Tenerife By Bus

Bus Route: 470[Los Cristianos], 111[Playa Americas], 460[Icod] and 363[Buenavista]. Return: 363[Icod], 111[Playa Americas], 483[El Medano]. View my Garachico and Caleta Photo Album Hola everyone, Although my intention was to visit the other end of Route 470 my plans changed as a result of a kindness from two friends of mine, Patrick and Michelle. In an idle conversion I mentioned that I was undecided as to buying a radio to try and get the news from the BBC – it is surprising how quickly one loosed touch with the outside world events – a couple of days later they lent me an am/fm radio to try out. I took it to the apartment and scrolled through the FM bands to find a broadcast in English, finding only one I dug out the free English newspaper, Island Connections, and went from cover to cover to see if I could find ads for radio stations. Just behind the TV section I came across a listing I had missed – upcoming events for the fortnight ahead – this changed my idea for t...

Bus Routes: 470 [Granadilla], 111/115 [Santa Cruz]. Return: 120 [Guimar], 111 [Las Americas], 470 [Granadilla]/483 [El Medano]  View my Candelaria Photo Album In my last blog I said that I would explore the other end of Bus Route 470 to Los Christianos well I changed my mind. I was sitting in the tapas bar in the square on Monday evening, and they connected me to the Wi-Fi, very civilised! I decided to Google a route to Candelaria which is about half way up the island on the east coast. I had read something about the town and been told that was where the statues of the Kings are so decided it would be good to visit early on. It also involved route 470 as far as San Isidro, the town I mentioned on my way to Granadilla de Abona last time, then changing buses as I wanted to find out how difficult it would be changing connections. Google gave me routes and times so I now had a cunning plan! The last time I looked at Google the bus arrived about 45 minutes after the stated t...

Ola Amigos, View my 'Air Ambulance, Tenerife' photo album Got some good photos of the air ambulance helicopter trying to land on the quay at Los Abrigos on Sunday afternoon however it could not make it and swung round to land on the beach next to the apartment which sent people running! Also tried out the sequence shooting mode on the camera as it had got dark before it took off. The down side is that one of the fishermen drowned in the harbour when he was knocked unconscious as he fell into the water from his boat, they tried to revive him for an hour but were unsuccessful, he was only 21 and working because his father was ill. There was a memorial service for him this afternoon (Wed) with all of the fishing boats in the harbour out in the bay.

View my Granadilla de Abona Photo Album Bus Route: 470 [Granadilla], Return 470 [Los Cristianos] As the 470 starts or ends in Granadilla (pronounced Granadiya) de Abona and Los Abrigos is about half way along the route between there and Los Cristianos; I thought that this would be an easy journey to try out after spending a few days just 'chillin' either on the beach or sipping coffee and reading my Kindle books in one of the many cafe/bars in the village centre. I decided on a leisurely start so caught the 470 at about 12:30 (they use the 24 hour clock here) from the opposite side of the road because you have to remember that they drive on the right here and I have confused myself several times over direction of travel, especially with the motorway stops.  Waited about 50 minutes for the bus - start and finish times seem precise but the bits in the middle tend to be guesswork! An interesting thing about the buses is that pushchairs, prams, trolleys and cases are...

View my Los Abrigos, Tenerife Photo Album Bus Routes: 470[Los Christianos] [Granadilla] and 483[Costa Adeje] [El Medano]. Having arrived and settled in to my apartment it was time to explore the village I had adopted for the next 12 months. First of all I took some photos from the windows as, true to their word, I couldn't get much closer to the sea. The taxi from the airport had dropped me at the top of the village square and I had walked down to meet David from Los Abrigos Properties (he has since sold the business) who had arranged to meet me at noon as I had picked one of the many 'public holidays' to arrive on. We then walked along the street 'Playa Grande' to my apartment block. It seemed like a good idea to continue to the end of the street and have a look at the beach, which I must admit, takes some getting used to black sand. I also wandered around the opposite headland before, feeling very hungry, I went in search of somewhere to eat. I had p...

I accepted voluntary redundancy at the end of August 2011 and used the small payout to purchase a good laptop, a reasonable digital (DSLR) camera and a Kindle with GPS. I hadn't taken photos for years and as I was about to move around I had decided that the Kindle would replace my collection of books I was always going to read. The next question was "What to do next?" A friend of mine had been telling me to visit Tenerife for years so I thought why not! Easyjet provided a cheap ticket and a browse around the websites provided a nice little apartment in Los Abrigos. On arrival, after signing the paperwork I was asked if I was interested in hiring a car? Being on a limited budget and seeing how busy the island's roads were I had already decided that I was going to travel by bus. It turned out that Titsa, Tenerife's state bus company provide a 'BonoBus' ticket for either 12 or 30 Euros and the former can be purchased at most supermarkets. This tick...