Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife was a real surprise. For some reason we were expecting a small town and being on Tenerife fairly touristy, however Santa Cruz is a huge bustling city and not a tourist trap at all except……. for the cruise ships. During our stay there were 5 huge monsters which disgorged their cargo making the streets pretty busy in the day time.

The cruise ships were also a blessing in disguise, we tried to hire a car for our second day, we wanted to visit the old town of La Orotava but failed because the cruise ship passengers had already reserved them all. It turned out the next day, however, because of the bad weather the national park was closed and you couldn’t get there at all. Would have been a waste having a car.

Santa Cruz may not appeal to everyone, a place where locals live and work, it’s full of office and apartment blocks. It doesn’t have much of an interesting history or masses of interesting buildings and architecture. But we liked it, there’s plenty to do and see for a couple of days and it has a real buzz about it.

The first day in Santa Cruz we walked loads, saw pretty much everything in the guide book and had our best meal of the holiday so far. It has to be said that Santa Cruz also has the advantage it’s pretty cheap. Here’s some piccies that might give you a flavour….

Day 2 we found the fish market which has been recommended by the marina staff, what a place, never seen fish like it! Guess it’s because we’re on an island in the Atlantic Ocean! Some of the stalls were serving what they were selling for lunch with a glass of wine, how could we refuse! If you go to Santa Cruz don’t miss out on the fish market whatever you do.

We often visit churches (Igleasi in Tenerife) whilst we’re away, they’re usually interesting buildings and in catholic countries, proper father Ted! However in Santa Cruz we discovered something new, mobile platforms stored ready to be loaded with icons for Easter, palm Sunday we assume, and towed around the city. Every church had 4 + with wide loading doors. The procession must be amazing! But the really funny thing was that each platform has a driver underneath in what can only be described as an engine-less land rover chassis. I’m guessing the platform has peep holes in the front for the driver to see where he’s steering.

The marina we stayed in wasn’t much to write home about, nestled between the harbour with the oil rigs and the cruise ships. However it did have interesting walls. Lots of people who’ve visited have left graffiti with their name, date and a picture. Thought it was a really nice idea, however we didn’t add to it, this time.

So, assuming the weather is OK in the morning we’re off to Gran Canaria, early start, long day, big sail.