Puerto de la Cruz

Puerto de la Cruz is a town and municipality belonging to the Spanish province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. It is situated in the north of the island of Tenerife in the Orotava Valley, near the municipalities of Los Realejos and Orotava.

It has an area of 8.73 km², is the smallest of the Canary Islands, and has a population of 31,804 inhabitants (INE, January 2008). Puerto de la Cruz (along with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is the most densely populated of the Canary Islands, with over 3,500 inhabitants/km2. Its height is 9 meters above sea level and its point of greatest height is the volcanic cone of Las Arenas (mountain or hanging) at 249 meters.

Puerto de la Cruz is the leader for tourism in the Canaries, being the most common destination for visitors from the Iberian Peninsula, United Kingdom and Germany.

Its inhabitants are known as Porto and in some cases they are generalized as ranilleros, but this adjective originally belonged only to the District of Ranilla.

Besides the town of Puerto de la Cruz, the town has neighborhoods like Punta Brava, La Vera, San Antonio, peach, etc.
Local festivals

Virgen del Carmen in Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife)

Procession of the Virgen del Carmen and San Telmo. The images are taken by fishermen.   It starts from 8 am with Mass at the Virgen del Carmen, in the chapel of the pier with Porto and an influx of tourists from several countries in the early hours. For most fishermen it is a day long awaited and they will sing the Salve virgin Queen of the Seas. When the Virgin is carried to the lake, the audience tries to enter the water, when the boat leaves, the Virgin is taken on a procession through the streets of Porto and ends with a fireworks display.

This carving was done in 1954 by sculptor Porto, based in Tortosa, Angel Martín Acosta.

On the day of the boat, people bathe in the fishing harbor. There is also a tradition called cucana, which consists of a pole very slippery oiled and placed on water in a horizontal position at an altitude of about 3 meters, with a flag at the end. Participants should, without falling off the stick, grab the flag.

On the eve of this celebration “Sardines” takes place on the beach of San Telmo, where there are a large number of Porto eating grilled sardines with music and dancing.

Carnavales
Coso 2008.
Main article: Carnival of Puerto de la Cruz

International Carnival in Puerto de La Cruz include the following events:

Gran Gala Election of the Queen of Carnival.
Burial of the Sardine.
Ponte mascaritas Heel: obstacle course through the main streets Porto, where mascaritas must wear shoes not less than 10cm tall.
Coso Apoteosis Carnival.

These festivals, which take place in February, usually involve a delegation of the carnival in Dusseldorf, the German city with which the town has been twinned with since 1972.

San Andres

It is a highly original festival that is celebrated in the port Los Realejos, Santa Ursula, La Orotava and other areas of the north. On the eve of the saint (November 29), at dusk, children are engaged in running the pileup and drawing cacharreras they have prepared beforehand. People tend to eat salted fish that night with mojo, gofio and roasted chestnuts.

Cultural events

International Festival of Art – In several parts of the city they have organized theatrical performances of music, art and culinary shows.

El Castillo San Felipe del Puerto de la Cruz hosts the annual Certamen de Arte Joven: Cruzarte categories of painting, story, poetry, photography, film and video (Premio Pedro Garhel).

Colectivo Drone, association of cultural art and music, in collaboration with the City Council, organizes annually the Festival Croma, a Meeting of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art Canarias.

Since 1994 the town hosts the Colectivo Cultural 7 islands which is an event with painters, poets, musicians, photographers exhibitions, recitals and competitions.

History

The origins of the city date back to the beginning of the sixteenth century, (1502) when port activity along the coast from Porto depended on Orotava. It was in 1603 when they decided to bring a specific location to Puerto de la Cruz where they built a church and its corresponding square.

In the mid-seventeenth century the neighbors began to express their desire to become a separate, receiving the Royal Provision of Felipe IV on May 3rd 1651, which entitles them to appoint Mayor Pedaneo.
Plaza del Charco.

Until 1772 it belonged to the municipality under the name Orotava Puerto de la Orotava. Although this year saw the election of a municipal council elected by the residents it would not be until 1808 that it obtained a full municipal autonomy, then changed its name to the current Puerto de la Cruz.

It was originally a fishing village that was to grow. The port became the most important on the island when a volcano eruption destroyed Garachico in 1706. The sugar trade gave way to wine, this time settling into a large social and economic development.

Tourism began to have an important weight in the local economy in the late nineteenth century. It was in those years when the Grand Hotel was built and Taoro began to remodel old houses.  Marquesa Monopol was developed into the first hotel in the city center.

Finally, the real tourism explosion came in the twentieth century, when the city began its transformation to become a reference for tourists on the island and the archipelago.