Arriving while the sun was rising, we moored at a long narrow quay, across from the large city of Santa Cruz.  There are many different cruise ship berths here, so where you moor may be different, but they are all relatively close to the city.

Today we will be taking a food and wine tour with GLOMA TRAVEL.  HERE is the information about the tour.

Gloma Travel offers you food and wine excursions so that you get to know the traditional cuisine of Tenerife by visiting some of its wineries and enjoying its Guachinches, establishments where homemade food and home-grown wine are sold.

You will enjoy a gastronomic excursion called “La Ruta del Guachinche”.

You will get to know the gastronomic and ecological culture of Tenerife.

You will follow one of the best-known routes on the island.

There you will find the best dishes made with the best raw materials in the area and with all the love of its people.

In our case, we were about 500 yards from the port entrance and then another quarter mile, across a pedestrian bridge into the center of town.  There are signs, in Spanish and English, directing you to follow the blue line to the town center.

The quay was filled with the HAL tour buses, but the private tours and taxis were outside the port gate, about 1/4 mile away.

On the other side of the quay from the ship is a concrete structure that runs the length of the quay.  About every 100 yards there was a small gift shop.

After about 1/4 mile you will find a small terminal building and a taxi stand.  The taxis use meters and take credit cards.  We spoke to a guest later and she said they hired a taxi here to take 4 of them to Mt Tiede for €160.

Continuing on, we approached the CICAR Car Rental Center which is where the three of us met our tour guide.

NOTE:  During the sail away we spoke with some guests who rented a car here for the day for $90 USD.  It was an easy process to rent and return the car.  They remarked there were many one-way streets which made driving a little tricky.

Our driver and guide, Johnny used WhatsApp to send us a map with his exact location and updates as to when he would arrive.  Today we would be accompanied by Diego, who was in training to be a guide in the future.

Our tour was designed for people staying in hotels and our start time was a little earlier than normal.  Since the wineries didn’t open until 10 am, we made a side trip to a the very popular beach, Playa de Las Teresitas , which has sand imported from the Sahara desert.

The beach is beautiful and if you wanted to spend your day on the beach, this would be a nice choice.  You could get here using public transportation.

We spent about 15 minutes here before heading out toward our first winery, Casa del Vino.  The winery was established in the mid-17th century and is in outstanding condition.  A self-guided tour is available to download and there are some nice exhibits in the main building.  We spent about 35 minutes touring the winery and museum.

Our next stop was Bodegas Monje or Monks’ Winery and was only 5 minutes away.  We started off on a tour of the winery which lasted 45 minutes as we explored 3 different levels.  We saw where they stored wine in wood casks as well as steel containers.

After the tour, we sampled four different wines.  We were sitting outside where we were sheltered from the wind.

• Drago Blanco Seco – Listan Blanco
• Tradicional Tinto  – Listan Negro
• Hollera Tinto – Listan Negro Monje
• Vino Padre – Miguel Monte

Our final stop was at Guachinche Como En Casa a few minutes away.

Note:  A guachinche is a type of restaurant, found on the Canary  Islands, where they serve locally produced wine along with homemade traditional food.

Today was Palm Sunday and the restaurant was busy, but we were seated after about a ten-minute wait.  The line kept getting longer and longer and by the time we left, the wait was probably close to an hour.

Our guide, Johnny, and trainee, Diego, joined us at a table for 5 and ordered a variety of local dishes.

Escaldón de Gofio; is a Tenerife traditional recipe made by boiling meat or fish stock which is then poured over the gofio, kneaded to a thick consistency, and then served in an earthenware bowl.  Gofio is a flour-based paste similar to fine grits or cream of wheat.  Johnny said we would either love it or hate it – we all loved it.

Champinones rellenos almogrote:  Mushrooms stuffed with almogrote – a cheese paste.

Carne Cabra –  goat meat served like a beef pot roast, only smaller with each piece having more bone.

These dishes were accompanied by chickpeas and some wonderful bread along with some of their delicious house wine.

This was not a tourist spot and we didn’t hear anyone else speaking English.  The menus were all in Spanish.

We were here for about 90 minutes, enjoying the food and learning more about our hosts, Johnny and Diego.  This is why we enjoy food tours as we have a chance to explore some places not on the normal tourist track with local hosts.

We headed back to the ship and said goodbye to our wonderful hosts.

Judy and Susan headed back to the ship, but I ran into Pam and John, who were also returning from a tour.  We wanted to check out the large market nearby, so we turned around and walked back into the central city.

We followed the blue line which ends at the new pedestrian bridge that would take us across the busy highway.

By the time we got to the market, most of the shops were closed.  Many were closed today anyway since it was Palm Sunday.

The streets were still fairly busy and many cafes and restaurants were open but time was running out for us and we headed back to the ship.

For future travelers,  I would spend some time “walking” the town with Google Street View in advance and discover areas you may want to explore in person.  This is a great port to walk the town, but having a plan in advance will help get you started in the right direction.

Comedian Paul Adams was on the World Stage this evening.  He put on a wonderful show.