Teide by Night, One Language per Coach, from the North or the South

One language per coach. Most of what runs up this mountain is multilingual, with every explanation repeated two or three times, and this one is not: the guide talks, and everybody on board understands it the first time. The climb starts in the afternoon, through the pine forest, which you smell before you see. At around 7,000 feet the coach comes out through the cloud layer and the Atlantic is there below, with the other islands of the archipelago on it. There are stops along the way, where the rock formations stand up against Teide. Conditions in the park are said to be close to those on Mars, which is part of why film crews keep coming. Sunset happens over the sea of clouds, the colours arriving in order, pink then red then purple. Then the stars. Tenerife sits where all the constellations of the northern hemisphere can be seen. The guide traces them with a laser, and the telescopes reach past them into the deep sky, with the mythology attached to whatever is in the eyepiece. Dinner is in the highest restaurant in the national park. Two departure points, chosen when you book: Puerto de la Cruz in the north, Los Cristianos in the south.