Hot tips for Tenerife’s top tapas
A tapas contest is one of the more unusual features of colourful celebrations to mark the anniversary of the founding of the Tenerife capital of Santa Cruz.
A full range of events is planned for the week-long festival, starting on Sunday April 29 and continuing through to Sunday May 6.
They take place across the city, but mainly in Plaza del Príncipe, Parque García Sanabria and Calle La Noria.
The colourful series of events include an International Marionette Festival, several other puppet shows, an exhibition of flowers, a concert of Canarian music, and a flower crosses workshop and competition.
The whole city will be decked out with traditional floral crosses and the highlight of the programme will be on the evening of May 2, a Great Canarian Fiesta with traditional Canarian dress a prominent feature.
In 1999, the party, known as the Dance of Magicians, went into the Guinness Book of Records when 8,000 people ate, drank and danced in the streets in traditional costume.
The fiesta week is centred around May 3, the date on which the city was founded way back in 1494.
The tapas competition is another popular feature and is now in its sixth year. Restaurants and bars specialising in tapas will compete in three classes – traditional, creative and Canarian.
Participating establishments will not be revealed until nearer the date, though generally they are concentrated around Calle La Noria and surrounding streets, which make up the old part of the city.
The winners will become part of a ‘Ruta de la Tapa’ (Tapas Route) through the city, a great way of exploring the ancient capital while at the same time tasting some of its best gastronomic offerings.
May is a great month of celebration in Santa Cruz and the rest of the island, reflecting the traditional culture, history and religion of the island, and is marked by processions, pilgrimages and sporting contests.