a week in the Canary Islands

near our hotel
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Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands of Spain off the coast of Africa.  It is a volcanic island, 785 square miles.

I really felt like an outsider (being American) and now I know why after finding these facts:  Economy is dependent on tourisim and 9 million tourists visited Tenerife in 2005.  30% were from Spain and 1,600,000 were from the UK.   Visitors from other countries in order:  Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Italy, France, Austria, Ireland and Switzerland.  United States didn't even make the list.  No US newspaper, no US flags flying with other country flags at hotels.

view from our back balcony
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There's not a lot to do here; it was warm enough to be at the pool or beach every day.  We took a tour of the island and saw  banana plantations, "tomato plantations,"  lovely views of the ocean, historic churches, and towns decorated for Christmas.

The one disappointing thing was the restaurant variety--there wasn't much.  Every place seemed to have the same fish dishes, 5-6 kinds of pizza, and 3-5 kinds of pasta.  It was difficult to find local tapas places--my favorite local foods were spiced potatoes. shrimp, and Spanish omelets all seved with the local Canary sauce.