Earlier this week we had a most enjoyable day in Puerto de la Cruz.
Puerto de la Cruz is Tenerife’s
main tourist resort in the north of the island which, although it welcomes
hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, remains very much Canarian in
character.
It receives more sunshine and less
rain than the rest of the north of the island but enough to sustain lush
vegetation that provides the town with its abundance of gardens and its
sub-tropical appearance particularly the Botanical Gardens with over 5,000
exotic tree and plant specimens from all over the world and its stylish garden
beach.
It was developed originally as a
port for the wealthy town of La Orotava, exporting sugar and wine to the New
World and was known as Puerto de La Orotava.
Today, the Old Town and harbour
remains a centre of activity with brightly painted fishing boats, food stalls serving
traditional Canarian food and its narrow cobbled streets lined with traditional
colonial-style cafés and bars.
It is in this area, known as the
Ranilla district, that street artists from mainland Spain, Tenerife and other
Canary Islands left their multi-coloured marks on the walls of buildings for the
Puerto Street Art 2014 festival.
Puerto Street Art, comprising of
13 murals incorporating different styles, techniques and themes, is
considered one of the most important in the world.
It is confined to a small area
and the tour can be done in around an hour or if you stop for sustenance after
viewing each mural in one of the many small bars and cafes, about a day!
I didn't get where I am today by being easily impressed with art but I was indeed very impressed!
Here are a few of the murals:
You can take the tour here in 7 minutes:
And here is how they did it:
I'll take my leave with a bit of Randy Crawford and the Crusaders:
Hey Ho!
