La Orotava – Corpus Christi Flower Festival

Bus Routes: 450[San Isidro], 111[Santa Cruz], 101[Orotava, P de la Cruz] to La Orotava.

Return: 108[Santa Cruz D], 111[Los Cristianos, P Americas] to San Isidro up to 19:30 departure otherwise Las Chafiras, 470[Los Cristianos] otherwise taxi.

The festival for Corpus Christi was celebrated on the 3^rd of June in most places on the island, I later discovered that there was a small flower/sand painting in front of the church in El Medano, but the big one is held at La Orotava on the 14^th this year. They also have a romaria on Sunday 17th! I must remind you that these dates vary depending upon where Easter falls in any given year – you can check on the local websites or use the link to 'Island Connections' which publishes a fortnightly calendar. I was taking some friends with me so asked them to meet me just after 08:00 hours at the bus stop in Los Abrigos. I figured we had to get there early as the services for the romerias finish around 13:00 hours and I thought that this would be the same however I was wrong it actually finishes at 20:00 hours. This timing is significant as you will see from the photographs but we could have got away with a later start!

Because of the early start I discovered that the 450 runs through Los Abrigos at 08:00 hours on its way to San Isidro, it runs along the motorway at other times. Instead of waiting for the 470 as I has intended we caught the 450. Walking round to the motorway stop in San Isidro the 111 pulled up as we reached the slip road, passengers boarded as we crossed the road and we joined the queue. We arrived in Santa Cruz bus station at about 09:25 which allowed us to board the 101 to Puerto de la Cruz. This is the scenic route through La Laguna, Guamasa, Tacronte, La Victoria – all nice places to visit – and La Orotava – our destination we got there at about 10:45. There is an express which uses the motorway which would have left Santa Cruz at 10:15 but we had a pretty journey avoiding the motorway and still got there sooner than the express.

Arriving at the bus station (estacion) in La Orotavia the obligatory coffee and donut was purchased a the cafe adjoining the station before we set of left out along the Avda Obispo Benitez de Lugo then forked right towards the old town, the signposts direct you along towards the 'Ayuntamiento' (town hall) and Iglesias (churches). We came to the Iglesia de San Augustin, street decorations and 'fiesta' stalls so I knew we were on the right track. A look around the church before we followed the crowds along to the start of the 'flower' displays – these are drawings translated into street art using flowers, petals, grasses and coloured sands from Mt Teide, not one or two but streets of them. They start at about 06:00 hours on the day of the event and in many cases finally complete them at around 17:00-18:00 in time to be judged. Please look at the photo album they are well worth seeing and I tried to capture some of the techniques too. I did three circuits to show progress and the finished article. After all this effort the significance of the time of the procession is revealed at the end of the album. Whilst wandering around we had a freshly cooked traditional lunch in the Plaza Patricio Garcia opposite the Iglesia de la Concepción, a look around the church and a look around one or two buildings along the way, the balcony and window dressings are amazing, before arriving back at the town hall for a look at the sand painting in the plaza in front of the town hall. This is made of coloured sands from Mt Teide and takes a month to construct. The same artist has designed the picture, the theme this year is 'Faith', for the last 20 years and is helped by a small team and takes a month to complete.

We parted company here as my friends headed back to Los Abrigos which is why I have given two endings to the journey. If you catch the 111 from Santa Cruz by 19:30 hours you can connect with the last 470 from Granadilla which gets to San Isidro at approx 20:40 otherwise it is on to Las Chafiras and a taxi or the 483 if you can catch the last one at about 20:20 and don't mind the walk to the bus stand by then. I stayed to watch the procession and see if what I had been told was true.

There is a romeria here on Sunday, they do like to party in Tenerife but there is also a free Blues concert in Santa Cruz starting at 21:00hrs on Saturday night – decisions, decisions?

View my 'La Orotava Corpus Christi' Photo Album