AS the familiar flag of St Andrew is hoisted up the ferry’s mast, I gaze up to the highest mountain in these islands and think of hiking, great seafood and the rich culture. It may sound like it, but I’m not on CalMac. Scotland this is not as I’m sailing to Tenerife, an island massively popular with Scottish tourists that swims in connections with the country that shares its flag.
Tenerife is striking in many ways; for Scots it’s impossible not to be struck by the Saltires that flutter across the island, seen on everything from civic buildings to the shirts of the island’s football team. Over the years, I’ve heard a number of theories about why we share the same flag. One is that its use on Tenerife began as a tribute to the Scots who fought against the British in the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1797, the battle that cost Lord Nelson an arm.
The Scottish links stretch back down the years. Many Scots drifted through the north of the island for centuries as trade grew with the ports of Santa Cruz and Puerto de la Cruz. Then, more recently, came tourism, the appeal of an island with an eternal spring climate, obvious to anyone who has experienced a Caledonian winter or a wash-out summer.
I’ve been to Tenerife more than 20 times and feel very at home here. In Scotland, I start the day with porridge. On Tenerife, my breakfast cereal is sprinkled with gofio, a similar cereal-based staple. Politically there are parallels, too. Tenerife is closer to Morocco than to Madrid and the Tenerifos have a proudly separate identity. We have devolution and they have a semi-autonomous status. There is a desire among some people for independence here too.
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I don’t need to explain on Tenerife my love of the mountains – walking in the hills is ingrained into the island’s very consciousness, as it is in Scotland. We have Ben Nevis and Tenerife has Teide. This active volcano is the star attraction in Spain’s most-visited national park, soaring to almost three times the height of its Scottish sibling at 3715m, easily the highest mountain in Spain. And this is where the appeal of Tenerife beyond year-round sunshine and beaches for me really kicks in. The mountains here are bigger. Everything is bigger and brighter in Macaronesia. There are great theme parks – in Loro Parque, rated the world’s finest zoo, and Siam Park, rated the best water park – but Tenerife is also a real-life Jurassic Park.
This continent in miniature shares pine forests with Scotland but also sports rainforest and the ancient laurisilva. They have heather here, but their Erica arborea can soar up to 10m tall!
On every trip to Tenerife, I find new aspects that make me think of Scotland. This time it is through Jose Maria, who works with El Cardón NaturExperience. I meet him in one of the island’s bountiful banana plantations and he shows me the “Shepherd’s Leap”, an amazing act of physical prowess used to negotiate this steep island.
My heart is in my mouth as I watch him vault down from a high bluff using just the 3m-long wooden pole he fashioned himself. “There is only one other place I’ve heard of people using this,” he smiles, as he descends, “and that is the Scottish Highlands.”
On this trip I stay on this remarkable island at four hotels; the Scottish connections continue. At the plush Gran Melia Palacio de Isora (melia.com) I savour Scottish smoked salmon over lunch on the terrace as I peer over the Rum-esque isle of La Gomera. “We get a lot of Scottish guests and our staff really like them as they are so happy here,” the hotel’s Samantha Hernandez Galand tells me.
At another of the island’s best hotels, the Royal Hideaway Corales Beach (barcelo.com), I meet Valentina Hernandez. She laughs: “I’ve heard about lots of Scottish connections. We even have our own whisky. It’s distilled on neighbouring La Palma, but we add a smoky, peaty flavour to it. No-one knows exactly where our original Guanche people were from – maybe it was Scotland!”
The spacious four-star Marylanza (macaronesianhotels.com) is owned by a local man I’ve known for years. Jorge Marichal tells me: “I like active sports and our island and Scotland share a love for those and, of course, the mountains.”
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My last night is in the simple three star Aguamar which I booked through Olympic Holidays (olympicholidays.com). As did Andy from Cupar, who I meet by the pool.
“I did wonder about the Saltires, that makes sense now,” Andy says. “My wife and I were just saying this morning how we feel at home here and that so many things remind us of Scotland.”
I’m in good company then with Andy. And with the 300,000 Scots who are drawn every year to this subtropical isle draped in the Saltire.
Factfile: easyJet (easyjet.com) fly to Tenerife from Edinburgh and Glasgow. For more tourist information see webtenerife.co.uk
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