When we finish a walk on Tenerife we love nothing better than slipping off the boots and slipping into a chair at a rustic bar to enjoy a cool beer. For us it’s an important part of the package the makes up a really good walking route.
In some of the most remote areas that’s not always possible, but more often than not there’s an inviting bar or restaurant where we can spend a bit of time after the exertions of exploring Tenerife’s fab countryside just chatting and reliving the highlights of whatever walk we’ve completed. We include these post walk haunts where we ‘unlace the boots’ in our walking guides and thought it might be useful to do the same here.
The first is one which most people who have walked on Tenerife will probably know, Bar Fleytas on the Los Gigantes – Icod de los Vinos road.
Perfectly located for exploring the area around the Erjos Pools and the Valle de Santiago, Fleytas sits on its own beside the road like a little oasis welcoming bikers, drivers and especially walkers. It’s almost opposite the start and end point of two of our routes and is always a welcome sight when we emerge from the undergrowth. It’s particularly pleasing to see if we’ve been unlucky enough to be caught in bruma (low damp cloud) during the winter months. Then the bar’s interior is a warm, cosy refuge and sitting inside as the dense cloud swirls around the entrance is a bit like being tucked up in bed watching rain against the window pain.
The last time we were there was a hot sunny day a few weeks ago when we were mapping out our ‘Pools & Pines’ route and it just so happened that the end of the walk coincided with lunch.
Normally we have a beer and some home baked cakes made with the almonds that the area is famous for, but as it was lunch we opted for something a bit more substantial.
The menu features the typical Canarian cooking you find in rural areas of Tenerife – lots of grilled meats and hearty stews; a bit much for us at lunch. Instead we went for croquetas (a mix of chicken, potato and fish croquettes); grilled goats’ cheese with honey and cilantro sauce and a plate of papas arrugadas (small wrinkled and salty potatoes) accompanied by the ubiquitous mojo verde and mojo rojo sauces whose taste and consistency vary slightly from restaurant to restaurant depending on whose abuela’s recipe was used.
It’s not the most sophisticated tapas that you’re likely to find, but they were most enjoyable. Plus it was very relaxing sitting on the sunny porch overlooking the stepped terraces opposite that were lush and green once again after a couple of years of looking scorched following the devastating effects of the fires of 2007.
Fleytus isn’t as quirky as some of the bars found on walking routes around Tenerife, but it does occupy a great position being located in one of the few areas that’s relatively easily accessible for walkers staying in both the south west and the north of Tenerife.
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