Michael Bentine´s Potty Time sprung to mind as I towered over a Roman soldier keeping a watchful eye on a fish stall, and sheep crossing a bridge from a market. The delicate christmas music tinkling in the background was the clue that I was visiting the first of the belenes (nativity layouts) on my pre festive tour of Tenerife. This first port of call was the Casa de Los Capitanes just a short stroll from the tram terminus in La Laguna. This one is open Monday to Friday 10 to 2pm, and 4 to 8pm, only the morning hours on a Saturday.
Traditions are nice, and although I´m lacking in religious fervour, I enjoy checking out the good, the bad, and the tacky. Understated is often better, a waxy silver sprayed tree in the main shopping street caught my eye, but a giant blue and red present box left me underwhelmed. There was also a mixed response to the christmas market outside the glorious cathedral building. The food looked yummy but the garish coloured plastic tree seemed a bit out of place, and I couldn´t work out why they had sewing machines away in a manger. For a nice overview of the city, I paid a measley two euros to climb the five floors of the tower of Our Lady of the Concepcion. I could see as far as the north airport and also down the shopping streets, Gran Canaria (heaven forbid) lurked in the distance. I was a bit upset by the noticeable rise in graffiti in the main shopping streets, Santa Cruz issued 200 fines this year against roque scrawlers, maybe La Laguna should follow their lead.
The tram ride back down to Santa Cruz was smooth as always. A walk around the port added two new visiting ships to my collection, the slightly rusty Avontuur, a 1920 built cargo ship from Holland , and training ship, Alexander Von Humbolt 2 training ship also from Holland. The massive staging was also going up ready for The Jacksons upcoming concert, and the traditional Christmas Night free concert featuring the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. By then it was time to say hello to a few more belenes, starting with the Cabildo (Tenerife government) building by the Plaza de España. This was very nice with lots of small scenes of everyday rural life packed in. Times are 9am to 9.30pm with an hour closed from 3 to 4pm. Only the first belen in La Laguna has a donation box, a shame as most people would gladly pop some loose change in a charity box.
Last of the Santa Cruz haul was the Fundacion Caja Canarias bank display in their big HQ building in Plaza de Patriotismo. This is always a favourite of mine as the light ebbs and flows to make the tall landscape pass from day to night in quick rotation. The little ponds have live fish in them, and the figures of workmen move and perform manual tasks. Aim for 10 to 1.30pm, and 5.30 to 8pm weekdays and Saturdays, with 10 to 1.30pm on Sundays.
That left me time for a wander around the shopping heart of the capital city. The festive lights burst into life prompt at 6pm and are a bit different this year, with giant baubles, and angels floating among the tree tops. How splendid and magical it all looked, unfortunately the magic was a little missing when I moved on to my main event, CD Tenerife v Extremadura, a painful 0-0 draw. Hopefully Santa will bring some new players for January and sprinkle some stardust on our season.