Teide By Night

Hello!

I've always been fascinated by the sky, the stars and what might be out there. It's so endless, and when the stars are shining against the dark sky, I'm mesmerised. Something that I've always wanted to do for a date is to go stargazing. I've also been fascinated by volcanoes from a young age. So, when I found an excursion in Tenerife that included stargazing and a three course meal ON TOP OF A VOLCANO, you can bet that I was all about that! And yes, I went myself.

So, this excursion was called Teide by Night, and as the name suggests, it was a trip up Mount Teide during the night time. As I'm sure you read in my review-y of TUI post, I booked my excursion through my TUI rep after I'd been walking about with my mum to get food and noticed an advert for it. The excursion itself cost me about 85 euros and I went on the tour on Tuesday 8th May this year.



Mid afternoon, I had to walk to a local hotel which was my pick up point in Playa de Las Americas, where I was the only one at that specific stop. My tour guide was Julien and the driver was Leoncio. There was one final stop in Adeje, then, once we were all picked up, we made our way up the mountain, taking a pit stop at a local restaurant to stretch our legs.

Along the way up the volcano, we stopped at a variety of view points, and were given information about Tenerife (80% of the economy is services) and information about the volcano (the Canarian pine tree, that grows on the mountain, can survive forest fires, such as the 2012 fire.) We were told about the variety of different plants on the island. Among that information, we were told about Carmine, as well as what it looked like. Carmine is most commonly known as a food colouring ingredient which is derived from crushed insects. It's used in a lot of red sweets, like red M&Ms as well as in strawberry ice cream, and a variety of makeup as well. It's very commonly used.



At all the view points, there was the chance to take photos, and Julien would also go around and offer to take photos for you. I, of course, took these as opportunities to take photos of my Bill and Ted figures, which is apparently a very common thing to do. (Not with Bill and Ted though.) As it got closer to the evening, we arrived at the restaurant (ON TOP OF THE VOLCANO) where we had our 3 course meal. Because I'm vegetarian, I had vegetable soup, vegetable lasagne and a desert. It was a closed menu and everyone else had chicken or pork instead of the lasagne.

I was sat alongside 3 other couples, who were all really lovely. There was also a really great atmosphere, and the walls were decorated purple with stars with the Teide by Night signage. When I finished my meal, I took a walk to the gift shop and bought myself a hoodie because I didn't think my fleece would keep me warm enough under the cloudless sky.



What I haven't yet mentioned is that you can go on this tour at any time, because you go above the clouds (in fact, you actually get to see the sea of clouds). There's an observatory there, and after the restaurant, during sunset, you get taken slightly higher, get given a blanket and a glass of cava, and get to watch the sunset. It's kind of a surreal experience, because how often can you say 'oh yeah, I watched the sunset ABOVE THE CLOUDS.'?! It was truly something else. After this, we went back to the restaurant, got a hot drink, waited for it to get darker, and then went stargazing.



There's not too much to talk about for this, except to say that Julien was really knowledgeable about the stars, and pointed out all the constellations and the planets you could view. He answered everyone's questions they had about when you could see certain constellations and repeated what he'd said to anybody that couldn't hear him the first time. When we got back on the bus, he gave us all a sweet and a little flyer that featured all the main constellations (where everybody immediately looked for their star sign. Me included.)

Overall, it was an incredible experience, even if it was long and tiring, and I really want to go back and experience it again. Hopefully next time I can get to go with a friend so that I can share the experience with somebody!

Have you ever been on this excursion, or have you ever gone star gazing? Let me know!

Until next time, be excellent to each other.