Tenerife By Bus

On Sunday March 16th I was invited to a friend of mine to go across to Adeje to the celebration of  'Holi - festival of flowers', organised by the Indian community living around Las Americas it brings communities together both in the area and as far north as Santa Cruz. The event was used to raise money for the Lions Charity so everyone enjoyed themselves, met friends and relations, sampled the giant paella and many other delicacies and raised money for a good cause too! View my full 'Holi' photo album

March 5th 2014 ... ... the Burial of the Sardine, my last day at Carnaval, Santa Cruz this year.  Once again what an amazing time I have had.  Despite the recession and late payment of grants TITSA still manages to provide an excellent service though the number of extra late night buses was greatly reduced.  I caught the 111 from San Isidro mid afternoon so that I could have a stroll around Plazas before a bite to eat and finding a suitable place to watch the procession due to start around 22:00 hours. Of course it is always late, who cares, the weather is fine, people are good hearted and having a good time. View my full 'Entierro de la Sardina 2014' photo album

Bus: 470 to Las Chafiras, 111 to Santa Cruz and back, 470, 483 or taxi back to Los Abrigos (4.80€) Having recovered from my late night/early morning trip to the opening parade on Friday it is mid-day and I'm off to Carnaval de Dia - Domingo 2 Marzo 2014 (Sunday 2nd March).  This, as I have mentioned in previous years is the day for the people. The fun starts catching the 111 up to Santa Cruz, everyone is dressed in their carnaval costume including me (Woody from Toy Story), there are jokes and songs so that, by the time we reach Santa Cruz bus station, everyone is in party spirit.

Trusty TITSA continue to run the 111 every half hour from south to north. I boarded at Las Chafiras this time and arrived in Santa Cruz an hour later.  After a week of competitions the opening parade is the kick off to the second week of carnaval.  The parade starts around 21:00 hours and the final floats will pass some four and a half hours later. This time I managed to photograph the event without my batteries running out as the did on my first venture here in 2012. I hope that you will enjoy them as much as I did attending. Once the parade had passed I had hot chocolate and churos at a cafe with a lady I met at the parade before wandering back for the 02:30 bus back to Las Chafiras and an early morning taxi home (bed by 4 am!). View my full 'Carnaval Opening Parade 2014' photo album

Buses: the 470 or 483 to the Medical Centre, Golf del Sur. 10 minute walk down to the Marina. Catch the same buses back to Los Abrigos or Los Cristianos from any of the stops around Golf del Sur. I had seen a fully rigged sailing ship in the distance and had also observed what looked like the top of a mast with flag flying above all of the other structures in San Miguel marina from my apartment window. Perusing one of the free papers over a coffee in the cafe one morning I came across and article about the visit of the 'Shtandart' so I decided to go and have a look. It was a pleasant day so I walked down to the marina from the bus stop by the Medical Centre as I thought that this would give and interesting view of the marina as I approached. Stopping for coffee and scrambled egg on toast, haven't had that for ages, at a little pool-side cafe on the way down fortified me for the rest of my visit. I walked around the marina shore opposite the frigate to get s...

Bus Route: 470[Granadilla] to San Isidro, 111[Santa Cruz], Tram from the Bus Station to La Laguna.  One of the advantages of exploring the island and making friends is the privilege of going behind the scenes, whether it is a carnaval or, in this case, a local amateur production. Just as in the UK we have a wide range of enthusiastic armatures producing a myriad of events and entertainments so to in Tenerife. Not only will you find the big shows geared to the tourist but, if you look, there are also numerous shows produced by groups of people who have a common passion for a particular skill. In this case a group of young women who meet each week to dance, particularly belly dancing, just because they love it. They call themselves the "Moreiba Tribal Troupe".

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. During my original 'year in Tenerife'  I attended many fiestas and Romerias around the island so this year I decided to bring you one from somewhere different and, traditionally, one of the main and biggest Romerias of the Island.  Last year in June we visited the town for the 'Corpus Cristi Flower Festival' (See blog June 14th 2012) this is repeated every year as part of their week long celebrations which culminate in the Romeria which you are about to see.....

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"

Looking out from my apartment or taking photographs around the headland a landmark has always been the crane above one of the biggest developments on Golf del Sur ever since I arrived in Tenerife. Unfortunately since the financial crisis and ensuing downturn in economies throughout Europe work on this multi-million euro hotel, apartment, shopping mall and car park complex had ceased before I arrived here. I was told that there had been five cranes on site but some had blown down during severe storms, this last crane remained in defiance and gave hope to an eventual completion of the development. I glanced out of my window this morning to see two daring men in the process of dismantling the crane top down. This is much higher than it looks from a distance and there is no room to put a foot wrong or stand on the wrong section as you unbolt the framework around you.  A sign of the times that not only is our crane suffering from 'erectile dysfunction' but so are our ...

Bus Route: (483[El Medano]) 483[Las Americas] to Golf del Sur, 115[Santa Cruz]. Return: 115[Las Galletas] to San Isidro, 470[Los Cristianos] to Los Abrigos. Buses to Los Realejos run from Puerto de La Cruz. As you know, if you have been following the blog, I have been in a quandry as to what to include in my second year here in Tenerife whilst remaining faithful to the main theme 'Tenerife by Bus' but not repeating myself. Well the weekend commencing Friday 3 rd  May presented an opportunity to add to the blog and the photo albums. Are you all sitting comfortably? Then I will begin.... As you know I have been very luck in meeting my landlords, Jose-Luis and Teresa, as they have taken me to many interesting places and given me an incite into the culture and traditions of the island. We are exploring the possibility of a trip to Madrid in September so it was suggested that I visit them on Friday 3 rd  May as this coincided with the 'Festival of the...

Routes: 470 [Granadilla] to San Isidro, 111 [Santa Cruz], Tram to La Laguna. Return: Tram to Santa Cruz, 111 [Las Americas] to Las Chafiras, Taxi to Los Abrigos. On Good Friday 2012 I went to Adeje for the 'Passion Play' (see my blog and photo album) which has become an annual event. At the time I attempted to catch the bus up to La Laguna to see the contrasting formal processions held in the north of tBushe island but failed and remained in Adeje for the evening procession. As I have remained on the island I decided to go north this year to experience the more formal Easter traditions so this piece was to have been titled 'Good Friday in La Laguna' however on arrival in Santa Cruz I was made aware that the Iglesia De La Conception was open due to their own processions occurring that day. This gave me a unique opportunity to have a look around the interior and photograph some of the icons used in their procession before travelling on to La Laguna. Incidentally...

Bus Routes: 470 [Granadilla] to San Isidro, 111 [Santa Cruz] Return: 111 [Las Americas] to Las Chafiras, taxi to Los Abrigos Last year I wrote many blogs and took lots of photographs of the carnaval celebrations at Santa Cruz and, by contrast, various other locations on the island. Not wishing to repeat myself I concentrated on taking part in the various events of the main carnaval at Santa Cruz this year (2013) rather than being a spectator. My hosts Jose-Louis and Teresa gave me an incite into the spirit of 'Carnaval' and the various traditions surrounding the events therefore my photos are from the inside looking out rather than documenting the various events. We started on the Thursday before the first main carnaval procession touring the various shops which have given themselves over to costumes. This is a significant contribution as carnaval itself is the people taking to the streets to celebrate rather than the surrounding hype of carnaval queens and other or...

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.

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.