You start the day in the cool seawater light of Puerto de la Cruz, boarding a coach that snakes up through banana terraces and black volcanic slopes. Within an hour the ocean drops away and the island reshapes itself: low scrub becomes jagged lava fields, then the land opens into the gray-blue moonscape of Teide National Park. The guide points to a skyline dominated by Mount Teide — a volcanic spine that still commands the island at 3,718 meters — while the bus settles at the park’s high plateau around 2,350 m. The air is thin, clear, and surprisingly cold; views stretch to La Gomera and the Atlantic horizon.