We had booked our trip through a tour company that is popular in Europe for all inclusives and getaway type holidays. We didn't do an all inclusive, but a hotel/flight package that included breakfast only so that we could explore other places for food the rest of the day. One of the supposed advantages of using these companies is that you can book excursions through them, so we tried to do this when we got there. Since we hadn't travelled with this company before, we didn't know that these excursions fill up quickly or that some of them had reduced capacity due to Covid measures, so the one tour we wanted, we were unable to book due to the latter. We had booked and paid for a hiking tour in the mountains, only to have it cancelled the day before due to lack of sufficient registration numbers. Apparently they won't do it with just a small group or just 2 people (us!). There was nothing else with available space for us left to do. That was a little frustrating because we had hoped to have a more restful holiday without having to plan too much, but the good news is that we were able rent a car easily and cheaply from a company across the street from the hotel and drive to the mountains ourselves to explore. It gave us more freedom and also meant we didn't have to wear a mask all the time in vehicle. The only downside of this plan was that the vehicle was standard transmission--common for Europe, but it meant I couldn't help with driving. My husband hadn't driven a standard in about a decade, but he had to get used to it again pretty fast as we were only on the main highway for about 20-30 minutes before having to head off on some very windy roads with zigzag and hairpin turns--and uphill all at the same time! I did my best helping to navigate and keep my eye out for any possible dangers so that he could focus on driving. If you're familiar with standards, it will be meaningful for you to know that my husband drove in second gear almost the entire way up. I may not have been at the wheel, but the driving experience was a 2-person job, nevertheless. Having said that, I'm still amazed at my husband's driving skills there. Without him, the trip wouldn't have been possible because I don't think it's that easy to get an automatic car to rent.
Our plan was to drive to Tejeda as it seemed like a good place to go up in the mountains and was recommended by the tour company representative through whom we had tried to book our excursions. We decided to first stop was at Cruz de Tejeda (Cross of Tejeda). We weren't that interested in the cross itself, only that it seemed like a good place to stop and rest after all the stressful driving, and the town was only a few minutes away from our end point. There was also somewhere easy enough to park with a standard, so it was nice to get out and stretch and have a bit of a breather.
As it turned out, there was also a beautiful viewpoint from there of the mountains. It was a great place to stretch. We reached Tejeda but found there wasn't much that we wanted to do there. We stopped for a coffee and a treat--almond pastries, as the area is known for almond production--and from there, we headed on to see Pico de las Nieves, the second highest mountain peak on the island.
It was again a bit of a difficult drive to get up there, especially as several people were cycling up to it. While I appreciated their athleticism, it made me nervous because many of the roads are narrow with no shoulder, so it was a little nerve-wracking having to pass them when there could be oncoming traffic you couldn't see around a corner. But we eventually made it safely up to the peak and even lucked out with the last parking spot available, which was a relief, because there were so many people at the top--even a food truck!--that we weren't sure how we'd successfully turn around and go back if we couldn't pull in anywhere. The view is indeed spectacular. It's said the peak is 1949m above sea level, and you can see about half the island from the top, including the sea, other mountain ranges, Roque Nublo (a huge volcanic rock you can visit), and even the largest of the Canary Islands, Tenerife! I didn't know you could see Tenerife from there until I overheard some other tourists mention it, themselves claiming their disbelief that you could see the other island from that place. The peak of Tenerife is about 108km away from where we were.
We spent a good amount of time enjoying the scenery, but we didn't want to linger in the mountains too long due to the lack of street lights. If driving by day is scary, I can't imagine driving in the dark, even if we're going down at this point. So we decided to head off in a different direction to get back to the hotel and stop in Mogán on the way for a bite to eat and because we heard it was also a pretty place. I was glad we chose to get there by daylight because even though it was a shorter trip to get there than to drive up to Tejeda with roads that eventually straightened much more, the first bit was still really windy with ribbon-like roads going back and forth. I have a video of some of the drive under my section for videos in the menu at the top of the page. You can appreciate the roads but also the gorgeous scenery.
Mogán was indeed a nice little town, but it was pretty sleepy at the time we arrived. So we checked out an old church that was still there and in use, a historic church that allowed Mogán to eventually become its own municipality and separate from the municipality of Tejeda. There is also a sculpture next to the church to commemorate the separation but the good relationship that still exists between the two regions. From Mogán, it started getting dark, but fortunately by the time we left, the roads were relatively straight, and it was only another 10 or 15 minutes until we'd connect with the main highway leading back to our hotel, so it was a lot less stressful to drive that part. At the end, however, my husband really enjoyed the drive despite the initial stress. It became a fun challenge once he got the hang of it. I was still pretty nervous most of the time, not because of his driving, but because of the sharp turns where I was always worried that anything could jump out and surprise us. As much fun as the driving may have been, we decided to use the public bus for any adventures we decided on for the next day, which included the sand dunes on the island. More about that in the next post!
Comments