https://www.hellocanaryislands.com/tenerife/ Archives

Be a part of it Tenerife

2nd September 2022 funtime65

Start spreading the news, our favourite Canary Island is going New York New York for its carnival next year… be a part of it Tenerife Tenerife.

While the Americas and the Caribbean grab the limelight for carnivals, we have the second biggest in the world here in Europe.

And you thought it was the Notting Hill Carnival.

There’s no denying that Rio is the world’s biggest carnival with two million people taking to the streets but a quarter of a million attend the Santa Cruz carnival on the island.

So what’s it all about and when is it?

Well, it’s rooted in Christian tradition and so that’s two weeks before Ash Wednesday.

And for those of you who forgot that man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return then that’s January 20-February 26.

And now for the history

Party Girls: Bandanaman and his walking troupe

The history of the Carnival falls into three distinct periods…

The Iberians’ religiosity, the more spirited Twenties-orientated festival and the reinvention of the party from 1961 when it took on many of the features we enjoy today.

Now for a timetable of event and what it all mean we got the Tinerfenos to do the heavy lifting.

And with memories of our hike on the island with CanariaWays and our walk through the ages we know they do it far better than us.

So over to them.

The Queen of Tenerife

Spanish meal anyone: And preparing the dish of the day

And that would be Eva from our walk up to Afur which she took in her stride and then did yoga up at the Franco-themed bar (don’t ask).

And I’d vote for her for the Carnival Queen.

15 February – Carnival Queen Election Gala

The Carnival Queen Election Gala is when the Carnival Queen is crowned, who is chosen amongst over a dozen candidates.

The contestants wear the most spectacular costumes, made mainly of feathers, plastic, metal and rhinestones and weighing up to 400kg.

And this year we will see the first-ever junior Gala King.

Reign on our parade

And what would a carnival be without the sing-song?

17 February – Opening Parade of the Carnival

The carnival is a sea of colour, featuring the lead Carnival Queen.

Murga street music groups, comparsa bands and rondallas playing traditional old carnival songs parading down the streets of Santa Cruz.

All in it together

And that means a dance.

21 February – Big Carnival Parade in Santa Cruz

The Coso Apoteosis is arguably the highlight of the entire festivities.

Visitors from all around the world flock to Anaga Avenue in Santa Cruz to witness the spectacle.

It features all the Carnival Queens and Carnival groups, floats, incredible dance routines and musical performances.

Catch of the day

Now Spaniards and Canarians have their own particular take on carnivals which means:

22 February 2023: Burial of the Sardine – A humorous and grotesque procession of mourners saying goodbye to the carnival celebrations.

19 February & 25 February 2023: Daytime Carnival – A popular event for children and families, featuring plenty of activities to keep all entertained.

26 February 2023: Parade of Vintage Cars, Piñata and End of Party – And there’s nothing like whacking a bag of sweeties to get the juices flowing.

Free-for-all

Me-me and Dee-Dee at Crop Over in Barbados

In addition to the ticketed official carnival events, there are a number of spontaneous street events/activities to enjoy for free.

We’re advised that one of these night carnival parties is a must.

And we know all about what dancing in the dark is all about from Crop Over in Barbados.

And a glossary

Echoes of the Canaries: And special wine

Of course, when you’re in Espana then it helps to have a couple of words.

And I’m reminded on my landing in Galicia that my Camino guide gave me two words that helped me along my 100km to Santiago de Compostella.

Albergue, meaning hostel, and pulpo, the Spanish word for octopus.

Carnival Groups

A carnival group is a group of people who work together creating ideas, costumes, music, choreography, who all march together in the parade.

Tenerife Carnival features hundreds of different groups but two of the key ones to look out for are below:

Murgas: The Murgas are Spanish carnival groups that feature satire artists, performing songs about current political and world events.

Comparsas: The “comparsas” represent the Brazilian influence on Tenerife’s Carnival, filling it with rhythm, colour and joy.

Nowadays, the comparsas own the street with the undeniable quality of their live performances to surprise even the most frequent carnival-goers on their nights out.

Rondallas: The Rondallas are carnival groups that consist of only guitars, bandurrias, lauds and octavinas.

And of course there is a museum celebrating it all…

At La Casa Del Carnaval, located in Barranco de Santos next to the bridge Puente Galcerán

Maybe add to that glossary for next year Noo Yoikas… because they want to be a part of it Tenerife.

Africa, America, Countries, Europe, Sustainable Tourism

Heaven is a place on Earth Day

22nd April 202222nd April 2022 funtime65

And this is when thoughts turn to where you get away from it all and where Heaven is a place on Earth Day.

And where they actually do put the Earth first.

Deliver Jordan

Our friends at G Adventures with whom I traversed the Dead and Red Seas and Wadi Rum are all about sustainability and community support.

And while others do the old cultural appropriation thing (Boris Johnson in India anyone) G actually put something back.

G shares its good fortune with local communities in partnership with Planeterra Foundation, its non-profit partner.

And they build organic farms and restaurants in Jordan et al.

And provide tourist opportunities for trekking and cycling enthusiasts.

Colossal Colorado

Rocky mountain high: Colorado Rockies baseball team

Now as you’ll see from my cover page Brad left an impression on me when he told us in the Rapids…

This is our office so look after it.

Colorado truly is America’s Playground and you’ll find Brad and his man-bunned freestyling the Rockies.

And even one or two dry-skiing along the side of the road, all protecting their greatest asset.

Protect our skies

And so we’ve done the Earth, now the Wind (or we’ll call it the skies) before we alight on the Fire.

And there are few clearer skies than the night ones in Tenerife.

Where at the top of Mount Teide National Park you can be among the stars.

Yes our CanariaWays all-action walking party but also the Bull, Bear, Saturn and Uranus (no yours).

And all because they keep their island clean.

Clear the air

Now we can all do our little bit to arrest global warming.

And Raggy Charters Whale Watchers and Dolphin Watchers in Gwberha (Port Elizabeth when I visited) do more than most.

As they plant a speekbom plant every time they take the boat out to the island to rebalance emissions.

And for those of you who pay attention (and I’m also talking to you up the back) it might just save air travel.

Land of ice and fire

And, yes this is the Fire bit of the Earth, Wind and Fire elements.

And we have our old chums at Hayes & Jarvis to show us around Iceland.

They urge us to embark on a South Island road trip from Reykjavik around the Golden Circle.

And you’ll take in the Strokkur Geyser, Gullfoss Waterfall and Thingvellir National Park.

While all visitors to Iceland naturally take a dip in the geothermal waters of the Blue Lagoon.

While if you’re very lucky you’ll get to see the Northern Lights on a clear night.

And so you’ll have your own go-to places but try these out.

And you will find Heaven is a place on Earth Day.

Countries

Starry Pyrenees and Tenerife

6th April 20226th April 2022 funtime65

Things are looking up again in Travel and particularly in starry Pyrenees and Tenerife.

The sky truly is the limit, and beyond, up there in the mountains of France and the Canary Islands.

Just pick your time when you’re going up, up and away to Le Pic du Midi.

Of course this dreamer had his head in the clouds when he returned to the Pyrenees from Lourdes.

Through the lens: With Big Jim in the Pyrenees

And I saw nothing through the mist though that may have as much to do with the vin I imbibed at Le 2877.

I was reliably informed by my Travel Partner in Jim, the inimitable Jim Gallagher, that the stars do come out at night.

As Big Jim had stayed over at the top of the world.

Where he got to open the curtains onto a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star world.

Sahara bumpity

Of course it’s the one thing we all share in common, the Milky Way around us.

And it’s the most spectacular free light show.

And a silver lining when you’re inconvenienced in the conveniences of a Sahara Desert malfunctioning open-roofed toilet.

With the roof off and me fixed to a seat when the rest of our party were sleeping in their tents (avoid Atlas Mountain roadside cafe tagines) I got to see shooting stars and the sunrise.

It might have been Morocky in Morocco but that was a highlight.

Tidy in Mount Teide

I went one better out in Tenerife on Mount Teide in Tenerife some years later, all in the company of one of those nutty astronomers we all love.

Through our telescope we saw Uranus (stop sniggering up the back)!

All of which came flooding back with the release of some of the best places to go star-spotting by vision care experts Lenstore.

They have analysed 29 locations across the globe to determine the greatest stargazing spots.

It’s all based on the visibility of stars due to low light pollution and their popularity according to monthly search volume data.

And here is what they found…

The only star in the sky: At Le Pic du Medi

France, Spain, Ireland and Germany dominate the rankings in Europe for stellar stargazing spots.

Yes, with Pic du Midi with a light pollution level of 0.12 and a total monthly search volume of 30…

It’s enough to make you want to dance.

Tenerife and La Palma take the second and third spots.

They boast an extremely low light pollution level of -0.01 on average making the stars most visible.

And for those wanting to travel further afield, Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii takes is the best location globally for stargazersf.

And that’s thanks to its low levels of light pollution (-0.03).

How highie Hawaii?

All of which is why my old scientific pal from Italian classes in Edinburgh took himself out there to their observatory to gaze for himself.

No, didn’t get there yet or master Italian to any level but that’s a different story.

So, all you fellow stargazers check out the list for yourself and get squinting through a lens.

Maybe see you there, whether it’s the starry Pyrenees or Tenerife.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Alpha to Omega of variants and travel

28th November 202128th November 2021 funtime65

Ever wondered why the latest viral threat is called Omicron… well here’s the Alpha to Omega of variants and travel.

We have the World Health Organisation to thank for improving our Greek… and Zeus knows I’ve forgotten almost all my Classical Greek from school.

And anything that shines a light on Heroic Hellas and its culture has my vote.

The WHO plumped for the naming system so as to remove stigma from countries after the media jumped on the first Covid variant.

And our news gatherers lazily called it the South African variant.

Now we here at TravelTravelTravel being internationalists fully support their motives, particularly because jingoism and racism can run as wild as pandemics.

And it is to the Greeks that we have turned for wisdom and philosophy.

Lay off the Spanish

With queen of Spain Teresa, Eoghan Corry and Sharon Jordan in Dublin

Back in 1918 when the last global pandemic broke out it was tagged the Spanish Flu, the name by which it is still referred.

And this wasn’t because it broke out in the Iberian Peninsula (we still don’t know its origins).

Rather it was because that was where the information first started emanating about the virus.

On account of Spain being neutral in the First World War and its media generously sharing the information.

While, of course, the virus was taking its toll across the world.

And war-concerned countries were killing information at home just as freely as they were needlessly destroying each other.

As it is the first reported death was in the USA but let’s not quibble.

I only say this to set the record straight and correct a historical wrong in favour of my Spanish friends.

And we well know that they have had their own troubles to seek either natural or political as is all too real in one of our favourite Spanish destinations, the Canaries.

And my last port of call in Spain, Tenerife.

Alphabetti spaghetti

Now, Omicron as it’s coming back to me now is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet which means that w’ve had 13 variants.

Delta we all know, and this pesky letter put paid to my trip to Oregon at the last minute…

And led me to pull out of the earlier working assignment to Las Vegas.

But beta, gamma and epsilon thankfully passed us by.

As did their friends zeta, eta and theta… who sound like the intake of a modern-day creche.

The next one barely registered an iota (and yes Greek letters have entered our lexicon before all this pandemic nonsense).

Kappa (no, not an American college sorority), lam(b)da (not a Tex-Mex dance), mu, nu (the other discarded Teletubbies) and Xi (a Chinese dynasty) soon followed unheralded.

Until we got to our Omicron.

Omicron, not Armageddon

And although our leaders are scaring the bejaysus out of his by interchanging Omicron with Armageddon it’s not.

The narrative is that it’s more infectious but haven’t we been told that the vaccines and the boosters are there to protect us.

And is it just me who is cynical.

That at a time when our politicians want to distract us from restricting our liberties the seriousness of Omicron gets ramped up.

And so we in the UK are told that we must now get a PCR test on arrival back in the UK and self-isolate until we get the result.

Which again sounds scary until you realise that we’re all Working From Home now anyway.

Isn’t it about time that we challenged these assumptions.

Particularly as everything our politicians have told us since the pandemic was called has blown up in their faces?

Democracies on trial

Now we might not go as far as Socrates who attacked Greek democracy (roughly translated as power of the people) in favour of meritocracy or elite rule.

But it is well seen that democracies are on trial.

And while it was the legacy of the First World War which all begun with the assassination of a royal in Sarajevo in the Balkans which heralded in the Fascists of the Twenties.

And of course the Wall Street Crash.

But it was also the failure of democracies in a crisis. We have been warned.

The good news

The good news is that there are only another nine Greek letters to go so we should be through all of this soon.

That’s the Alpha to Omega of variants and travel then.

See you on a plane or ship soon.

Countries, Europe

Canaries song of the black beach

10th July 202110th July 2021 funtime65

Now that we can, let’s sing a song again, a Canaries song of the black beach.

Now Canarian beaches strike up the image for many package holidaymakers of the south of Tenerife.

But the west and the north are more dramatic and less busy.

Life’s a beach

Now you may have thoughts on other indoors sporting matters this weekend.

But if you are like me and live by the beach your mind may drift off to foreign sand.

All of which is why we’re sharing here great Canarian beaches.

And a shout out here to experts on all things Tinerfenos, Michael and Niamh.

Sing for Canaries

I’ll place a particular emphasis, of course, on specifically Canarian beaches which you don’t really get elsewhere.

Tenerife is renowned for its black beaches on account of its volcanic terrain.

And yes, golden sand between your toes is the idyll.

But they don’t tell you that the sand sticks to your toes and gets everywhere.

Which you don’t get with black sand…

And kids (and the big kids among us) love to make a black sandcastle.

Black is back

Playa de las Arenas, on the West coast, and Playa Jardin, on the north coast are to be recommended.

Black beaches too are a staple in Lanzarote, La Gomera and El Hierro.

El Golfo (so they’ll have sand traps) in Lanzarote…

Santa Catalina in La Gomera (and get someone to whistle to you).

And Playa Del Verodal in El Hierro (and remember to search for El Hierro inside of you).

Tbe Way to go

A water-swept black beach at the end of a walk around the cliffs and volcanic hills of the Canaries is a realisable oasis.

Just as well then that our friends at Canariaways include a stop there in their itinerary.

It truly is a walk through the ages.

And we’re happy to sing s song, a Canaries song of the black beach.

Countries

As Scotland strikes out again to try seize its freedom following the vote for independence parties in the Scottish election, your global traveller is flagging up one Scots-infused country of Empire which did… Jimmyaica.

No, Jimmyaica isn’t my lame efforts at Jamaican patois.

It’s more a recognition of the Scottish imprint on Jamaica (Scots are playfully known as Jimmys) and particularly its flag.

Jamaican flags will be flying even more proudly next year as the Caribbean Island celebrates 60 years of independence and some of you might wonder why it has that St Andrew’s Cross at its centre.

Flags are us

If some of you are tentatively wondering that it might have something to do with Scotland then go to the top of the class.

You may very well be a vexillologist, or somebody who loves flags and have found a link too between the Scottish flag and the Tenerife flag too.

I did when I went out to the Canary Island with CanariaWays and found that they have the exact same flag.

The initial suggestion for the flag was a Tricolour of green (agriculture and hope), black (the struggles of its people) and gold (sunlight).

But that was thought too similar to Tanganyika’s (now Tanzania).

But then you knew that already.

Besides, a missionary from Glasgow, Rev. William McGhie (he’d obviously considered his ain Glaswegians well past saving!) had the ear of the Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante.

The Man of the Cloth persuaded him to embed Christian imagery into the flag.

And so the X of the St Andrew’s Cross found its way onto the flag to mark how the Apostle had lost his life.

Glasgow belongs to I and I

The Jamaican Glasgow on the west of the island is, of course, just one of a number of place names we both share.

Among the others are Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Greenock and ouch… Culloden!

So we’re off… with our official countdown to the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence.

And I’m bringing you this in association with Flag Up Scotland Jamaica which helpfully also seems to want to promote Caledonian preserves – flagupscotjam.

So where do we start in the story of Jamaica?

Well, how about at Scotland’s lowest point, no not the aforementioned Culloden but Scotland’s failed attempt at an empire of its own, the Darien Expedition in Panama.

Darien’s loss

The Darien Expedition was the breaking point for the old independent Scotland.

The whole nation from king to pauper had put money into the project only to lose more than just their shirt.

Cap in hand a section of the Scottish Parliament approached England to bail them out in 1703…

And the price was union, all of which you can read the whole story of in historian Douglas Watt’s excellent The Price of Scotland.

So where does this take us in the Jimmyaica story?

The Campbells are coming

Well to Colonel John Campbell who refused to allow Darien to put him off making his fortune and who decamped to Jamaica in 1700 and set up a sugar plantation at Black River.

He was by no means the first Scot on the island though.

Oliver Cromwell banished 1,2000 Scots prisoners of war out here in the previous century where they worked as indentured servants.

Others to be exiled included those failed colonialists from Darien, Jacobite rebels, criminals and Covenanters.

All ‘Scots’ look like this: Naomi Campbell. http://www.naomicampbell.com

Campbell’s kingdom has a rich lineage.

And it is said that there are more Campbells here per square acre than in the whole of Scotland.

While his descendants may very include supermodel Naomi Campbell and Costa Rica footballer Joel Campbell.

And the Irish too

I’ve found my own native land’s DNA elsewhere in the Caribbean in Scotland in Barbados and in Glasgow’s bar in Tobago.

My own roots are in the old sod of Ireland and Armagh from where Patrick Murty hailed.

But I dare say that the rambling Murtys managed to get out to Ja as the locals affectionately call their island.

I’ll return to Jamaica’s many Scottish connections and I’ll be happy flagging up Jimmyaica.

As we journey on the road to the independence anniversary.

And I’ll scatter some Irish magic dust on the island too with the links which bind Jamaica and Ireland.

MEET JA ON THE ROAD

Tag: https://www.hellocanaryislands.com/tenerife/