Santa Cruz de La Palma

On Friday 24 November we took a bus across the island to visit Santa Cruz de La Palma. As forecast, the wind was blowing briskly from the south and so our first stop in the city was to look at the marina. When we had sailed to La Palma, we had decided to sail around to Puerto de Tazacorte on the west side of the island (adding about 20nm to our passage) because the marina in Santa Cruz was reported to be very susceptible to swell in southerly winds. We were interested to see if it justified the warning.

The marina in Santa Cruz de La Palma   

There were white caps on the waves outside the harbour and there was certainly a reasonable amount of movement in the boats moored in the marina but it wasn’t as bad as we had thought it might be. Telling though, was that each yacht was moored in a space normally used for 2 yachts and each had a criss-cross of mooring lines rigged. We suspect that with a sustained period of southerly wind the swell does get into the marina and so concluded that, with lots of southerly winds forecast for the next few days, we had made the right decision to use Puerto de Tazacorte.

Calle O’Daly, Plaza España and Iglesia del Salvador (top R)   

Santa Cruz de La Palma was busy with a cruise ship in port and so we joined the hundreds of cruise ships tourists in exploring the old part of the city. There are 3 main pedestrianised streets running parallel with the beach and we wandered along each in turn. Starting with the main street, Calle O’Dally, named after an Irish banana merchant who had settled here, we enjoyed looking at the shops, bars and architectural sights. In the middle is the Iglesia del Salvador and in front of that the Plaza España and town hall. It was all very pretty and hinted at the wealth that trading had brought to the island in the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

Museo Insular    

A similar distance on we came to the Museo Insular. The ticket that we had bought for the museum in Los Llanos also included entry to the Museo Insular and so we thought that we would take a look. Housed in a former 16^th century monastery, the setting is beautiful.

Museo Insular   

Reproduction Guanche pottery   

We walked between balconied quadrangles to look at the exhibits which were not quite what we had expected.  Guanche skulls and (reproduction) examples of their pottery were the only exhibits relating to the original inhabitants of the island. Instead there were rooms filled with stuffed birds, pickled lizards and row upon row of shells and corals. A large stuffed monk seal and a few leatherback turtles and sharks’ heads completed the picture of the island’s fauna and marine life.

Other rooms are dedicated to the 16^th century ship-building industry on the island. The sap-filled Canary pine wood is apparently particularly resistant to termites and so ships built here were regarded as some of the most reliable and long lasting in the world.

The museum also housed several galleries filled with art. One was dedicated to 20^th century Spanish paintings linked to the islands whilst the others focussed on contemporary art from more recent inhabitants of the island.

Castillo de Santa Catalina with El Tiede, Tenerife in the background (R)   

Towards the northern end of the old part of the city is the Castillo de Santa Catalina. The trading wealth of the city in the 16^th and 17^th centuries attracted pirates and it was frequently besieged and occasionally sacked. Built between 1683 and 1692 the castle was the main castle (and the largest) of several built to try to protect the city from this succession of pirate raids, including those commanded by Sir Francis Drake.

Avenida Marítima with its traditional Canarian balconies   

Walking along the seafront Avenida Marítima we saw one of the city’s other main attractions – its traditional Canarian balconies. Very similar to those we have seen in Andalucía and Galicia, their design was also influenced by the traditional Portuguese adufas balconies.

Avenida Marítima with its traditional Canarian balconies    

Filled with flowers they were very attractive and with a sea view you could see why many of these 16^th century buildings have been converted into restaurants. Fortunately, the old privies that were built at the ends of many of the balconies no longer open directly onto the street.

Café in Plaza Santo Domingo (L) and Iglesia Santa Domingo (top R)   

Slightly foot-sore, we wandered up into the Plaza Santo Domingo. Here we relaxed for a while with a beer and some lunch, nicely sheltered from the wind which had increased in strength whilst we had been looking around the city. After lunch, with one hand keeping our hats in place, we wandered back to the bus station via the marina to take one more look at the shelter there. The yachts were jiggling about even more in their ‘mooring pens’ which convinced us that Puerto de Tazacorte was definitely the right place for BV to be during the windy weather forecast for the next few days.

La Palma, Canary Islands