La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz

In the stillness of dawn, the Teide National Park lies in mysterious grey, shrouded in the cool darkness of the night, which only hesitantly gives way to the approaching daylight. From the vantage point, you can look down over the green valley of Orotava and on to the coast of Puerto de la Cruz. The lights of the towns shimmer like tiny stars in the distance, shining against the grey of the sleeping landscape and breaking gently in the humid morning air. They are the only warm splashes of colour in an otherwise barren and mysterious scenery, in which all colours still appear muted and veiled.
The first trade wind clouds drift in from the Atlantic over the sea and slowly spread over the slopes of the volcano like a mysterious veil. The clouds blend silently into the picture, as if they were tenderly veiling the earth from the rising light of the sun. There is a quiet tension in the air, as if nature itself is holding its breath and waiting for the first sunlight. This moment, an hour before sunrise, is full of magic - a moment of calm and expectation that transports the viewer for a moment into the mysterious depths of the Canarian landscape.