Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The island's capital city, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is 39km from Puerto de la Cruz and taking advantage of the island's fantastic Titsa bus service, less than 40 minutes after boarding the #103 we were standing in the shadow of the iconic Auditorio de Tenerife. 

Designed by Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, the auditorium was completed in 2003. 

I love the contrast between the Auditorium and near neighbour, the 17th century Castle of John the Baptist. This was the site of Nelson's unsuccessful attempt to invade the city in 1797 and it was during the Battle of Santa Cruz that poor old Horatio lost his arm. 

Below the sea wall, we spotted these rocks daubed with images of musicians throughout the ages, from Liszt & Beethoven to Bob Dylan and Tina Turner. 

We popped inside the auditorium for fancy coffees in their swanky bar and were astounded when the bill only came to €4. 

We stopped to admire The wind sculpture by César Manrique (24 April 1919 – 25 September 1992) the Canarian artist, sculptor and nature activist who was born in Lanzarote.

Located in the historic quarter of Santa Cruz, MUNA – The Museum of Nature and Archaeology occupies the former Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados hospital, built in the 18th Century.

MUNA is huge and we were in there for a couple of hours with Jon fascinated by the creatures and me the ceramics and both of us loved the skeletons which forensic scientists had labelled with the diseases and deformities the owners had died from. Something for everyone!

We wandered around the city, admiring the colourful houses, street art and the outdoor sculptures.

Santa Cruz is reminiscent of all the Spanish cities we've visited, dazzling clean, pedestrian-friendly streets flanked by magnificently tall & elegant historic buildings. The Guardian rate it amongst the top five places in the world to live and it's one of the healthiest, too with an average life expectancy of 81.5 years.

Lunch was eaten in the heart of the historic quarter in the gorgeous restaurant we'd discovered last December. Our fellow diners were mostly local office workers enjoying lavish meat and seafood platters accompanied by bottles of wine - no wonder siestas are a thing in Spain! 

Our salads were just as tasty as we remembered.

Whilst strolling around a shady park we spotted a very grand looking building and went over to investigate. 

It turned out to be the Museo de Bellas Artes (the Academy of Fine Arts) which was hosting a free exhibition celebrating the 175 year anniversary. Created to organise artistic instruction on the island, the academy received official recognition by Queen Isabel II. The Academy stood out for integrating women into the artistic field, practically unheard of at the time. 

After a video explaining the history of the academy, we journeyed through each themed room. 

There was some incredible art on display, from 15th century panels, Old Masters and Ancient Roman sculptures to Modernism, antique doors and 17th century ceramics but it was the work of Tenerife-born artist, Pedro de Guezala (1896-1960) I loved most of all. 

It is said that these idealised paintings of traditional Canarian peasant life appealed to the island's bourgeois, who couldn't get enough of them. I can't say I blame them. The  girl in yellow has a look of Frida Kahlo about her, doesn't she? 

Meanwhile, back at Puerto de la Cruz....

 We'd spotted Restaurant Persia whilst walking around the previous day. When we're travelling we like to be spontaneous and never book ahead, preferring to take our chances. We got lucky as we managed to snag the last table in the house.  

We shared a tabbouleh starter and it was as gorgeous as it looked.

Jon had a platter of mixed kebabs with salad and rice.

 While I had a tofu and aubergine stew with Persian flatbread.

The entertainment was mesmerising!

Needless to say we had to pop into our favourite little bar for a €5 mojito.

We were very restrained and only had the one, I didn't want to wake up on my birthday with a fuzzy head!