Descent to the Sea: Hiking Masca Gorge from Santiago del Teide

The day begins before most cafés have opened. In the square in front of the tiny church on Plaza de Santiago del Teide, the air tastes like citrus and old stone; a local dog pads through a ring of olive trees and the guide checks names against a paper list. You climb into a van that cuts through terraced farms and pine-scented passes, the ride itself undoing the island’s lowland geometry until the world narrows, and a ribbon of road unspools toward Masca. From this rim, the island looks veneered: volcanic folds that fold into sea, gullies that harbor laurel forests, and a coastline where cliffs stand like folded pages of earth.