Like Hubert, we fled the cold and damp of the Belgian capital in the winter of 2023 to warm up in the Canary Islands. We left our hotel in the hills above Los Cristianos by local bus to Vilaflor via the TF51 road, where we boarded bus number 342 to El Teide National Park, on the TF21 road.

We were eager to see the spectacular landscapes that WHS Traveller members have already described, and it is very interesting to take the local bus to see at your leisure the different layers of vegetation revealed before your astonished eyes as the bus climbs and the difference in altitude increases until reaching the gigantic caldera in the national park.

We got off the bus at the foot of the cable car hoping to go to the summit without a reservation, but we had to give up as everything was already booked for the day. So we decided to walk to the Canada Blanca Visitor Centre before stopping at Roques de Garcia. I think all the WHS Traveller members took more or less the same route... splendid, and as they say, not as deserted as it first appears! The variations in color, from anthracite to rust through a whole range of yellows with the tender greens of the vegetation, are breathtaking!

Wandering through this vast, 360° desert landscape, surrounded by almost complete solitude, was pure bliss. The word that comes to mind to describe the beauty of the national park is: majestic. Awe-inspiring nature; you feel so small. My eyes were filled with stars, as this world heritage site deserves.

After a certain time, there are a lot of people at the visitor center and at Roques de Garcia, but it allows you to get to know each other...

I also absolutely wanted to see the Canary Island pine forests which, in addition to the gigantic size of their specimens, since they can reach 40 m in height, are fire-resistant, in case their roots were in lava...

Finally, although it does not grow naturally in the park, on our way back to the continental cold, we bought some Aloe Vera oil at the airport to give to friends. Bus number 342 drove past the Aloe Vera plantations on its descent from the mountain.