Pinolere is one of the biggest and most enchanting craft fairs on Tenerife and is located on the slopes of a hill so steep that just getting from the car to the pavement requires steely thighs and a supply of oxygen.
On the first weekend of September over 230 craftspeople from Tenerife, the other Canary Islands and mainland Spain laid out their wares on stalls and in the shade of the thatched huts that for the rest of the year are part of the Pinolere Ethnological Museum in the highlands of La Orotava.
Under blue skies and with views to die for as a backdrop over 30,000 people turned up to get in some early Christmas shopping.
This is shopping with a difference. Stalls are spread over a series of levels but with vistas like Pinolere’s it can be difficult to take your eyes off the scenery to check out the goodies on sale.
Crafts range from the traditional, such as these wicker baskets…
…to those that you might as well sellotape straight on to your stomach.
And then there are the more contemporary works like these cheeky designs.
Or Canarian classics – hand rolled cigars from La Palma; as good as Cuban cigars…so the people from La Palma will tell you.
As well as hundreds of delightfully unique crafts on sale, the fair has art & craft making exhibitions, live music, rabbits and birds to coo over, demonstrations of traditional life in the hills , these wonderful huts and loads of secret corners to explore…and all for a €2.50 entrance fee.
If you missed Pinolere this year, don’t fret there are other craft fairs and markets around Tenerife, just not in such a spectacular location. Keep an eye on our ‘Happenings” page for news of a fair in October featuring crafts from South America, Africa and the Canary Islands.
