Madeira and Canary Islands Cruise Part 2

Last week was all about catching up with washing and shopping in preparation for Christmas.  We saw relatives on Saturday and I had a day at home yesterday tidying and cleaning.  Having caught up with ourselves today we went out for a walk to our nearest NT. Kingston Lacy - gloomy weather but at least it was dry.

So different from a couple of weeks ago when we visited the Canary Islands.  The ship, Oceana, visited Tenerife, La Palma and Lanzarote, spending a day on each island.  Gloriously sunny and warm weather ranging between 23 - 25℃, so much warmer than I thought it would be!  Not having packed much summer stuff with me it was trying to find the coolest things I could wear - didn't do my homework there!

We had excursions booked for Tenerife and La Palma but not Lanzarote as nothing appealed to us.  Our excursion to the Botanical Gardens and Orchid Garden to us to the north of the island of Tenerife and a short visit to the resort of Puerto de la Cruz, which meant that the coach took mountainous roads to get there.  Our guide took us around the Gardens, although we could if we wanted to go on our own, and pointed out several trees and plants that are mainly peculiar to the island.  One of these is a Dragon Tree, which we also saw in Madeira and La Palma which has aerial roots that grow down from the branch to eventually root into the ground.  As the plant get older the tree gets wider with all the roots expanding the girth of the tree.  Unlike most trees it has a fibrous trunk so is difficult to determine its age.

 Thats the top of a tree with its clumps of spiny leaves

And the trunk of the tree with the aerial roots, you can just see the main trunk in the middle of the pic.

We saw a sand lizard sunning itself on the bark of another tree.

We saw some fruit trees as well, including a grapefruit, which smelt so different to the smell of grapefruit one gets from the supermarket and fig trees too - difficult not to take one of the plant to eat!

Next stop on our tour was to Sitio Litre garden, an orchid garden that has been owned by British families for generations.  As well as orchids there was also a fishpond (with fish food for the public to feed the fish!) and small self contained gardens.  With the buildings that surrounded it the gardens are a little oasis of calm.  At the end of the garden was a small café to have a drink of wine.

At this time of year there are lots of poinsettia's for sale which we have as indoor plants but here the are growing outdoors.

When we were in Tenerife the shops in the port town, Santa Cruz, were shut as it was a public holiday, the Immaculate Conception Day.   This disappointed other passengers who weren't on tours.

Back at the ship, before we left, the ship needed a refuel. No popping down to Asda for a fill up - the barge of fuel comes to the ship instead.

There'll be another post(s) about La Palma and Lanzarote