Woken early by a huge storm it cleared enough to gamble on a day out up north, so catching the 110 Titsa bus I was off to Santa Cruz in good time. A quick change to the tram and I was able to get off right outside the Museum of Science and the Cosmos in la Laguna, my latest assignment for www.tenerifemagazine.com
It was blowing a rather chilly blast as I took to the roof plaza of the museum and I was startled to suddenly hear the bust of Agustin de Betancourt Y Molina, a former local engineering big shot, start to talk at me. That was just the first technical wonder of the day. Thr sun was doing its best and the views down into Santa Cruz were pretty impressive as I stood dwarfed by the large radio telescope dish.
Inside the museum was good fun, good value too at just 1.50 euros, that’s half price as i paid with my bono bus ticket. It made me think of school trips to the Science museum in London, this is much smaller but has some nice attractions, especially the Cosmic Tourism trip to other planets. Once a large school party had gone it was very quiet in the museum, I have found this with all of them and the art galleries even at weekends, such a shame, the government and council do try to offer some culture.
As the wind was whistling up the leg of my shorts once back outside, I hopped on the tram and went the 2 stops to La Trinidad in the heart of historic La Laguna. I always stop off at Hesperides bar for a coffee and a chaeck on the papers, they always have a sweep going on the next CD Tenerife game, good to see all the entrants believe we can beat Getafe at home on Sunday. La Laguna is always a pleasure to stroll around, things are always changing so i have to keep my beady eye on the place.
One of my favourite stop offs is the former convent of San Agustin, built in 1506 it was badly damaged by fire in 1964 and a long and interupted repair programme has gone on ever since. The old church is still in ruins but even so you can see a taste of its former glory, inside the main building the cloisters are coming on nicely and at the far end the Canarian Institute has a regular FREE gallery. The latest display is from Juan Jose Gil, he is from Gran Canaria but we all have our problems, the chosen paintings were all done in the last 10 years and are large bold landscapes, very impressive.
Heading back to Santa Cruz on the tram I noticed that there are more inspectors than ever checking that noone is dodging their fare, it’s only one euro any journey with a bono ticket and the 30 minute journey always flies by. This trip I just had a brief scout around Santa Cruz and a food stop, the Plaza de España lake was suffering a bit after the recent rain and will no doubt soon get a clean up. Another huge cruise liner was docked at the port, Vision of the Seas took up a fair chunk of the quayside, more spending visitors for the capital. Time to head back south via the bus station but as always the trip had sparked a few more article ideas, I will return.