her own importance, or what!?
Once Trevor and a few of the others on our coach left to go and visit the church, I found myself at the mercy of this insufferable couple (the American couple had prudently taken the chance to get out while they could!). “Are you travelling Britannia class?” she asked me disdainfully. When I said yes, we were in a Britannia balcony cabin, she responded with “Oh, we’re in Queen’s Grill, and our balcony is tiny, so I dread to think what yours is like”.
I think I had just met Hyacinth Bucket (Bouquet, dear – it’s pronouned Bouquet!) in the flesh!!! 😀
Shortly afterwards, Trevor stuck his head around the door and said that we were going. We walked back up to the coach for the next part of our trip, which was to a beach.
Soon the coach was back down to sea level again, and parked up. We had around 30 minutes to explore here, and we strolled along an attractive beach area with its coarse sand, dramatic cliffs and palm trees. Several sun-loungers were lined up but, as it was certainly cooler than we’d expected it to be in May, they were doing much business. Nonetheless, it was lovely to walk along and listen to the sounds of the sea lapping onto the sand.
We arrived back on board the Queen Anne around one o’clock, but we weren’t really hungry after our tapas, so we decided to skip lunch. Instead, I enjoyed a 30 minute power nap before sitting out on our balcony for a while, looking at the busy port, the high-rise buildings and the mountains in the background.
After relaxing, reading and pottering around in our cabin, I then had a refreshing shower (the walk-in shower in our room was powerful, with a comfortable constant temperature), and shampooed and blow-dried my hair. We had the balcony door propped open and, while I was getting ready, we heard the symbolic three blasts of the Queen Anne‘s foghorn, as she slowly moved away from the dockside. It was quite sad really; that was our visit to the Canary Islands over. We now had two sea days to look forward to.
Down in the Britannia Restaurant, on table #349, everyone was telling everyone else about what they’d been up to today, and they all laughed when I mentioned my encounter with “Hyacinth Bucket”. Eric was not familiar with the TV character, so we explained that there was a classic sitcom in Britain called Keeping Up Appearances which featured this character; we recommended he watched it and he made a note of it so he could look it up when he got home! 🙂
We had a full programme of events to keep us entertained for the evening. After dinner, we hotfooted it along to the Royal Court Theatre for tonight’s performance, which featured Liverpool comedian John Evans. Usually, it was difficult to get front seats in the theatre, but if there’s a comedian or a magician on then it’s very easy to get a front seat, as people don’t want to be singled out! We therefore managed to get a great seat in the front row. 🙂
The show had already started and some people were still coming into the theatre. Meanwhile, John was warming up the audience with the usual “Do we have anyone in tonight from the USA / Canada / Britain / France etc.?” and people were responding, saying whereabouts they were from. When a group came into the room (late!), John turned to them and asked “Where are you from?” “Deck 7” a lady replied, quick as a flash. Her response elicited loud laughter and spontaneous applause from the audience, and even John the comedian was incapable of speaking for a minute or so. A fantastic riposte! 🙂
After a hilarious show, we made our way to the Golden Lion for tonight’s trivia quiz. It featured music from the 80s, so we were confident of doing well, is it tends to be my ‘era’ for music. We finished the quiz but, as we had tickets reserved to see the latest Bright Lights Society production called “Fizz”, I didn’t stay to see the results.
The Bright Lights Society room only holds 140 people, so a good view or a good table is a case of “first come, first served”. I could already see that there was a longish queue, so I thought I’d better get in and reserve my seat.
I needn’t have worried, however. “Fizz” promised audience interactivity so, like the front row of seats in the theatre when the comedian is on, people didn’t want to sit in the limelight. I was therefore able to procure a great table at the front, and some of the cast, recognising me from my participation in “Noir” came over to look at (and admire!) my Irregular Choice shoes! 🙂
Trevor arrived shortly afterwards; we’d scored 17/20 in the quiz. One of the answers, which was actually correct, had been marked as being wrong so we should have had 18. It wouldn’t have made any difference though; the winners (who had six in their team) scored 19.
Once again, the show was hilarious, with excellent live music, singing and dancing, and extravagant costumes. It was certainly something different to see/do on a cruise; we hadn’t come across anything like this before. 🙂
It was just after 10.45pm when we left the Bright Lights and headed up to the peace and quiet of the Commodore Club for a nightcap. We had had a lovely and interesting day, and as we made our way back to 11046, we wondered what pleasures were in store for us over the next couple of days, as the Queen Anne headed north again, en route to La Coruña.