Time to finish up with the Canary Islands and Tenerife. Next week we move on to the next destination on our transatlantic voyage aboard Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas. I hope you’re enjoying this voyage so far, the first of five we took beginning in April. Interspersed between those cruises will be a side journey to Germany, and then a four-day stay in Dublin, Ireland before we return. So, until next week, here is today’s Part 3 of Fun Photo Friday favorites of Tenerife:
Today is the second of three Fun Photo Fridays dedicated to favorites from Tenerife, Canary Islands. Next week we’ll conclude with a tour of San Cristóbal de La Laguna before heading back to Vision of the Seas for completion of our transatlantic crossing. The next destination after that will be… a Spanish surprise.
We’re still viewing Teide National Park, and we’re still looking at the sights from Mirador de La Ruleta (Roulette Viewpoint). Above is that image I promised on Monday of a much lower portion of Las Cañadas crater. And if you read the title of today’s article then you’re expecting a cathedral today. In case you’re wondering, La Catedral is in that photo above. I’ll let this next image explain:
La Catedral is an igneous rock formation
La Catedral stands 150 feet/46 meters tall, and apparently some people even climb it! Want a closer shot of La Catedral? Well, I frame to please (see what I did there?):
La Catedral (right); Magmatic dike (left)
In the closeup above of La Catedral, you’ll see to its left another structure. This is an igneous, or magmatic, dike. I’ve shown examples of this before (see: Igneous Dikes of the Southwestern U.S.), as they are quite fascinating. The dikes radiating from Shiprock in the northwestern corner of New Mexico are another great example. Let’s zoom in on this one, however, for a closer look:
Magmatic Dike (called a “Phonolytic Rock” in the diagram above)
Time to start heading east for our next destination, a glimpse of which I gave you on last week’s Fun Photo Friday. But before we leave Teide National Park, let’s take a look at other items of interest on the way out beginning with another view of Mount Teide and that perpetual fogbank I showed last week. That dense cloud was still present five hour later:
Teide (left) and dense fog blanketing the northwest coast of Tenerife
There’s also an observatory with a wide array of solar and night sky telescopes. It’s located some eight miles east of Teide volcano, yet it’s still called Teide Observatory:
Teide Observatory
It was at this location that I snagged a fun shot of the layers that make up the interesting geology here. The two shots directly above, as well as this next image, were taken at Mirador la Tarta, which translates to Viewpoint of the Cake. An appropriate name considering this:
The “Cake” shot
Now it’s back down toward the coast for a long stop in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, which we’ll tour next week. Here’s a taste to whet your appetite:
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 