Athens to the Canary Islands

We arrived back in Athens after dropping off the rental car in Piraeus. We had a final dinner at our favourite taverna, and checked into our hotel. The next morning, we had breakfast and said goodbye to Nikos, who wasn't leaving until two days later.

We went to Syntagma square to catch the airport bus, only to find that the traffic was being blocked by a large group of textile workers from northern Greece. They had been demonstrating since the previous day, protesting layoffs and unpaid wages, and many of them had camped in the square overnight. They had placed thousands of large spools of thread in the square to symbolize the cloth not woven and the garments unmade because of the layoffs. There was a massive police presence, complete with riot gear and armoured buses, but this had not resulted in any violence by the time we had to leave. We were able to take the subway and catch a bus from the end of the subway line to the airport, in plenty of time to catch our flight.

We had an overnight stop near Barcelona prior to getting on our connecting flight to the Canary Islands. We stayed in a modern hotel near the airport in a small town called Castelldefels, right on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there, one of the very few times the weather gods have not smiled on us during our trip, so we couldn't take advantage of the sea. We made up for that by having a wonderful dinner in a nearby restaurant, a fabulous paella laden with clams, mussels, winkles, shrimp, squid, scallops and chicken all baked in rice and perfumed with saffron. We washed this down with a good local white wine, recommended by our server, and then returned to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

The next morning's flight to Santa Cruz de Tenerife was uneventful, although I was excited to be returning to a city where I had spent time 39 years ago. I wanted to sit in my sidewalk cafe on the square just as I had done then, drinking cafe con leche and reading the paper. Alas, this was not to be. They appear to have replaced my square with a shopping mall, and the downtown area has been remodelled and modernized. I'm sure they think this is an improvement, but it was done at the expense of a small piece of my soul.

Santa Cruz is now a modern and well-to-do city where tourists from all over Europe come to shop. The downtown is replete with stores selling electronic goods, fashion jewelry, and high end clothing. There is a very modern centre for the performing arts (photo). Many American retail and restaurant chains are represented, including McDonald's and Burger King. I'm sure Walmart is next.

We took a tram to the end of the line the next day, to what used to be the separate town of La Laguna. Here we saw streetscapes and businesses that are more in line with my memories of the Canary Islands. We went to a museum of Canary Island history and then had lunch at a little bodega around the corner. I had an entire octopus, deep-fried and deposited unceremoniously on a plate, along with a side of fresh-cut french fries. It was at least half a kilo of meat, good but a little chewy.

We were so full from our late lunch that we didn't feel much like dinner, so we wandered and window shopped in downtown Santa Cruz, stopping for a late-night tapas (rabbit in pepper sauce) and a glass of wine before turning in.

The next day we took the ferry from Santa Cruz to Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera, another of the Canary Islands where I had lived for almost two months those many years ago.