The main “goal” of this trip, Tenerife, is a cycling mecca for many Europeans who want to train during the winter. It’s relatively close to Europe, has a 2300m steady climb and pretty good weather year-round.

This is my first stay, in the capital, Santa Cruz.

Airbnb was in a quite old building with a sketchy elevator but still decent.

More importantly, right in the middle of town.

View from the balcony. It's right in the tourist area, with people enjoying the cafe life until midnight.

Typical Tenerife architecture/street.

Like I'm not going to buy that?

A "TooGoodtoGo" run. Lot of stuff. Been eating so much shit on this trip.

The coast/port is very touristic and has many swanky hotels and resorts for people who aren't cheap like me.

Kind of typical mix of new architecture mixed in with the run-down old city/apartments everywhere.

Cool historical fort left standing near the harbor.

Very endemic of our times: The hot girl running after her "child" taking pictures for Instagram.

There's also this huge auditorium with Sydney vibes. Completely clashes with everything else but cool.

Some kind of Carnival going on that day as well.

The harbor extending in front of the cliffs.

Huge cruise ships drop people off daily, same as Funchal. You can watch them come and go.

One of many unique/cool buildings in the capital. There's about 200 000 people living here.

Mount Teide is a gigantic volcano that peaks at over 3700m. It dwarfs everything else on the island and towers above the clouds. The highest point you can reach on the road is the edge of the huge caldera at about 2300m, before you dip back down into the crater and reach the cable car station that can take you up to the actual peak.

At about 1900m elevation I finally came out of the frigid fog to this amazing view of the peak.

Some pros training. There's many of them who stay at a resort near the peak at 2000m altitude to get adaptations from the elevation.

The cable car. It doesn't quite take you to the peak, you still need to hike and it requires a permit ( bribe ).

The landscape in the crater is otherwordly. Just a mix of lava flows and desert for miles around.

The crater has its own climate, it felt like Arizona. Quite a drastic change from the foggy pine forest before you reach the edge of the caldera.

Cable car station with a view of where it ends near the top. It must be almost 1000m of vertical.

More of the arid desert landscape. I don't think there's anything quite like this on the rest of the Island.

Hello

Bunch of radar towers/ metro stations ( or whatever ) at the top. There's also an observatory if you're willing to make a little extra detour. I was not. This is a long ride...

View of the east coast as I came out of the fog on the way down. About 1000m elevation.

There's a bunch of these anthill looking mountains. Not sure what they are or how doomed the nearby people are.

Look back at the fog/clouds on the mountain. This was a "no rain" forecast... Yah... Okay.... TECHNICALLY CORRECT...

View from a little lookout near Guimar. Last little climb of a looooong day.

More relaxing day with the goal of just trying to ride most roads on the Island.

I keep seeing these chubby trees everywhere.

Festive bridge leading to the "Playas de Las Teresitas"

Very nice and huge sandy beach for losers who don't bike all day.

You can bike 10+km on the coastal cliffs and get amazing views of the city and beach. Definitely worth doing.

As per usual, dipshits throwing trash everywhere. Truly us humans are all alike, why so much conflict?

Cliffs going back down. All the rock faces have holes/caves on the Island.

Quick check of where I'm going up to next... Go away cloud. Stop. Go rain at the beach not here.

About 900m climb to the top of the ridge. Some of the best views of the Island up here, with surprisingly lush green cliffs on an otherwise pretty dry Island.

Holy shit I look tired when I'm tired...

More amazing views along the ridge. A must-do road if you ever visit. Even if you just drive it. I will allow it.

Whole island's cactus population was having a fruit fiesta. Not sure what these do to you if you eat them though. Won't try.

Going back down. Lots of interesting rock formations on many of the cliffs here. If it was in Detroit that rock would have been pushed down the mountain long ago.

A different route up to Teide. Did not go all the way to the cable car today, this ride’s long enough….

'Murica

View of Teide peaking out of its cloud blanket from the North side of the island.

The road along the ocean here is beautiful and the north is nice and green while the south side is basically a desert.

Back in the cold stupid fog on the way up. About 10 feet visibility in here in case it's not clear from the picture. And COLD. Near freezing.

Nice peak of the mountain above the boreal forest. There's always many biome changes when you go up such high peaks.

Last ride before going to the nearby Island of Gran Canaria! Met up with a friend of a friend who lives here. Great to have company from time to time on a trip.

Texting while cycling. Illegal? Maybe. Smart? Maybe. Efficient? Definitely.

Daniel is one of many europeans who own property here because it's a lot cheaper and nicer than Paris and London. Making me jealous.

On the way back I stopped in this little palm tree park. The capital is really a beautiful city with tons of sculptures and landscaping everywhere and such great temperature in the evening.

Hey it's parrots of some kind! Awesome.

Break from cycling now as I travel from Tenerife to Gran Canaria.

Won't see that in Victoria.

Had a bit of time in the morning and noticed I was within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History!

It's just 5 euros and decently sized, worth a visit for sure if you're around.

Cool 3D print of the island. You can clearly see the huge crater with the true peak of Teide standing in the middle.

They have an extensive collection of butterflies from all over the world, as well as all the native Canary insects.

Saw these roaches in Madeira. They don't fuck around.

They also have a section for all the animals that live on the islands!

Even some that went extinct like this cool falcon : (

Highlight of the collection ( in my opinion )

Yeah get in there you naughty boy.

That face explains why I've seen a bunch of them squished on the roads...

There's a section for random fossils and minerals unrelated to the Islands as well.

Just your typical museum rocks that look 3D printed.

Best section is for the sea life for sure!

Hi

This museum is better than the one in Victoria but costs 20% as much. Just go there for the deal really.

I sort of glossed over how many things are in the museum about the Island's aboriginals.

Lot of skulls and bones in the museum as well. Like a lot. Too much even.

The Church of Immaculate Conception, right next to the museum.

On the Ferry. It's huge and pretty luxurious. Way less crappy than the Victoria ferries. It has 3 cafes for some reason.

One of the crewmembers looks suspiciously like Justin Trudeau.

Leaving Santa Cruz de Tenerife behind.

Gran Canaria appearing in the distance. The two Islands are only 70km apart.

The imposing cliffs as you dock in Agaete, located in the Northwest. Gives you a good preview of the rugged landscape of the whole island.

That is it for this part of the trip! Next up: Gran Canaria.

More travel stuff:
Arizona/California: Drive to Tucson • Tucson • California Climbing • Bay Area / Washington
Canada Coast to Coast: Victoria •Vancouver Island • Vancouver • Southern Rockies • Prairies • Ontario • Niagara • Quebec • Gaspesie / PEI • Maritimes • Newfoundland • Maritimes2 • Bay of Fundy • Quebec2 • Montreal • Ontario2 • Prairies Statues • Jasper/Banff • Northern Rockies • Washington State Bonus

Car Conversion / Purchase: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Life on the road: Part 1 • Part 2

Tenerife part 1: The North