After a long drive and not finding a parking place in Garachico we drive the short distance to Icod de Los Vinos where with a bit luck we find parking that is even free. Of course the drawback is that we have a lot to climb towards the tourist area but at least it is a very scenic area and we enjoy the walk. Not so much that there is no shadow and that the sidewalk is only one person wide.
Towards the top is a banana museum which is expensive but has banana liquor for sale which we buy and is actually quite good when we try it later at our AirBnB.
Then we are at the entrance of the Drago Milenario park where there is also a Butterfly Park. The Park does not seem to be that secure however as we see quite a few butterflies that seem escaped.
And then after paying the entrance we are inside and immediately notice the famous Drago Milenario. The tree itself is endemic to the Canary Islands and they live a long time, it is estimated that this tree lived for about 1,000 years but there are multiple estimates between 600 to 2,500 years.
We then continue exploring the park which is quite nice with many endemic plant species and some good trails through it.
It also has some exhibits related to how people lived before the Spanish arrived and afterwards with a focus on milling and winemaking.
There is also a small cave with a replica of a Guanche mummy and some other hidden items if you just look carefully in the relatively dark cave.
There are also some great views of Mount Teide and the ocean that we enjoy before returning towards the entrance, we are hungry now and are looking forward towards finding a place to eat.
The exit from the park is in a different area which is unexpected and makes getting back to the more tourist area a bit more difficult than we expected. It is however a nice historic area and we enjoy the walk.
Back in the central square we get our bearings and choose a restaurant that may be open and off we go through the beautiful downtown to the close by restaurant.
Luckily the chosen restaurant, La Parada, is open and after waiting about 10 minutes for a table in we go and it is time to order and relax a bit.
The food is quite good, we ordered the traditional rabbit as one dish which was interesting but we found the other dishes more tasty really.
And now it is time for the second part of our exploration of Icod, this part is less visited by tourists for some reason. This makes for good photos with virtually no other people in frame many times.
We pass by the Church of San Francisco which cannot be visited but is quite beautiful from the outside.
Many buildings are beautiful from the outside and we cannot stop taking photos as we make our way back towards the central square.
One more stop for us is Casa Los Cáceres which is supposed to have a few museums inside. Unfortunately they are closed but we can walk at least the corridors to view the historic mansion.
And then we pass the Church of San Marcos on the central square and descend towards our parking, it is time to leave as we have a few more stops planned and it is getting late in the day.
