Walking in Tenerife
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Los Roques de Garcia
Mountains :
Los Roques de Garcia, Tenerife, is probably the biggest attraction beside Teide in the Las Canadas national park. Pictured above you see Teide to the right with Pico Viejo to the left and the formations of Los Roques de Garcia below them. The biggest attraction of Los Roques de Garcia is the unusual shaped red rock called Cinchado. One of the most popular postcards of Tenerife is Cinchado with Teide behind, as in the photo below. Cinchado doesn’t look very impressive when passing from the road, then it almost seems like just another rock. You have to see it from close up to see its special formation. It is constantly being eroded at its base and will eventually fall down. The surrounding area is highly restricted with ropes and rangers, even the slightest step outside the ropes will cause wild whistling from the guards. They watch over the area like hawks, even on a day when it was rainy and stormy there were 5-6 guards there. The reason for this vigilance is that the authorities are trying to allow plants and flowers that are endemic to the area to establish themselves so that less active visitors may see the various species without having to hike for miles. Without this vigilance there is the danger of these fledgling plants being trampled upon by the thousands of tourists that visit here every single day. The area is after all a popular tourist attraction, it suits those who don’t enjoy walking in the mountains, and it’s close to the road and has a huge parking space. The Tenerife paradox hotel is on the opposite side of the road by the little church of Our Lady of the snows.
Cinchado is said to be the worlds most photographed rock, here are some shots from different angles at close range ;
Tenerife’s Parador hotel is part of the chain of Spanish state owned and run hotels. This chain using many old castles and notable public buildings was supposedly the brainchild of the former dictator general Franco. It is quite expensive, which they are not all shy to announce, at the hotel there is a cafè (where I spent a whole day when the weather was awful). There is also a small information center (free entrance), giving a brief idea of the park but a better place to visit is the visitors centre at El Portillo on the other side of the park.
Above some views of Teide and the Los Roques de Garcia from another day.