Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Tenerife’s Beautiful Mountain
One of the most awe inspiring videos on the internet in the last week was the timelapse video of Tenerife and Mount Teide taken by the Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd. This incredible piece of work captured the imagination of internet users, attracting millions of views in only eleven days and was a priceless piece of promotion for Tenerife. If you haven’t seen it yet, sit back, hit the play button and prepare to be astounded.
The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.
Tenerife’s Huge Black Market
Spanish union CCOO have calculated (don’t ask how) that at least 160,000 people living in the Canary Islands are working illegally. The figure amounts to 15% of the population. CCOO believe that many of the black marketeers are small businesses who may have paid taxes in the past but have ‘opted out” now because if they continued to do so would result in their businesses closing. Maybe it’s about time Spain realised that’s what you get when you have legislation that hammers small businesses rather than supporting and encouraging them. In reality the figures are quite conservative and probably don’t take into account the substantial number of people who exist completely outside the system on the islands.
Another Rockfall in a Tenerife Town
With ironic timing, as the Los Gigantes beach re-opened another coastal town on Tenerife experienced a rockfall that could have proved tragic. The small village of San Marcos below Icod de los Vinos may not attract the same number of tourists as Los Gigantes, but its beach and harbour are popular with local sunseekers. The rocks decided to detach themselves from the cliffs at what could have been peak time for visitors, just after 1pm on Saturday during a holiday weekend. Luckily no-one was injured, something that Icod’s mayor, Diego Afonso, attributed to the intervention of God, San Marcos and the fact that the sun wasn’t shining ““ every cloud really does have a silver lining. The local council has completely closed the dock area until it is made safe.
New flights from Tenerife
It might seem crazy to the millions that flock to Tenerife each year that people who live on the island might want to escape it every now and again, but it’s true. So it’s always of interest to learn about new flights operating from Tenerife’s airports. This week Spanish airline company Orbest announced their schedule of flights to and from the Canary Islands. From the 1st May the airline will operate regular flights from the Canary Islands to 15 Spanish destinations (including Malaga, Seville and the wonderful Oviedo in Asturias) and two international destinations (Porto and Lisbon). A return trip to either of the Portugal destinations works out at just under €300 whilst a return flight to Seville lands safely at around €200.
Carry On Camping
Despite the poor weather on Tenerife at Easter, the holiday saw the start of an annual ritual that will continue throughout the summer, illegal campers vs the authorities. Every summer parts of Tenerife’s coastline are transformed into quasi refugee camps as hundreds of campers set up temporary homes on the beaches. And every year local councils threaten to evict them…but rarely do. There’s usually a lot of handbags at dawn, but not a lot else happens. This Easter some campers were actually evicted from parts of Abades in Arico prompting Prodecam (an organisation supporting the rights of campers) to threaten they’d take their revenge in the polling booths in May. There are legal camp sites on Tenerife but, to be fair to the illegal campers, some are about as attractive as Strangeways Prison. The one in Puerto de la Cruz is in an old basketball court surrounded by high walls. When it comes to a choice between that or an open stretch of coastline in which to fire up the old camping stove there’s no contest.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Santa Cruz de Tenerife
There’s no doubt that the upcoming local elections are stalling projects designed to improve Tenerife, but the chaotic state of affairs in Tenerife’s capital Santa Cruz has reached quite appalling proportions.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful city and a joy to explore but the local council, amongst others, seem to be doing their best to completely screw up its reputation as a tourist attraction.
The city’s main hot spot for sunbathing, Parque MarÃtimo remains shut as politicians squabble; Playa de las Gaviotas remains closed to the public as politicians squabble; Tenerife’s most stunning beach, Playa las Teresitas is beset with problems which has resulted in it being closed to the public on several occasions and Tenerife’s football team CD Tenerife is being mismanaged into lower league obscurity. The latest crime in a long list is the fiasco surrounding Parque Viera y Clavijo. This beautiful small park that was home to some important works of art including a sculpture by Joan MÃro has been fenced off for some time. A month ago the park re-opened, but not because it was ready for public consumption again. Quite the opposite, the park is reportedly still in an appalling state of abandonment and disrepair because the Santa Cruz council claim that its upkeep is the responsibility of the Cultural Department of the Canarian Government and…guess what…the Cultural Dept claim its upkeep is the responsibility of the council. Basically finger pointing time in the schoolyard.
The local elections can’t come soon enough to get Tenerife’s engines restarted again…but until then at least Santa Cruz has got an open-topped tourist bus as compensation.
