Tenerife - Mount Teide Volcano

This was the first picture taken arriving in Tenerife, from the airplane.

And this is Mount Teide or, in Spanish, Pico del Teide, the third largest volcano in the world from its base, after Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea located in Hawaii.

We took a tour up into one Mt Teide's volcanic crater to do some stargazing! On bus ride up our guide gave us a lot of interesting information about the formation of this volcanic island and its rocks, fauna and flora which you can read by clicking on the links I have embedded here if your interested. One interesting fact, Clash of the Titans was filmed here!

And the views... amazing!

My pictures do not do it justice. Mary took pics from her side of the bus and I have a few good ones of hers posted as well.

Heading up through several small towns, the Teide is 3718 m above sea level, and approximately 7500 m above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, it is the highest mountain in Spain and the highest point in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is hard to see in the picture below but if you look you can see the hairpin curve in the road we had just traveled.

(curved white line center of the picture)

...getting higher and higher...

...and darker and darker...

Can you see the silhouette of a pirate (left side) in the rock formation picture above?

To complete the post I had to show the picture I have of the stars...my camera is good and has a 60 sec shutter delay for "starry sky" but just couldn't capture that beautiful night sky. In reality the sky was covered. Our guide pointed out constellations and the Hubble Telescope as it passed overhead He explained things like why stars twinkle and we spotted several satellites! This is a trip the kids will always remember.

Stars!!!!