A story of a Canarian Christmas.
Fairy lights around trees, Christmas music playing in almost every restaurant and shop, dressed up Santas walking the streets - in some regards, our Christmas this year was very much like every other year's. Apart from the trees being palm trees, the temperatures being around 20°C and us taking a swim in the Atlantic for refreshment. We ditched rain and mud and dark and fatty food and stiff traditions and went to Tenerife instead.
The landscape is stunning and even though the beaches and boulevards are crowded with tourists, it adds an odd and curious touch to the island. Nature with forest, desert, a vulcano peak and lots of sea and then the glowing lights and laughter of bars and restaurants.
Judith got a tiny Tenerife banana from a man with his fruit bus, as a free sample of course ;)
Hello, Mister Chicken!
Lunch with a view (and a-ma-zing garlic prawns!) We initially were whispered to sit down downstairs until a group left and then led upstairs to our table that was kept secret from the previous guests.
A-ma-zing and totally unexpected belgian-tenerife-mix food!
The bright lights and ridiculous decor of Los Christianos
Landscapes on Tenerife
We decided to spend Christmas on Tenerife as the Canarian Islands have nice temperatures and are not too far away. Of those, Tenerife seemed to be the most interesting one as it has a 3718 m tall volcano that has a huge impact on the weather and plants of the island.
We stayed in the South of the island, in Los Cristianos. That area is mainly dry and a desert of volcanic rock. There are mainly only dry bushes, cacti, lizards, and the carefully cared for and watered palm trees around the hotels and resorts.
Panorama taken with the OnePlus 7T. This was one of the first times we actually could count some of our phone photos into the batches of raw footage that we brought home.
This place would be an awesome location for Star Wars or Mad Max cosplay shoots or epic music videos in the desert - so you know. Give us a call. Shoot us an email. Write us on Facebook.
In the North of the island, clouds get stuck on the volcano which provides for more humidity and a higher amount and variety in plants.
Jonathan goofing around cliffs.
We drove along the West Coast to the north side which turned out to be a very beautiful and also adventurous trip that made us get used to driving on Tenerifian roads over a fucking volcano from day one. (We don't have any footage or photos from that. While Jonathan was driving, Judith was focused on navigating tiny roads, confusing crossings, holding on to something, or simply providing emotional support - maybe most for herself.)
Obviously the island has beaches (hence the interest of tourists), but also amazing coast lines with sharp rocks and crushing waves coming in from the Atlantic.
We visited the village Garachico which has stairs leading down to the water to various small pools that were closed during the winter, though.
One of our first drone shots ever!
We also checked out Alabama beach, which is a small beach at the end of a road through a luxury Ritz resort and down a lot of stairs.
While the waves on the beach are relatively calm, the cliffs surrounding the beach still made for some epic wave crashing.
So Tenerife offers a great variety of motives for landscape photography: rough rocks, smooth beaches, turquoise water and dense forests. We also had some moments with magical sunsets with low langing clouds and sunrays bathing the different layers of hills in orange colors.
Another great opportunity for either sunsets or sunrises (that we couldn't do, unfortunately) is to climb Mount Teide, the volcano.
If you still need a selling point: the waters between the Canarian Islands is very attractive to dolphins and a range of whales. On top of that, the weather is nice for a sailing trip!
Pilot whales!
Northern Dogs
One would not believe it, if we didn't have pictures, but we actually had a dog photo shoot with Silvia and her amazing pack of wolf dogs!
Meet Fenrir, Asgard and Astrid. Freja was a bit shy and isn't in this picture :)
Drone Photography on Tenerife
Shortly before we headed to the South, we managed to buy a drone. Cause how fun is it to go on vacation if there are no new toys to play with, right? We bought the DJI Mavic Mini that will get its own review post.
It's so tiny, it fits into the palm of our hands.
The camera is on a gimbal and it's impressive at stabilising.
Before we let free the drone, we did of course read up on drone photography laws in Spain and flew accordingly.
There were some areas where we would have liked to film with the drone that were no-fly zones, but in Tenerife has some very beautiful and nice spots where you can still fly. Be aware of the wind though! It might not make your flight impossible, but it might throw your drone off course or at least introduce some shake into the footage.
Make sure to watch our vlog about the holidays to see some of the drone footage we shot!