Welcome to the Canary Islands.
Port
Information. There are seven main islands in the
archipelago (we are going to visit two of them on this voyage, Tenerife and Lanzarote). The Canary Islands are located about 60 miles
off the coast of Africa in the North Atlantic Ocean and have a total population
of 2.25 million people (about 43 percent of the population of the archipelago lives
on Tenerife). The name has nothing to do
with the little yellow bird but comes from Canariae Insulae or “Island of the Dogs”. The islands are an
autonomous community of Spain and Santa Cruz, where we are docking today
is a co-capitol of the Canary Islands. Tenerife
also has a tragic place is history – in 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on the
runway killing 583 people. Mount
Teide, which is the tallest point in Spain as well as all the islands in
the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the third-largest volcano in the world, when
measured from its base.
The day started windy and gray as Splendor approached Tenerife. I captured some of that from our suite.
It was too windy and chilly to eat out on the veranda
v
so breakfast was at Table 10 at La Veranda.
I did get some nice shots of Santa Cruz as the ship pulled alongside. There is another, much larger ship here today, Aida Cosma carries 5500 passengers and has over three times the gross tonnage of Splendor. It is a huge ship. From the open deck, I was able to get some very nice pictures of the city as well as other ships moving through the harbor, one of which came very close to Splendor (maybe a bunkering ship).
We are not on
tour today – we have been here a few times and the tours were early and more
strenuous. Our plan is to walk around
Santa Cruz. We left the ship around 11
AM and after checking out the vendor shops on the pier (we will come back and
spend more time there later) we caught the ship-provided shuttle to the
“Centro” section of the city.
The actual center of town is connected to the pier area by a walking bridge. The bridge is unique in that its totally covered in artificial grass – that, at least, makes it easy to see.
In the distance, there is the Auditorio
de Tenerife, designed by famous architect, Santiago Calatrava, who
has bridges everywhere and almost designed the now defunct, Chicago Spire.
Although the auditorium has been on several of our past tours, we have never
been inside.
Our first
stop, and it’s a difficult one to miss, is the Plaza de Espana. The main feature is the huge fountain (almost
a lake) that features fountains that go on and off four times a day to denote
the high and low tides. That won’t be
happening today, since the fountain is completely empty.
At one end of
the dry fountain is a statue, which is made of stainless steel and called “Lo
Llevo Bien” (“I’m doing well”). The
statue created by sculptor Julio Nieto in 2014 stands about 15 ft tall (weighs
about a half ton) and resembles a man/tree.
The branches contain the names of individuals who donated to keep the
sculpture in Santa Cruz (it was a traveling exhibit). At the foot of the statue is sand from the
2021 Volcanic eruption on La Palma (supporting the people of La Palma).
Nearby is the Monumento al los Caidos (Monument for the Fallen) commemorates the casualties of the Spanish Civil War.
It consists of an 82 ft tall obelisk in the form of a cross surrounded by statues of winged victory, “The Fatherland”, and two soldiers with swords. The soldiers are very impressive standing over seven ft tall.
The monument is mired in controversy because
of the dictatorial aspects of the Spanish Civil War (and some changes to the
monument may be made in the future).
The Plaza de
Espana also has a “living wall” of flowers.
A very impressive colorful array of various flowers.
There is also a City Sign in the Plaza – sign was so big that I couldn’t get it into one frame no matter how far I stepped back (trees in the way).
I took another picture of the sign from a
distance.
It was just a short walk to another plaza, the Plaza de la Candelaria. The plaza contains a smaller monument and dates back to the 16th Century. It sits on the site of the remains of the Castillo de San Cristobal.
Santa Cruz has a pedestrian walkway – Calle de Castillo – that features regular and upscale stores on both sides of the street.
The street is named for the Castillo de San Cristóbal (ca 1577) the first real fortification of the island of
Tenerife. The castle is gone but parts
of it remain underneath the Plaza de Espana and can be visited.
We started
walking on Calle del Castillo and found out pretty quickly that it was
uphill. Our goal was at the top of the
hill – a park of some kind with trees and grass. On the way we saw a Micky D’s – a pretty nice
one – I tried to get an idea of what things cost here but it was too
crowded.
Continuing up the Calle del Castillo we came across a small bronze statue of a horse mackerel, known as "El Chicharro," which is a tribute to the fish that was a staple food for the city's fishing community.
There is
also a nice park near the fish statue as well as an upscale restaurant and
condos.
On the street running parallel to the Calle, we saw a very impressive statue. A Google search turned up the name, La Unión y El Fénix Español.
While I
was expecting a bit of brilliant history associated with this statue, this
installation was put up by a Spanish insurance company founded in 1879. The vast
majority of its buildings were crowned with an architectural figure, in
which Ganymede appears
on a Phoenix. Ganymede was the son of the King of Troy – he was kidnapped by
Zeus and made cup-bearer of the gods. Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter
and the largest moon in the Solar System. This image was also the company's
distinctive feature.
We stopped for
a while and sat on the benches which are in the middle of the walkway. It was midday so the Sun was directly
overhead and no shade.
I was hoping to get a local beer and we stopped at an outdoor seating area near the top of the hill. We couldn’t stay long because we might have been the only people not smoking. So we abandoned that idea and instead crossed the street and that took us to the Plaza del General Weyler.
This wooded plaza is named after General
Valeriano Weyler, a Spanish General who was a prominent historical figure of
the island. The plaza was completed in 1983.
On one side of
the plaza we found a nice indoor / outdoor restaurant where I checked out the
menu for a local beer. Even though there
were few, if any, smokers in the place, it was pretty much an upscale
restaurant (full menu) so we decided we would be better off if we got back to
the ship and had lunch there. The
problem was that the complimentary shuttle ran every 30 minutes are was due to
leave for Splendor in less than 20 minutes.
Let’s just say that it was a good idea that it was downhill because we
sprinted – Ellen sprinted and I went as fast as I could.
We got to the bus with about a minute to spare and soon we were back at the pier. We spent a little time at the vendors across from the ship and came away with a nice cap from Tenerife for $5. What a deal.
We had lunch in La Veranda and the theme was “Italy”– I had the chef make me spaghetti aglio e olio and I put together a beautiful salad and assorted grilled Italian veggies.
Along with an
iced tea that made for a brilliant and delicious lunch.
After lunch,
we went out on the veranda and took up spots on the covered corner on the
starboard side of the ship. At lunch,
the veranda was full but it was now empty except for us. No wind, warm, and quiet with a wonderful
view of Santa Cruz. We stayed there most
of the afternoon. Why not?
In the late afternoon, we went to the Observation Lounge to get seats and take in Fabiano. Ellen had them make her a Chai Latte
and I had a strawberry daiquiri. The view of Santa Cruz was just as neat from the Lounge. Fabiano’s set was great – can’t get enough of his piano stylings and the seats were comfortable – no jeans for me. And the view from the Lounge was also quite nice.
At about 7 PM, we went for Dinner in the Compass Rose.
Dover Sole for Ellen, Salmon for me, a salad with blue cheese dressing, mashed
potatoes and spinach sides, cheesecake and coffee and tea.
We went to the show, which tonight was a production show new to us – “Diamond Run”.
The show is a spy thriller about a man of mystery and a jewel thief both after a blue diamond. It did have a James Bond vibe. It's a new show created for Seven Seas Splendor. After a few minutes, we decided that it was probably not our type of show so we called in a day and headed for our suite.
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