El Teide by night

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned yesterday: today was a very hectic but also very special day. We visited the El Teide National park by night!

We got picked up at the bus stop around 1.40 PM and then we drove around to pick up other guests from other hotels in the area before we were able to drive to our first stop of the day. We stopped at this place where we could buy some souvenirs, as well eat something at their little restaurant before we drove further up the mountain.

We made several stops to take pictures of the beautiful views and even were able to go up some mountains for greater views.

One of the stops we did was to see the sunset while having yummy cava and glühwein😋😋😋 Unfortunately there were too many clouds to see the sunset in full glory…

On the bus, and during our stops, our guide Isabelle (also from Belgium) gave us a lot of information about the nature of the park and about the volcanos in the area. The El Teide is the only current active volcano left, even though the last time he erupted was in 1909.

Isabelle was a great guide! She was very funny, nice and very informative as well.

After our different stops to take pictures, it was time for dinner at a restaurant in the park. We got chicken with baked potatoes and a chocolate cake for dessert. Unfortunately no cake for me as it had nuts in them and I’m allergic to them. But they were very kind to give me another dessert with fresh fruit and lemon juice. Totally didn’t expect that so really appreciated that kind gesture.

After dinner it was finally time for the highlight of this tour: watching stars in the sky!

They had 4 telescopes set up where we saw Saturnus, the Moon and a lot of other stars and planets and constellations! We also saw Pegasus, Cassiopeia, Rigel, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, Draco (yes, she did mention Harry Potter😉) and also the Pleiades (those of you who read the Seven Sisters from Lucinda Riley will know how the father chose all his daughters names, and that’s exactly what we did tonight!)

That was soooooo incredibly amazing to see! You even saw all the craters on the moon!

She also gave explanations about all the stars and different galaxies we saw in the sky which was pretty cool too! Fun fact: the North Star is NOT what we thought it was😂😂😂 We were always taught that it was the shiniest star in the sky but it turns out it totally isn’t! At least now we know how to ACTUALLY find it 😉

I highly recommend doing this excursion if you’re fascinated by the stars and all of its glory Just go on their website https://www.teidebynight.com/en/ and book your trip! You can choose all languages to guide you.

Enjoy my mom’s pictures!