Military Museum and North Pier Santa Cruz

Bus Routes: 470[Granadilla] to El Medano, 116[Santa Cruz], 920 [Circum] to Military Museum stop ID 9355.
Return: Any back to the bus station, 116[El Medano, Granadilla] to El Medano, 470[Los Cristianos] to Los Abrigos.

Another interesting day out but again one which did not go quite according to plan. I caught the 470 in the direction of Granadilla with the intention of catching the 111 to Santa Cruz from San Isidro however; as

we pulled up at the stop opposite the church in El Medano I could see the 116[Santa Cruz] coming up to the stop on the other side of the road. I hopped off and caught that one, another advantage of the 'Bono' ticket no extra charge. I arrived in Santa Cruz at about 11:40 and went down to the lower deck to catch the 920 round to the museum. As there wasn't a bus in the stand and I was feeling hungry I decided to visit the station cafe for brunch. A very tasty half a 'Tortilla Rellen' a potato omlete filled with cheese and ham, bread roll and a coffee all for just over £5.00 set me up for the day. I then wandered round to see if there was a 920 in the stand and off to the military museum. I asked the driver to tell me where to get off just to make sure.

 Unfortunately when I got there I discovered that it is only open until 14:00 hours Tuesday to Saturday so not a lot of time. I started off on the second floor (the first floor is our ground floor) to be met by a large painting of Nelson at the top of the stairs. They have an excellent exhibition on the attempted invasion of Santa Cruz well worth a visit just to see this. There is also a lot of memorabilia from famous generals in their history along with an exhibit on the contribution made to the Bosnian conflict of more recent times. I was particularly interested by a set of albums on a table near the start of the tour. These contain photographs of the major construction work in Tenerife just after WWII. Costs and dates are also shown. There are also photographs of some of the families who were beneficiaries of housing projects and hospitals, a fascinating insight. I did not have time to see all of the exhibits in the old fort but, as the curator was locking up, I was allowed to see the armoury until he was ready to close the main doors. This will definitely warrant a return visit and I will create a photo album in its own right afterwards, until  then they are included here.

I wandered around to the harbour side of the port to take a photograph of the monument I had seen there on my way to the park. As I had plenty of time I decided to cross the road, turn left and explore the 'North Pier' of the harbour. There is an old port building, now a bar/night club I think, which must have been one of the original places of arrival or departure before the harbour was extended to form the modern port it is now. Just like Ireland and Scotland thousands departed the island for Venezuela, Cuba and the New World as markets in Tobacco, wine and bananas changed. I will have to find out if the old ferry still sails or if it can be explored, everything was closed whilst I was there but I did watch the progress of the 'Fred Olsen' hydrofoil; an event in itself. I also took some views of the landmarks of Santa Cruz from the 'Pilot' house which give some different perspectives. See if you can recognise the buildings.
Update - the 'La Palma' steamship was built in Middlesbrough for more details visit the
 La Palma information website.

I walked back along the promenade/cycle track which seems as though it will run all the way along the coast to the Auditorio and beyond once completed. Stopping for a cool beer and a coffee and cake on the way as it is getting very hot for exploring on an afternoon now I eventually passed the plaza next to the church which was being prepared for a festival on Friday evening. There are also two free jazz concerts in front of the Auditorio de Tenerife on Friday and Saturday evening. Los Abrigos has events on these evenings too – decisions, decisions!

View my 'North Pier' Photo Album