Carnival, Culture & Cruzcampo in Santa Cruz

 On Tuesday, although still a very bearable 23°C, the sky was overcast so we made our way to the guagua station and caught the bus to the island's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife where we disembarked 40 minutes later. The local bus company is called Titsa, which having an infantile sense of humour, made us giggle every time a bus passed by.

130 miles off the north coast of Africa and 810 miles from the nearest port in mainland Spain, Santa Cruz was, until 1927, the sole capital of the Canary Islands and to this day remains home to the Canarian parliament. With a population of 200,000 it is smaller than Walsall but, unlike our much maligned town, The Guardian named it as one of the top five cities in the world to live in.

The astonishingly cool auditorium, Auditorio de Tenerife "Adán Martín"was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava and is right next to the bus station. Construction began in 1997, completed in 2003 and is widely regarded to be the finest example of modern Spanish architecture. 

In marked contrast to the modernism of the Auditorium, The Fort of San Juan stands in its shadow. Built in 1765 after the outbreak of revolutions in Portugal and Catalonia, which had threatened the integrity of the Crown of Castile, it played a key role in the victory over Nelson’s troops, who tried to take the city and conquer the Archipelago. As a result of the battle, the British troops lost 349 of around 4000 soldiers, and was left with over 100 injured, including Nelson himself, who lost an arm in the conflict. On the other side, the Spanish cohort lost just 32 soldiers with just over 40 injured.

Built in 2001 by Aquilino Dorta Pérez, The Wind Sculpture was designed by Canarian artist, César Manrique. 

 The Torres de Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Towers) are, at 120 metres, the tallest twin towers in Spain and like the auditorium, also designed by Santiago Calatrava. 

The stupendously beautiful Monument to the Fallen on the Plaza de España, near to the seafront, is a memorial to the victors in the Spanish Civil War and was unveiled on 17 February 1947. The sculptures are the work of Enrique Cejas Zaldívar and Alonso Reyes Barroso and consist of a 25 m (82 ft) high cross-like obelisk, a basement and a crypt. It has four major sculptural elements: an allegory of the Fatherland holding the fallen soldier, a winged female figure representing Victory, and two soldiers wielding swords, representing the civic and the military value.

We couldn't resist a selfie with these wibbly-wobbly mirrors at the harbour. 

We intended to have a quick coffee and carry on exploring but accidentally ordered a litre glass of Cruzcampo each so sat in the square watching the world go by whilst being entertained by a woman with an incredible voice covering everything from Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine to Beyonce (in Spanish).

After a very lazy hour we wandered towards historic quarter, a wonderfully atmospheric tangle of elegantly dilapidated 17th and 18th century houses, bars and shops which made us very nostalgic for Fontainhas in Goa's state capital, Panjim (HERE)

In a street leading to the Santuario de la Inmaculada Concepcion which was rebuilt in 1600 after the original church burnt down.

After our mahoosive beers we opted for good old water to accompany our lunches - Jon had chicken with potatoes and I had a salad of fried cheese, avocado, figs and cherry tomatoes.

Intrigued by signposts pointing to something called Casa De Carnaval we found an amazing museum commemorating one of the most celebrated annual events on the island, The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Held each February–March (depending on when Easter falls), it attracts people from all over the world and is considered to be the second most important most popular and internationally known carnival, after the one held in Rio de Janeiro. For this reason, the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is twinned with Rio.

The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been celebrated since the time of the earliest European settlement, and possibly earlier. In 1605 Gaspar Luis Hidalgo alluded to the habit of reversing the sexes in dress. Early written references date from the end of the 18th century, in the writings of visitors. The journal of Lope Antonio de la Guerra Peña in 1778 includes a dance held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he then talked about comparsas (bands playing conga music). In 1783, the Corregidor reported the use of masks "being banned by royal instructions" although the ban was not carried out, and a carnival feature was the mixing of the masked upper class with the common people.

During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1935), and General Franco (1940–1960), the Carnival was known as "Winter holiday" as a ruse to circumvent the ban that had been enacted against it. Despite the ban, the festival continued to take place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

My friend Ann at Polyester Princess collects vintage Barbie dolls, she'd love these! 

In 1987, singer Celia Cruz went to the Carnival Chicharrero with Billo's Caracas Boys; attended by 250,000 people, it was recognised by the Guiness Book of Records as the largest gathering of people in an outdoor plaza to attend a concert exceeded in 2019 when more than 400,000 people but due to the unexpected mass response there was no notary to officialise the figure.

The festivities start on the Friday before Carnival with an opening parade, reaching its height during the night when thousands of people in fancy dresses dance until the early hours of the next day. The party continues night after night until Ash Wednesday. On that day, the people of Santa Cruz de Tenerife celebrate the entierro de la sardina (the burial of the sardine), and with this event the carnival is officially over. However, the party starts up again the following weekend, known as the weekend of the piñata.

This year's winning costume was Lisbon (below), as a fan of Portuguese Azulejos (tiles) it was my winner, too.

Obviously we couldn't resist the dressing up room where, along with a Spanish couple who've actually taken place in the parades, were crying with laughter.

Not only is Casa del Carnaval fantastic, it's free, too. If  it doesn't put a huge smile on your face, you're probably dead.

Here's a fascinating fact we learnt at Casa del Carnaval - remember the infamous U2 Achtung Baby cover back in 1991? It was photographed when the band stayed in the city.

After a final wander, we made our way back to the station and caught the guagua back to Puerto de la Cruz. 

It was my birthday eve! We popped to our favourite hole in the wall bar for a Dorada beer and rejoiced with the locals when Spain came from behind to thrash Sweden 5 -3 in the UEFA Women's Nations League, we ate tapas in the street (papas arrugadas with mojo sauce, padron peppers, crusty bread and a selection of Canarian cheeses), hung out with the town's teenagers at the fairground and danced to some live music (or, at least I did) at the place which served the massive gin & tonics. 

What would tomorrow bring? Stay tuned for my final travelogue.