Tenerife By Bus

Bus Routes: 470 [Los Cristianos] to Golf del Sur. 115 [Santa Cruz]. Return: 111 [Los Cristianos, Las Americas] to Las Chafiras. Taxi to Los Abrigos [4.65€ after midnight]. The papers were full of the first visit to Tenerife by Cirque du Soleil who were performing at the Pabellón Santiago Martin, San Cristobal de la Laguna for a week. It looked exceedingly good so I decided to buy a ticket as I may not get the chance again. I was pleased when other folk from the village reported back that the show was amazing. I had booked the early performance to make travelling easier and was going with friends from Santa Cruz. The day before I was sitting haing a coffee in the 'Note de Caffe' when a lady asked if she could sit at my table as the others were full. We eventually got to chatting and it turned out that she was from Sweden, was only here for a week and had not really been anywhere though a friend had recommended she see la Laguna.

Bus Routes: 483 [Los Cristianos, Las Americas] to Los Cristianos, 480 [Arona]. Return: 480 [Los Cristianos], 483 [El Medano] to Los Abrigos After touring a wide variety of Romerías and Fiestas last year I debated with myself whether or not to continue recording them this year. The front page of the first issue of 'Island Connections' contained a full page spread about the first fiestas of the year and Arona was first on the list for the San Antonio Abad celebrations. If you look at last year's events I went to La Caleta later in the month, however, as I had never explored Arona, I thought I would have a trip there to record the first event of the year. It is an easy journey to make the buses run regularly from Los Cristianos and it is only a 20-30 minute journey. I was really pleased that I went as the procession is more a family affair as the town is not that big and it is easy to see as the plaza in the centre forms the focal point for the celebrations. There was a

Bus Route: 470 [Los Cristianos] to Las Chafiras, 111 [Santa Cruz]. Return: 111 [Los Cristianos, Las Americas] to San Isidro, 470 [Los Cristianos] to Los Abrigos. Having spent most of the season at Santa Cruz I decided to complete the festivities there with the Festividad de los Reyes Magos (Festival of the Three Kings) to see how it compared with the activities in Los Cristianos last year. The day (and public holiday unless it is a Sunday) of the 6 th is when children by tradition in Spain open their presents. The evening before (the 5 th ) sees the parade of the Three Kings on camels through various towns and villages so that children can give their wish lists to the 'Kings' much as we do with Santa Claus. In Santa Cruz the 'Three Kings' arrive by helicopter at the main football stadium where a show is put on for the benefit of the spectators. I was going to try and get to the stadium but things went slightly awry with my travel plans and I missed that bit

Bus Routes: 470 [Granadilla] to El Medano. 116 [Santa Cruz] to Estacion. Return: 111 [Los Cristianos, Las Americas] to San Isidro. 470 [Los Cristianos] to Las Abrigo. A spectacular natural light show in the sky started the New Year's Eve 2013 celebrations as I left my apartment for Santa Cruz. I caught the 470 intending to catch the 111 at San Isidro but managed to dash across the road in El Medano to hop onto the 116 direct to Santa Cruz so no waiting.  I had been invited for dinner with my landlord and his family who have now become good friends and was due to arrive around 20:00 hrs.  The quick connection gave me time to wander around the immediate area of their apartment and take some photographs of the street decorations and the Nativity scene in the Plaza de Candelaria.