Tenerife By Bus

On Sunday March 16th I was invited to a friend of mine to go across to Adeje to the celebration of  'Holi - festival of flowers', organised by the Indian community living around Las Americas it brings communities together both in the area and as far north as Santa Cruz. The event was used to raise money for the Lions Charity so everyone enjoyed themselves, met friends and relations, sampled the giant paella and many other delicacies and raised money for a good cause too! View my full 'Holi' photo album

March 5th 2014 ... ... the Burial of the Sardine, my last day at Carnaval, Santa Cruz this year.  Once again what an amazing time I have had.  Despite the recession and late payment of grants TITSA still manages to provide an excellent service though the number of extra late night buses was greatly reduced.  I caught the 111 from San Isidro mid afternoon so that I could have a stroll around Plazas before a bite to eat and finding a suitable place to watch the procession due to start around 22:00 hours. Of course it is always late, who cares, the weather is fine, people are good hearted and having a good time. View my full 'Entierro de la Sardina 2014' photo album

Bus: 470 to Las Chafiras, 111 to Santa Cruz and back, 470, 483 or taxi back to Los Abrigos (4.80€) Having recovered from my late night/early morning trip to the opening parade on Friday it is mid-day and I'm off to Carnaval de Dia - Domingo 2 Marzo 2014 (Sunday 2nd March).  This, as I have mentioned in previous years is the day for the people. The fun starts catching the 111 up to Santa Cruz, everyone is dressed in their carnaval costume including me (Woody from Toy Story), there are jokes and songs so that, by the time we reach Santa Cruz bus station, everyone is in party spirit.

Trusty TITSA continue to run the 111 every half hour from south to north. I boarded at Las Chafiras this time and arrived in Santa Cruz an hour later.  After a week of competitions the opening parade is the kick off to the second week of carnaval.  The parade starts around 21:00 hours and the final floats will pass some four and a half hours later. This time I managed to photograph the event without my batteries running out as the did on my first venture here in 2012. I hope that you will enjoy them as much as I did attending. Once the parade had passed I had hot chocolate and churos at a cafe with a lady I met at the parade before wandering back for the 02:30 bus back to Las Chafiras and an early morning taxi home (bed by 4 am!). View my full 'Carnaval Opening Parade 2014' photo album

Buses: the 470 or 483 to the Medical Centre, Golf del Sur. 10 minute walk down to the Marina. Catch the same buses back to Los Abrigos or Los Cristianos from any of the stops around Golf del Sur. I had seen a fully rigged sailing ship in the distance and had also observed what looked like the top of a mast with flag flying above all of the other structures in San Miguel marina from my apartment window. Perusing one of the free papers over a coffee in the cafe one morning I came across and article about the visit of the 'Shtandart' so I decided to go and have a look. It was a pleasant day so I walked down to the marina from the bus stop by the Medical Centre as I thought that this would give and interesting view of the marina as I approached. Stopping for coffee and scrambled egg on toast, haven't had that for ages, at a little pool-side cafe on the way down fortified me for the rest of my visit. I walked around the marina shore opposite the frigate to get s...

Bus Route: 470[Granadilla] to San Isidro, 111[Santa Cruz], Tram from the Bus Station to La Laguna.  One of the advantages of exploring the island and making friends is the privilege of going behind the scenes, whether it is a carnaval or, in this case, a local amateur production. Just as in the UK we have a wide range of enthusiastic armatures producing a myriad of events and entertainments so to in Tenerife. Not only will you find the big shows geared to the tourist but, if you look, there are also numerous shows produced by groups of people who have a common passion for a particular skill. In this case a group of young women who meet each week to dance, particularly belly dancing, just because they love it. They call themselves the "Moreiba Tribal Troupe".