If a beach is all you’re after, then frankly you’re better off in Tenerife. But if a beach is part of the mix, then we have two main beach resorts, Cancajos and Puerto Naos. Our sand is like the Model T Ford – “Any colour you like, as long as it’s black”. When the sea mashes up black, volcanic rock, that’s what you get. However, black sand warms up in…
Today is mother’s day in Spain. And to the best of my knowledge, the first place in Spain to have an official Mother’s Day was Breña Baja. The local poet, Félix Duarte Pérez , left home for Venezuela at some horrendously young age (fifteen, I think). Not surprisingly, he missed his mother a good deal, and they sent each other lots of letters. When he finally came home at the…
Bride, groom, and bridesmaid I was a little slow getting out to see the crosses this year, but I was glad I made the effort. The traditional crosses were much the same as last year (see https://sheilacrosby.com/fiestas/cruz.php ). But one street in Santa Cruz absolutely delighted me. Wedding breakfast For the last few years, it’s been fairly common to have a few mayos or machangos beside the cross. These are…
Tomorrow is Fiesta de la Cruz — The Festival of the Cross. Like many Catholic places, La Palma has a great many roadside crosses. Tonight, practically all the ones in Santa Cruz, Breña Baja and Breña Alta will be decorated, most of them gorgeously. Since most of the crosses are hung with jewelry, the people who worked on them sit close all night, usually making a party of it ans…
San Jose has a ruined manor house, dating from something like the C16th. I don’t know the building’s history, but the island has lots of old manor houses left from the days when sugar cane made the island was rich. I’ve always dreamed of one day being filthy rich enough to buy it and restore it, because it must have been gorgeous once. It’s no bigger than my modern house,…