Our second European port of call was Tenerife, Canary Islands. We had been there a couple of times before, so this time we joined a private tour organized by someone on the cruise. Very worthwhile - we visited all new places, and found out much more about the island. Our first town was La Laguna, a UNESCO heritage site (beautiful), then on to La Orotava for a walk through the hilly old town where we saw the artists at work on the huge Corpus Cristi sand carpet, then on to lunch at a local restaurant. Luckily our group of 20 had a separate dining room because after a few glasses of wine the shy group of strangers got a lot more festive. Lunch was scheduled to be 1.5 hours, but after 2.5 hours we agreed we should continue the tour and get back to the ship. The whole day was terrific, even though it started with some very cold weather and a few drops of rain it ended with sunny skies. Lots of history, beautiful sights, good food and good laughs with good people.
In the old town of La Laguna, officially called "San Cristóbal de La Laguna". This is the old church with the silver altar.
The spectacular all silver altar in the rather plain (and small) church.
The streets of the UNESCO site of La Laguna. Beautiful buildings, and streets laid out in a grid pattern - a relatively new concept at the time.
The colourful streets of La Laguna.
We were in La Laguna early in the morning, so most shops and restaurants hadn't yet opened. In the background was the tower of the convent where the sisters could get some fresh air without being seen.
We stopped in at the local market, which was just waking up, with many vegetable and spice stands mixed in with butchers and bakeries.
We made a photo stop on the road to our next town - La Orotava. After the cold start to our morning, it was nice to see some sunshine with the ocean stretching out as far as we could see.
One of the older churches in La Orotava. We didn't go inside this one. The ribbons and banners were in preparation for the festival and procession that would take place in June.
La Orotava is a beautiful town, with many narrow hilly streets.
The steep, winding streets of La Orotava, with the spires of the main church rising above the other buildings.
3 large tents covering the "sand carpets", works of art that take weeks to create, using coloured earth from the Tiende National Park on the island. The earth is poured by hand onto the stone tiles of the plaza.
The work is very beautiful, and once finished will be completely destroyed by a procession that will walk all over it. This festival occurs each year, with a new carpet being created each time. The carpets "in recent years make a strong social comment. The council says that (this year) it is perhaps the design with the hardest social message in the event’s 171 year history, based on obvious and direct references to the world’s refugee and immigration crisis, and violence against women."
"House of the Balconies" decorated for the upcoming festival.
Our group enjoying our lunch together. There are still some "dead soldiers", empty wine bottles, laying on the table. Everyone had a good time.
The main church in La Orotava.
Inside the well maintained church.
Our last sight of Santa Cruz de Tenerife where our ship was docked. Back to warm sunshine and clear skies. Altogether, a wonderful day seeing what Tenerife has to offer.
The next morning, we passed by the Rock of Gibraltar.
NEXT: (Day 15) Malaga, Spain
PREV: (Day 12) La Palma, Canary Islands
Transatlantic - May 2018