Transatlantic 2022 — Tenerife; Teide National Park and barraquito at Restaurante Papillon

Our ship Vision of the Seas departed Santa Cruz de La Palma on 7 May 2022, and we arrived at our next Canary Islands destination of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife the following morning. This was not our first trip to Tenerife, so this time Ursula booked us for a tour of places we’d yet to visit. This tour would take us deep into the island and high above the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, the mountain you see below is Teide, the highest point for any island in the Atlantic (12,188 feet/3,715 meters above sea level), and the highest point in Spain.

The images you see above, as well as the next two images below, were taken at the Mirador de Chipeque (Chipeque Lookout). This scenic viewpoint is about .4 miles/.65 kilometers off the main road (Carretera de la Esperanza/TF-24) to Teide National Park. To the south southwest rises Teide, and to that volcano’s right, to the west, is an area that is frequently hidden by a dense layer of clouds in one of Tenerife’s several distinct microclimates. The particular microclimate at this viewpoint appears to favor conifer trees:

Whereas below you can see that the microclimate is dense cloud rolling up the slope of Teide from the western shore of the island:

Our tour bus had already been on the road for a while, so it was time for a break. We stopped at Restaurante Papillon (Butterfly) for an island favorite:

Heading inside, we were greeted by a combination café, restaurant, and gift shop:

Our tour guide gave us a recommendation as to what to order — an island favorite called barraquito. This is coffee with a twist. A list of ingredients: espresso, sweetened condensed milk, frothed whole milk, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds, but it gets better. It’s also spiked with Licor 43! And what does this concoction look like before the first highly anticipated sip? A bit like this, although traditionally it should be served in a glass mug rather than opaque ceramic:

Heading back outside after our refreshment, I snapped this photo of Teide:

Time to head into the Teide National Park (Parque nacional del Teide) some twenty bus minutes beyond Papillon. We’ll get a more in-depth look at this wonder starting Wednesday. Until then, I’ll leave you with these two images as a teaser:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)