Santa Cruz: Exploring La Laguna

Our plan today was to head up to San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is commonly referred to simply as La Laguna.

As the former capital of the Canary Islands, La Laguna is a city with lots of history, colonial architecture, and a linear layout that dates back to the 15th century. Nowadays, it is considered the cultural capital of the archipelago. We were not disappointed in what we found in La Laguna today … notwithstanding the fact that we did not encounter the ghostly spirit of Catalina Lercaro … even though we did visit her home 😳

To get to La Laguna, we hopped on a bus from a stop near the cruise terminal. That took us to the main bus terminal. From there, we hopped on a tram for the 30-40 minute ride up to Las Trinidad … the last stop on the tram line. It was then a 5-minute walk to the historic center of La Laguna.

It was 10:00a when we began our stroll through the deserted streets in the UNESCO area of the town. That would change as the day progressed.. Following the tower peeking above the historic buildings, we stopped the Cathedral of Santa Ana first. From there, we walked to the visitor information office to pick up a map and get tips.

Map in hand, we headed to Calle San Agustin, lined with historic buildings on either side of the street. Some of the buildings had signs in front of them with descriptions explaining their origin and how they were being used currently. Many of them housed government offices, the ground floor open to visitors who wanted to take a peek into the courtyard.

In one such house — Casa Lercaro — we found the Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife. The story goes that Catalina Lercaro, the daughter of the family, did not want to go through with the marriage of convenience arranged by her parents. So, she killed herself by leaping into a pit in the courtyard. Though the house is said to be haunted by Catalina’s spirit, we saw no ghosts today … just some interesting exhibits … and a lovely colonial era building.

Our next stop was the Monastery of Santa Clara and Church of St John the Baptist. Here we got a combo ticket that gave us admission to several sites … starting with the monastery and the museum housed on the grounds.

Palacio Salazar was the next place included in the combo ticket. The mid-17th century property is an example of the Canarian Baroque style. At the end of the 19th century it was acquired by the church and became the residence of the Archbishop. After having our tickets punched, we were buzzed through the beautiful wrought iron gate, leaving behind a bunch of people wondering what made us special enough that we were given access. If only they knew it was the combo tickets we had purchased 😊

Our meandering walk from Palacio Salazar next took us to Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. Not that we were interested in the church itself. Rather, we wanted to climb the tower. But since both were included in the combo ticket, we went inside the church first. Turns out that dating back to 1511, this was the first church to be founded in the Canaries after the conquest.

The tower climb was not particularly strenuous … I think five flights in all and then a circular staircase up to the open terrace where the bells are located. But the stairs were steep and the risers high. The scenery in every direction from the top of the tower was lovely, and we spent quite some time enjoying the colorful city from high up. Just as we were about to leave, the bells tolled the quarter hour. Luckily, it was the small bells and not the big one that I later read is the largest in the Canary Islands.

By the time we came down the tower both our feet and our tummies were registering their complaints. The former wanted a bit of rest; the latter wanted food.Read more