470 to Granadilla de Abona
Bus Route: 470 [Granadilla], Return 470 [Los Cristianos]
As the 470 starts or
ends in Granadilla (pronounced Granadiya) de Abona and Los Abrigos is about half way along the route between there and Los Cristianos; I thought that this would be an easy
journey to try out after spending a few days just 'chillin' either on
the beach or sipping coffee and reading my Kindle books in one of the
many cafe/bars in the village centre. I decided on a leisurely start
so caught the 470 at about 12:30 (they use the 24 hour clock here)
from the opposite side of the road because you have to remember that
they drive on the right here and I have confused myself several times
over direction of travel, especially with the motorway stops. Waited about 50 minutes for the bus - start and finish times seem precise but the bits in the middle tend to be guesswork! An interesting thing about the buses is that pushchairs, prams, trolleys and cases are loaded into the baggage area underneath by the passenger before they get onto the bus (our cases would be loaded by the driver there on long distance coaches). The buses also stop on the motorway down the off ramps where applicable. Arriving in Granadilla about 35 minutes later having passed through
El Medano and San Isidro on the way. It is a pleasant run along the
coast then up into the mountains behind Las Abrigos.
Getting off the bus I
wandered up the hill to explore and stop for my first true 'Tapas'
for lunch. These consist of different dishes which are displayed in
small trays in a chiller on the bar top. You select one or more and
with 'pan' (bread) and coffee, wine or beer to taste make a very
pleasant lunch. I haven't got into the mind set of having my main
meal of the day at about 14:00 hours but I'm sure I will. Granadilla
proved to be a very pleasant town to wander around and some of the
views are marvellous. I especially liked the 'keep fit' street, we
could use those in England. I am also surprised at the number of well
maintained play areas they have for children. I have noticed that the
lifestyle here leads parents to wander out of an evening and sit in a
cafe/bar socialising whilst their children play. I wandered around
and came across the monastery, where they hold frequent exhibitions
of art, photography etc by some very famous people, and the main
municipal building where I found out that Granadilla de Abona is the
equivalent of our county town, the centre of local government for the
area including Las Abrigos. It doesn't have a tourist information
office and it isn't the home of the statues of the kings I had heard
about – they are in Candelaria. All this speaking to a Canarian
policeman who didn't profess to speak English and my non-existent
Spanish. I wandered further around the streets, stopping for a coffee
as I went, there are some interesting things to find off the beaten
track such as the Tobacco drying warehouse dating from the 19th century which I almost missed
as a derelict until I saw the small plaque. Tobacco used to be a predominant crop here at one time. The photographs are in
the order in which I wandered around so that you can join me on the
tour and are really the point of the blogg.
Granadilla also turns
out to be important in my plan to tour the Island by bus as it is one
of the hubs of the network having a proper bus station. It has also
started to form the structure of a plan in my mind to visit Los
Christianos next as that is the other end of the route 470 and,
having passed through El Medano and glimpsed at how beautiful it
looked to visit the towns/villages in between. As the route shares a
lot in common with the 483, the other bus service passing through Los
Abrigos this sounds like a good scheme to start off with.
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