I have literally not done up a travelogue post in more than a month, that's insane? I've been travelling for a bit in August, and I've just been focusing on doing product reviews because I've been trying out a whole bunch of new products but I am finally back and I am determine not to let this blog go again. That being said, the sheer amount of travelogue posts I have to do is piling up and it does stress me out a little because I still have to do the corresponding travel vlog as well so... Please do not kill me if updates come a bit slower than expected.
So without further ado, let's get into what we did. (If you don't remember what happened on the previous day, you can read the post HERE or click on the "Travelogue" label on the right side of this blog :> )
Volcanoes have always fascinated me. I really want to visit an active volcano at least once in my life and whilst I haven't had the chance to do so yet, I did have a chance to visit the Caldera de Bandama in the Canary Islands.
Because we wanted to head up the mountains on this day, we drove to the next hotel to see if we could unload our luggages as soon as we checked out. Our car cannot handle the weight of us human beings and our luggages whilst navigating the steep roads so the best choice was to unload our luggages and then navigate our way up.
We were really blessed to be able to check in early into Hotel Reina Ibabel which was right along the coast so we were treated to sick views of the beach and the sea side. The room was pretty big with a separate cupboard area, a balcony, and even a bathtub which we didn't use but I really appreciated.
Because we wanted to head up the mountains on this day, we drove to the next hotel to see if we could unload our luggages as soon as we checked out. Our car cannot handle the weight of us human beings and our luggages whilst navigating the steep roads so the best choice was to unload our luggages and then navigate our way up.
We were really blessed to be able to check in early into Hotel Reina Ibabel which was right along the coast so we were treated to sick views of the beach and the sea side. The room was pretty big with a separate cupboard area, a balcony, and even a bathtub which we didn't use but I really appreciated.
With nothing much planned for the day in Tenerife, we decided to head off after breakfast to the park nearby to take a walk before we took the ferry back to Gran Canaria. The park nearby was huge, in comparison to the parks we usually find in Singapore at least, and there were so many people going about their days.
We saw kids dancing in the park with their teacher, dog owners play with their furry kids in an enclosed space with obstacles for the furry ones, families enjoying a stroll in the shade, even some sitting quietly alone loss in thought.
The original plan for the day was to head to Cueva del Viento and explore the caves but we didn't know that reservations had to be made and the likelihood of doing a walk-in booking were next to none so we had to scarp this idea and find another one.
So if any one is interested in heading down to the caves, be sure to check online first and book a seat because if you need an English speaking guide like we did, those seats get taken up the fastest.
We decided to head to a shopping mall to shop and along the way, we chanced upon a field of solidified lava and we stopped to snap pictures. It was incredible to think that tens of thousands or even millions of years ago, lava flowed along this path and today, we were walking on rocks that have millions of years of history in them.
Little things like this remind me of how big the world really is.
The mall of the day was Siam Mall which is located in the Southern end of Tenerife. Siam mall is a pretty decent place to shop at. There were loads of food places on the top level and there was a relatively good mixture of international brands and local brands. They have international brands such as Zara, Pull & Bear, H&M, Mango and Bershka (I am aware that most of these are Spanish brands but I meant international as brands which you can find overseas).
We first went up to the top level and found ourselves at Tony Romas. I've never actually had Tony Romas before and the food was pretty good.
Mango Fresh (3.95€)
Combo Baby Back and Fried Prawns (18.95€)
Perfectly fried breaded prawns, served with half rack of our famous Baby Back Ribs with loaded smash potatoes and broccoli.
Barbecue Chicken (9.90€)
Barbecue chicken specially seasoned then basted with our original BBQ sauce. Served with french fries.
After shopping for quite a bit, and I really mean quite a bit, we decided to stop for a spot of tea before embarking on the drive back to our hotel. We stopped at Sweet Di' and had a cup of coffee (for pops and I), a cup of tea (for mum) and we split a piece of cake which tasted divine.
Happiness Tea (1.80€)
Mixture of black tea and green tea, strawberry, raspberry and flowers.
Porcion tarta Ferrero (2.50€)
Cafe con leche (1.45€)
For dinner, we decided to head back to the same place we had dinner at the very first night, Cafe Berlin and had Canarian food once again. I had the same thing mum did on the first night, the Canarian Cod which I really liked because it wasn't too fishy and there weren't any fish bones at all (which are the bane of my existence).
Dad opted for something different and went for the grilled sirloin steak and mum went for the seafood paella. Mum said that the seafood wasn't very fresh but the portion was huge.
Sangria (1/2 litre - 6.50€)
Seafood Paella (12.25€ for 1 person)
Grilled Sirloin Steak (13.50€)
Canarian Cod (11.50€)
We managed to catch the sunset on our last day at Sol Costa Atlantis Tenerife. The sun doesn't set till about 8-9pm which is pretty disorienting for us because in Singapore, our sun rises and sets at a pretty standard timing of 6-7pm. Anything later or earlier than that is just weird so even though we reach back to the hotel at 8pm, it is still super bright and it feels more like 6pm than 8.
The next day, we checked out of our hotel and headed to to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It was still too early for us to check in so we ended up doing even more shopping. I swear all these shopping days were not because of me but because my dad doesn't like navigating the steep and winding mountain roads.
We were very blessed to stay a mere 5-7 minutes walk away from the high street so we spent most of the nosing around the shops. There was a good selection of brands here as well, you can easily find Mango, Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti along these streets.
We stopped for lunch at La Finca Restaurant which was an Italian restaurant I believe. We didn't do any prior research and basically wandered around until we found something we felt like eating and the food here was very basic but hearty and tasted yummy.
Orange Juice (2€)
Cafe con leche (1.50€) / Tea (0.90€)
Chicken Stew (8€)
Grilled Tuna (13€)
Breaded Chicken Breast (7.50€)
The problem with spending a whole day shopping is that I pretty much forget about vlogging/taking pictures and I end up with food pictures only. That was what happened this day as well and besides lunch, we stopped for tea as well and found ourselves in McCafe. I've never had McCafe in Singapore before but the iced tea there was pretty good!
Cheesecake (2.70€)
Strawberry Smoothie (2.90€)
Cafe Latte (1.30€)
Iced Lemon Tea (1.50€)
Because we had tea, we weren't very hungry, mum decided to be healthy and opted for fruits and vegetables for dinner. Dad and I wanted to go for room service so we didn't get anything but it was pretty cool to head into a wholly organic food store. We don't see many of these around anymore.
When we went back to the hotel in the evening, our hotel room was finally ready so we managed to check in and get into our room. Our room was relatively big, enough to have a sitting area and a tv in the center of the room which could be turned to face either the sitting area or the main bed.
It wasn't very grand or luxurious but it was decently spaced and the roll out bed wasn't all that bad.
