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Robert Orben
Hello to our new friends in Tenerife, and a big 'thank you' for making our 2010 AGM so enjoyable.
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Front Page Opinion
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My Tenerife
1 February 2010
Joe Cawley, British Guild of Travel Writers
For most of the 19 years I’ve lived in Tenerife, I’ve always felt the need to qualify my response to ‘Where do you live?’ with, ‘…but in the hills’.
Perhaps inevitably because of its mass package appeal, the island has been subject to more than a little derogation. Even now there’s still a stigma to say you’re holidaying in Tenerife. In fact I’m sure many Guild members would have quietly groaned at the announcement of this year’s AGM destination.
Now, I’m not going to gush PR-spiel about the glories of Tenerife (I’d like to keep my Guild membership, thank-you very much), but by now I hope you’ll realise there’s a hell of a lot more to the island than the one square mile of beaches and bars that it’s previously been judged on.
Almost 95% of visitors head straight to the southern resorts, which is where the majority remain rooted. But as we know, they’re missing out on the real Tenerife, the Tenerife that has kept me here for so long.
My Tenerife [my house pictured left] is a hillside village where walking my kids to school every morning involves at least a dozen stops to say ‘hola’ or chat about the weather (invariably sunny). It’s a place where my family and I feel safe and welcome; where community spirit still thrives and the air is as pure as you’ll find anywhere. Most importantly though for those who visit, it’s a place with a real identity, a unique character and great depth.
Hopefully fellow members who attended the AGM will agree, and can finally help put to rest those misconceptions of the island being a one-dimensional resort. Then I can simply say, “I live in Tenerife.” And leave it at that.
To have spotted a pod of pilot whales within minutes of sailing out of the harbour and then to lean over the bow of the catamaran and look down into one of their blow holes was quite something.
The traditional Canarian dish of papas arrugadas, tiny unskinned potatoes boiled in salty water and then baked, were an element of several of our meals.
Over in Taganana, on the north of Tenerife, we ate home-cooked food at Casa Africa. When I asked who had cooked for us, I was told, simply, "Momma!" Our hostess then stood at the bar chatting with locals and allowed me to photograph her.
What’s your earliest memory of travel?
At the age of seven, without telling my parents I was going, I rode my bike from Ilford to Southend and back - 27 miles each way - and filled the gasmask case I used for my sandwiches with winkles picked from the seashore to prove I'd really been there.
How did you get involved with travel professionally?
I travelled extensively as a journalist, promotion man and sometime record label manager working in the music business. I... Read more...
"As the sun warmed on my back, bees bumbled from Gentian to Orchid to Bloody Cranesbill and, as the umpteenth noisy tour group weaved off down the narrow road, the sounds of nature return to Poulnabrone. But not for long, if I’m lucky there will be a 5-minute gap before the next tour bus arrives.
High up on the limestone Burren in County Clare the dolman or portal tomb of Poulnabrone is the most photographed monument in Ireland."
For most of the 19 years I’ve lived in Tenerife, I’ve always felt the need to qualify my response to ‘Where do you live?’ with, ‘…but in the hills’.
My Tenerife [my house pictured left] is a hillside village where walking my kids to school every morning involves at least a dozen stops to say ‘hola’ or chat about the weather (invariably sunny). It’s a place where my family and I feel safe and welcome; where community spirit still thrives and the air is as pure as you’ll find anywhere. Most importantly though for those who visit, it’s a place with a real identity, a unique character and great depth.
