Archive for June, 2018
Shared Heritage On Living Tenerife Tours

Ask British ex pats and residents what they know of our country’s relations with Santa Cruz and they may know a little about Horacio Nelson’s failed attack on the island capital in 1797. A very civilised surrender showed the mutual respect between the two sides and led to over two decades of historical links between the UK and Tenerife. Living Tenerife Tours is a new English language window on Santa Cruz that uncovers those links, plus the lesser known buildings and characters that forged a bond between the two countries.

Leaving our super cooled people carrier at the higher end of Santa Cruz, we climbed the stone steps to the imposing facade of the Colegio Escuelas Pias catholic school, a former castle built in 1870 and greatly extended in 1943. Our guide, Jorge Ballesteros set up the new tour to share his passion and knowledge for history. Educated in Sussex and London, he has lived most of his life in Santa Cruz. The school is not normally open to the public but Jorge knows the great and the good in the capital and we were soon enjoying a potted history and panoramic views across the city. There’s a great story behind the British influence on this building, one that Jorge enjoys telling.

Versatile and informal, the tour lets the guests set the pace, our trip was just a dip into Jorge’s vault of knowledge, La Laguna, and Puerto de la Cruz are also destinations for similar small, intimate groups of around 12 people. The back streets and plazas of Santa Cruz had plenty to divulge, Why on earth would a gothic revival Anglican church dedicated to St George nestle in a quiet Tenerife back water? The brick by brick account was quite an eye opener. As we travelled between stops, Jorge pitched in little teasers about a famous UK politician visiting Tenerife, and a British hand in kick starting the Spanish Civil War.

It wasn´t just the older times that we were enlightened on, as we passed through the modern part of the capital, there was plenty of information on how Santa Cruz had re-invented itself. A stop between the Auditorium, and the Palmetum plant park helped us to piece together the new landscape. Another big favourite was the Military Museum, again Jorge smoothed our extended stay, as a working military barracks they only have limited opening hours and thee is so much to see. The canons hugging the courtyard wall were just the start, upstairs a model landscape with commentary took us through the battle for Santa Cruz. The city coat of arms bears testament to this and two previous failed British assaults.

A short trip past the port brought us back to the Plaza de España and our lunch date at the exclusive Royal Casino members club. Opened in 1840 it still has reminders of its casino past, and offers splendid views of the Plaza and port. Our food and drink reflected the best of Canarian cuisine, gofio, Canarian black pig, and an award winning Fuerteventura cheese to name just a few. It was a special way to round off the day, all the trips can be tailor made to suit your needs and it will give you a new appreciation of the culture of Tenerife.

Titsa Changes Buses From Bono To Tenmas

Was this a bus journey or a guilt trip? I felt so disloyal and a little bit dirty as I clutched my new Tenmas multi ride bus ticket for use on those jolly green Titsa buses around Tenerife. Friends all leave you in the end, how fondly I remember sterling, pesatas, and those Zoom ice lollies with their three fruity flavours. But hey, I´m a modern man and not just ready to embrace change, I will even take it for a slap up dinner and declare my undying devotion if it does it´s intended job.

For those unfamiliar with the public bus (or Gua Gua) and tram network in Tenerife, they have for years had a floppy multi ride card called a Bono that gives the holder around 30% discount on journeys. It was like a Willy Wonka golden ticket for me on my journeys around the island, so I was a little apprehensive when I heard of the new fangled Tenmas, contact less travel card. Initial thoughts of chaining myself to the railings of the Titsa head office soon subsided and this morning I purchased my reusuable plastic Tenmas card for 2 euros at a kiosk near the Los Cristianos bus station and got the seller to put a 10 euro top up on it. These credits can be added at 447 outlets around the island in multiples of 5 euros up to 100 euros.

It´s also possible to get your photo added to your card, nudging the one off price to 5 euros, I felt it unfair to inflict my mush on the public so got a plain card. My 10 euro top up came with a 50 cents charge, I´m not sure if that is standard or fluctuates depending on how much you load up. The big push for the launch of the new cards was to get people to register at the on line site before the cut off date, 40,000 people quickly joined and this meant a free card was sent out to their homes. Now that period has passed, there is still a push to get people to register their card bought at one of the outlets around the island. Then special discounts and offers will be whizzing to you through cyber space, and you can top up online, and check your balance.

One of the down points of the card is that unlike the Bono, your transactions are not printed on your card by the drivers machine. Tenmas has to be swiped when getting on, and validated again when getting off, and if you only use it rarely, you may well not remember how much credit you have left. As you validate your card when getting off, the reader does show your balance (saldo) so you could scribble it down, creating a marriage of convenience between old tech pen and paper and your new plastic friend. Like the nearly departed Bono (still useable until August 2018) you can still use your last bit of credit and pay the driver the difference at the discount rate. As I understand it, if you don´t validate your card on the way off, you will get automatically charged to the lines final destination, presumably after a time limit or at the end of the day. Drivers are still real human beings with their cheery smiles and snazzy green and grey uniform, so they will be able to nurse us through teething problems. While we are on the subject, Titsa have just celebrated 40 years and committed to spending 17 million euros on 74 new buses for Tenerife. This could be the biggest revolution since they changed from their original red buses, I can feel a new era of random bus journeys calling out to me. My new plastic card is going to clock up some serious kms. Pop by again soon and I will be explaining how to split the atom.