My feet were barely settled on Tenerife soil again when they started to itch, so I headed up north to catch up on a few of my old favourites. First call was Puerto de la Cruz, and very resplendent it looked with the flowers and blossom in full bloom and even as I wandered around, the council workers were busy working on the borders and flower beds. It was interesting to see lots of groups of tourists, maybe the southern resorts should go and kidnap a few.
The Muelle Pesquero (fishermans port) always draws me in, it seems to sum up all that’s good about Puerto, the small shingle beach is shared by fishing boats and bathers, and all just a few yards from the busy shopping streets. Since my last visit, a new statue of a fisherwoman has been added, sculpted by Julio Neieto, it makes a nice counterpoint to the area. Mind you I had to pick my angle carefully when taking the photo, as a rather large Canarian gentleman had emerged from the sea and was dressing very publically on the beach, a full moon might have distracted from the artisitc quality of the statue.
A 15 minute bus ride took me up to La Orotava to interview Dr Leslie Brown, an Australian cycle enthusiast with his own bike hire business www.tenerife-training.net . The flying doctor was keen to pedal the environmental advantages of cycling and you can read the full piece on www.canarygreen.net . This is one of many websites I write for, and it’s a good source for news and interviews related to green issues across the Canary Islands. The Aguaviva festival runs through June, so there will be a lot of news updates from the events and interviews with some of the leading players.
Anyway back in La Orotava, we went into the town to find a good spot to take pics, and I realised that although I have made brief visits there for football and changing buses, I haven’t had a good look around, something I intend to put right very soon. At the Plaza de la Constitution, my eye was well and truly caught by the very impressive Liceo de Tauro, an old family home taken into trust and used for art and exhibitions among other things. It also features a restaurant and despite the elegance of the place, the menu looked very reasonable. I thought of buying the house as a little country home but the gardens looked like far too much hard work.
Tracing my way back via Puerto de la Cruz, I had time to pop into Santa Cruz just to see if all was well. I have been anxiuosly watching the re-development of the Plaza de España, the latest re-opening date is June 30, but it still looks quite a way from being finished. Back to Los Cristianos, and armed with maps and leaflets from La Orotava, a future expedition is already taking shape in my mind.