Saturday afternoon

Weather is lovely today. The trees are starting to show traces of green.
I walked to the supermarket this morning to get Ian's paper and some bread and really enjoyed being outside.
I think I'll go out into the garden when I finish this entry... if the sun is still shining!

OK, back to catch up with my photos...
The first place we visited when we were in Tenerife was Santa Cruz.
So here are my photos.
I thought I would go for action shots but most of them didn't really work.

See what I mean?



I hadn't the foggiest notion where I was at this point even after someone told me we were standing outside the football stadium!



Hence the photo line up.

I have to admit that this introduction to Santa Cruz wasn't a good one. I thought it looked ghastly but it wasn't.

It was actually quite picturesque when you got down to the sea front.

We had lunch in a side street...I've seldom eaten so much cold meat and cheese.
The bread rolls were lovely and the meat was quite nice but I didn't take to the cheese.
There were three cheeses to choose from. Two of them were akin to parmesan and the third was more like a curd. Very white with a very mild flavour.
I'm definitely a cheddar chappie!



The missing clan members are Kelly, Carole, Luca (because they were sitting right next to me on either side) and me!

We strolled down the shopping street to the main square near the harbour, ate an ice cream, inspected the gigantic monument to all the people of Tenerife (and Spain, I think) with it's enormous, much larger than life statues of naked men in the art noveau style, wandered along the front, gazed at the archaeological dig underneath the main square - it was part 0f the wall of the old city fort, with two cannons to boot - and then made a few purchases on the way back to the car.

This is my photo of the square. It doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid!
Take the time to enlarge it though because it does look better when you do.

Apparantly, it was during the Battle of Santa Cruz, July 1797, that Nelson was shot in the arm and subsequently had it amputated.

According to what I read, he had it amputated when he got back on board his ship and contrary to his request to hang onto it, the ship's surgeon threw it overboard.

However, there was a rumour that the Spanish had got their hands on it and that up until recently it was behind the altar of the cathedral on Grand Canaria. I found this information in a piece of writing by a man from Tenerife who now lives in Belgium!
His ancestor had been one of the many local people who had been given honours after the battle because they had been part of a local militia which had helped defeat the attackers.

Apparantly there were big celebrations organised on the island to mark the bicentenary of the battle.

The British were defeated, by the way, and when they requested terms of surrender...
"Don Antonio Gutierrez, the Commandant General of The Canary Islands acted as a gentlemen and, with great generosity, accepted terms of surrender...
The Spanish helped to ferry British wounded back to their ships and invited the officers to dine with them that evening."

How's that for civilised behaviour...
Fight off the blokes who are attacking you and then invite them to dinner!

I read on the internet that the large memorial was built on the spot where Nelson was shot! Take that as you will!
There is a street in Santa Cruz named after Horatio Nelson, so maybe there's something in it!

Moving on...
Luca took a shine to the little stones filling the space around all the palm trees. I think there are still some in the pocket of my bag!