Tenerife By Bus

Bus Routes: the 470 [Los Cristianos - Grandilla] and 483 [Las Americas - El Medano] will get you here. LONJA PESQUERA LOS ABRIGOS Venta dePescado Fresco Puerto Pesquero Los Abrigos - Granadilla de Abona Telf: 922 74 92 17 I have taken photographs around Los Abrigos harbour on several occasions since I arrived and have commented on the construction of the new fish market as it progressed. A hive of activity took place yesterday as holes were dug in several places around the roundabout (rotunda) until the final site was decided for the trendy new sign whilst weeds were extracted from flower beds, hedges trimmed and a marquee erected down on the solarium. A prophet had come down from the mountain (the Harbour Master) last Sunday week and said that the new fish market was to open on the 6 th at 11:00 hrs. Lo and behold he was right!.....

Regla proved so popular last week that she was invited back to perform again this Saturday to a mostly different but still very appreciative audience tonight. Jose-Luis and Teresa were down from Santa Cruz for the weekend and found that Santa Cruz doesn't have it all it's own way when it comes to live entertainment! View my extended 'Caffe meets Cuba' photo album

rockin' Got rhythm No bus ride this time as we are sitting in the ' Note de Caffé '  enjoying an evening of songs and salsa with a lively crowd of all ages - got rhythm then enjoy. Nuff said!!! "Hola"

Bus Routes: 470 [Grandilla] or [Los Cristianos] and 483 [El Medano] or Las Americas] to Los Abrigo. Just goes to show, it's not over till the fat lady sings.... Costa Adeje has just organised a week long 'Octoberfest' after I attended the traditional one in Puerto de la Cruz however, not to be outdone, Los Abrigos organised its own 'October Fiesta' from 12 noon until midnight on the 12th and 13th October. The 12th was another Spanish national holiday something to do with discovering America I think?  We took delivery of a new sculpture which was erected on the Calle Marina on the way down to the harbour and the new fish market building is nearly completed so I have started off the album there before moving on to the stalls selling beer (again 1€) and Tapas, this time there was much more competition between the various restaurants and bars and a much wider choice of delicacies to choose from including cakes! There were also stalls covering work of local ar...

Patrick's cat, lord of the manor! I saw the seagull trying to fly... It all went a bit quiet as far as the blog is concerned over the past few weeks, it took me a while to catch up with the photographs from the Los Abrigos Fiesta as I was working on a little project creating a 'Los Abrigos Fiestas' souvenir booklet using photographs to trace the development and progress of the fiesta from start to finish. It worked out quite well but cost a fortune to reproduce so I ended up giving copies to the women who organised the event and there it hangs at the moment. I also converted the files into .pdf format parts 1,2 & 3 as I could not create the whole thing as 1 document. Anyone know of a 'free' program to join .pdf files together?  I have now uploaded the photographs to go with the 'Return of the Fleet' blog and inserted the link on the post.

.... continued from part 1 .... Saturday 9th September: 20,30 h. – Misa en la Iglesia. A continuación PROCESIÓN y EMBARCACIÓN de nuestros SANTOS y al finalizar exhibición FUEGOS ARTIFICIALES. Mass in the church followed by the procession from the church down to the harbour where the icons are brought aboard the fishing boats and a circuit of the harbour takes place.  The icons are then brought ashore to witness a giant firework display launched from the harbour wall and across the sea itself to the other shore. 24,00 h. – VERBENA amenizada por las ORQUESTAS SENSACIÓN GOMERA y DELICIOSA.

Bus Routes: 470 [Grandilla] or [Los Cristianos] and 483 [El Medano] or Las Americas] to Los Abrigo. The village plaza is prepared for the fiesta The annual fiestas San Blas and the Virgin del Carmen commenced on Wednesday 5th September and lasted through until the early hours of Tuesday 11th. I have toured the island attending fiestas and romarias but this gave me a unique opportunity to follow the preparations and the full calendar of activities which takes place during this week long affairs. Surprisingly I found out that the 'Fiesta committee' comprises of only three ladies, so quite a large task for them!

Bus Routes: 470 [Grandilla] or [Los Cristianos] and 483 [El Medano] or Las Americas] to Los Abrigo. I woke up this morning to see a convoy of fishing boats lined up to enter the harbour at Los Abrigos. It would appear that some of the Los Abrigos fleet routinely dock at other locations such as Santa Cruz where there are regular fish markets and only return for special occasions such as the coming fiesta which starts tomorrow. I took some photos then wandered down to the harbour for a closer look. The boats were being cleaned, new fish crates and other equipment loaded ready for another trip to sea. I hope that, once the new fish market being built at the harbour will allow me to record some of the types of catch in the not too distant future. It would also appear that the harbour will be much busier than it is at present with only the smaller local boats regularly docked there. View my 'Return of the Fleet' Photo Album

Bus Routes: 470 and 483 to Los Abrigos from Las Americas, Los Cristianos, Granadilla and El Medano respectively. We have been experiencing some extremely hot weather in the Canaries recently resulting in forest fires on many of the islands. The volunteer fire brigades have been doing an amazing job with very little equipment or rest. The pilgrimage to Candelaria where people walk from all over the island and fly in from other islands too was cancelled for public safety reasons as the temperatures have soared to over 37*C/100*F and the winds from the Sahara have been hot and dry . This is one of the big events of the year as the Guanches derived their faith from the appearance of the 'Virgin' from the sea at Candelaria, I am hoping that the Romeria will take place on the 15th. Nevertheless Los Abrigos held the 'Fiesta de la Cerveza' on Saturday.

 My sister was out visiting for a week and, just to prove that Titsa buses can be used by all we went to Santa Cruz, Los Cristianos and El Medano. The final trip was up to Garachico through Iod de Vinos so that she could see the mountains and the forests too. After looking around the fort and the old town and lunch of course we hopped on the bus to Buenavista del Norte before returning to Icod and still had time to look around the church and its museum (which I missed last time) before catching the bus back home. Quite a day! No photos - she's shy. Back in Los Abrigos the Mariachi 'Chasna' entertained us all tonight (Saturday) courtesy of the council. I have added the photos to the Los Abrigos album and attached them here.

You may have seen on the news that large swathes of forest in southern Tenerife have been destroyed by fire which has been fought on the ground and in the air over the last week and, over the last couple of days, from the air. The skill and courage of these crews is to be admired as they fly continuously through the smoke just above the flames to help extinguish these fires. There were two planes performing circuits then landing at airport south to reload and refuel avoiding the scheduled flights as they went about their business. Several villages including Vilaflor, the highest village in Spain - see blog, have been evacuated and I hope that they can return to their home with minimum of damage soon. I took these photos from the end of the village near my apartment as the sun was setting. There are large tracts of smoke rather than cloud across the skyline and the aircraft lights can be seen as they circuit the fires. Probably best viewed as a slideshow. View my 'Fore...

Bus Routes: To Los Abrigos and fishing villages all over the island. There have been festivities taking place in fishing communities all over the island this weekend celebrating the 'Virgin del Carmen', patron saint of mariners. In Las Galletas down the coast it was celebrated in conjunction with their annual fiesta whilst here in Los Abrigos the weekend started on Friday evening with a 'Spectacular' including a magic show in the plaza. Over two hours of entertainment for the young and not so young! This was followed by 'Fiesta de la espuma', a foam party and games for the children on Saturday afternoon (no photos, I spent the afternoon in Las Galletas but it turned out that things didn't happen till the evening).

Bus Routes: 470 from Granadilla or Los Cristianos, 480 from Las Americas or El Medano. No need for me to travel to this event, a gentle pounding heard during the morning proved to be the testing for the sound system being set up in the Los Abrigos plaza.

Bus Route: Practically anywhere on the island depending on which location you choose. Los Abrigos beach The celebration of 'Midsummer Day' which is actually the 21 st June takes place on the weekend of the 23 rd /24th June each year and is known throughout Spain and the Canaries as 'Día de San Juan' (the day of Saint John the Baptist). As we wind in the UK many religious festivals are tied in with old pagan customs as the Romans converted to Christianity. This festival brings together three local beliefs – the importance of medicinal plants in relation to health, youth and beauty; the protective nature of fire to ward off evil spirits and witches and water and its purifying effects. For the Guanches the day marked the start of the New Year.

Once more Alex and Monica, proprietors of the 'Note di Caffe' here in Los Abrigos, brought a different musical combo to entertain at the 'Note de Caffe' on Sunday evening. A mixture of traditional Brazilian music and song had the audience performing not only on the dance floor but also 'on stage' selecting a variety of instruments from the 'box of tricks' brought by the duo 'Agimiroy & Paula.

The 'Note di Caffe' in Los Abrigos rang to a different tune on Sunday evening with a wide selection of titles sung in Spanish and English from various musical genre entertaining a lively crowd. It did not take long before the audience was tapping their feet and leaping up to dance floor reflecting the style being played at the time.  'Pal Santo'  delivered an outstanding performance and, due to the many encores, played solidly for over three hours pausing every now and again for a sip of the local brew. All in all Sunday was a great day!

Bus Routes: 482[Los Cristianos, Playa America] to Golf del Sur, 115[Santa Cruz] Return: 111[Los Cristianos, P America Est] to Las Chafiras, 843[El  Medano] to Los Abrigos. Well who is that in the photograph? Last week Jose Lois and Teresa invited me to Santa Cruz for the Romeria on Sunday 13th May. The fiesta had run for several days, the stage in the Plaza Candelaria was back this time decked out with bread and sheaves of wheat. The costumed event also takes place on an evening/night but this year Santa Cruz was having the event on a Sunday during the day too. I have added some more photographs to the 'Santa Cruz' photo album of my journey and of the event itself. There is also a photograph of the bus stop in Golf del Sur which I use to catch the 09:35 115 to Santa Cruz. This one is handy because the hotel caffe opens at 09:00 affording a cup of coffee before the journey. All thanks to my friend Kev staying there. So I have worked out that all of my routes will work whe...

Once again 'Pureze' gave a 'massive' performance at the 'Note de Caffe', Los Abrigos this time with the added talent of a younger brother who happened to be here on holiday - why waste family talent and he was definitely talented whether singing unaccompanied or as part of the 'trio' 

On Tuesday whilst I was away in Adeje a stage mysteriously appeared in the village square followed a couple of days later by a connection to the electricity supply.

Bus Route: 843[Los Cristianos, Las Americas] to Los Cristianos. Return: 843[El Medano]