Carnival traditionally ends with a funeral for a sardine. Lots of places hold sardine’s funerals and they’re all deliciously silly. Even better, many of them are held well after carnival, on a vatriety of dates, so you can go to several of them without collapsing from exhaustion. The most famous one on the island is at Los Sauces tonight, starting at 9pm. Tazacorte’s sardine is also tonight, starting at (I…
The Tazacote martytrs have an unusual memorial – 18m underwater at Malpique, the site where they drowned. There are 40 crosses, one for each of the victims. The memorial was created in 2000, and I’m told that it’s easy to visit even for novice divers. The photo was taken by Christian Carlos Tdo. Rguez who is a local diving instructor and ecologist. He has a blog in Spanish (with excellent photos)…
The Tazacote martytrs have an unusual memorial – 18m underwater at Malpique, the site where they drowned. There are 40 crosses, one for each of the victims. The memorial was created in 2000, and I’m told that it’s easy to visit even for novice divers. The photo was taken by Christian Carlos Tdo. Rguez who is a local diving instructor and ecologist. He has a blog in Spanish (with excellent photos)…
In 1570, a party of Jesuit missionaries were on their way from Portugal to Brazil. They broke their journey in Puerto de Tazacorte. It was an unplanned stop: they’d been heading for Santa Cruz de la Palma, but the winds were against them. On arrival in Tazacorte, Fr. Acevedo was amazed to find that the owner of the estate was an old friend from Oporto, don Melchor de Monteverde y…
Most places in Spain end Carnival with a funeral for a sardine. It’s like being inside a Monty Python sketch, with the crowd dressed in black (some tarty, some elegant) and screeching with fake grief. “WAUUUGH! She’s dead!” The whole thing’s deliciously bonkers. This bizarre finale to Carnival was traditionally held on Ash Wednesday, but most places on La Palma hold it at the weekend, so people don’t have to…
Tazacorte celebrates its main annual fiesta this month, since its patron saint is St Michael the Archangel, who is also the patron saint of La Palma. There’s something happening most days, but the famous bit is the dance of the Fufo horses on Wednesday 28th at 9:30 pm. While you’re there, you might want to visit the exhibition in a restored mansion called Casa Massieu, which is open from Mondays…