I am actually writing this after the one about beautiful Anaga, så all my superlatives are almost used up, which is a shame, as the road to Masca in the north-western part of the island deserves all of them.
At first, they told us in a ticket office about a hiking trail that goes from Masca itself and down to the sea, where you can take a boat that takes you out to see Los Gigantes, after which you’re supposed to take a cab back to where you parked you car. The whole project seemed a bit overwhelming to us, besides which the lady casually mentioned that “people die there all the time”, so we’ve decided to just drive around and try to see at least something.
The road to Masca leaves the main TF-82 around Santiago del Teide and already after the first swing you automatically start ooh-ing and flailing your hands around, taking pictures in literally all directions and trying to catch lizards. At least that’s what we were busy with. Did I mention that the roads are signposted really well? They are! Not only each viewpoint is neatly set up to hold around 10 cars, but they also kindly let you know upfront. Roadsign with a funny-looking camera is not about them measuring your speed as I first thought, but actually indicates a sightseeing spot so that you don’t have to slam on the breaks and block the whole road in both directions trying to stop. I did anyway, sign or no sign. Once you are out of the car, you literally want to snap pictures in all possible directions, because it is just increadibly beautiful. This is coming from someone who lives in Norway which isn’t the ugliest country to look at either.
The route is incredibly scenic and Masca itself is a charming little village where they serve very good gaspaccio and some other nice food in at least one of the several restaurants. Speaking of fine foods, at one of the stops that we make, I decided to try a cactus fruit because I thought I’d seen it in a cook book. I won’t tell you which cactus so you can be adventurous on your own. It was quite good actually, but of course, some of the thin cactus needles are still in my fingers two days later, so you know, execute caution.
Also, if you want to know how to catch a lizard, ask my wife, she’s an expert.