Looking forward to an art exhibition and then finding it closed was not a good start but my exploring days are never wasted in Tenerife, La Laguna and Santa Cruz gave my little pea brain plenty of stimulation on a cracking summers day.
Julio Nieto is a master of metal art and after being wowed by his earlier giant works in Santa Cruz, thoughts of his new exhibition Kamasutra del Aire made my mind boggle. An early morning Titsa and tram combination from Los Cristianos had me in La Laguna before my corn flakes had time to settle but the tourist office gave me directions to the venue and the bad news that it was shut probably for the whole of August. I went to see for myself and sure enough it was locked up but no mention of why and for how long, the local papers still have it running until September 18. Calm Colin, calm, you know how bad publicity is on the rock.
Time for an old stand by, the former Convento de Canarias and its Instituto San Agustin welcomed me to their latest free exhibition by Santa Cruz artist Felipe Hodgson. A bit of a sexual theme was emerging to my day as the two halls featured sketches and paintings of nudes, some abstract, some surreal, but all with not so much as a vest on. A lady was showing her young son around, he had that mixed expression of delight and embarrassment and my mind sped back to trying to fish my comic off a newsagents shelf without disturbing the glossy artistic publications.
Back on the street I cast my eyes over the restored cathedral, there were quite a few squawks when the ducks were evicted from their ancient pond and stone shelters outside in favour of a new water feature. Finally the new version was complete and was pretty poor in my opinion, a few exotic fish gobbled crisps thrown in by some young tykes, at least I have seen the ducks new home across the city. I popped into the cathedral, it was as stunning as when I visited a few weeks after its resurection, if you get a chance, feast your eyes. Outside there are three plots of barely disturbed ground awaiting an archeological search for historic remnants of the original cathedral.
Santa Cruz is always regenerating, down at the port that was very evident. A large new welcome hub for cruise liners is well under construction, ironically today was one of the few days with no floating palaces moored up. Out by the marina area further improvements are under way, I usually have a nose around to see what floats my boat, nothing too wild this time except another floating oil exploration ship.
On the way back to the bus station I checked out the newly restored Puente de el Cabo bridge over the Barranco de Santos. It was once a link between the port and commerce but had become a rusty wreck. There’s no real need for it now as two bridges cross over by La Noria and the main road crosses a few yards away, but it is an iconic piece of history and looks good with its wide ramps and sturdy tructure. I must return soon and see what other changes are in the pipeline.