is the name of Spain’s highest mountain in the middle of Tenerife. At 3718 m, Teide is the third largest island volcano in the world and towers over the entire Canary Islands. Around the Teide there is a plateau about 20 km in diameter, the so-called caldera. The caldera is framed in places by 500m high cliffs, although it is already at an altitude of over 2000m. It is a surreal experience to drive through the caldera and you feel as if you are in another world. Bizarrely shaped basalt structures from the cooled lava flows stretch as far as the eye can see, and in many different colours.

Morning sunrise in the caldera….how nice not to see anyone there, after all, the national park has almost 3 million visitors a year.

For me as a photographer, it is always a special experience to drive through the caldera and take pictures. Because most of the time you are above the cloud cover, you feel like you are on the roof of the world, a fascinating high-altitude experience.

The observatory is like a small town perched 2300m above the island. If you want to explore the stars, you can book stargazing excursions at Volcano Teide.

The Tajinaste is a predatory leaf plant that can reach a height of up to 3m. It is only found at higher altitudes and flowers between May and August.

Again and again we poke through the cloud cover on the way up to the caldera, which was quite an intense experience here on this day.