La Orotava

Casa de los Balcones or Casa Fonseca is a house of La Orotava, on the island of Tenerife in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands, characterized by its balconies and interior carved wood patio. It was built in the year 1715 (there are some publications that mark the year 1632) and stands out, above all, for the carved tea balcony it has on its upper floor. Precisely the balcony of the upper floor (it has three floors) is made of Canarian pine tea wood and is shown as a carved and run set, of great beauty. On the second floor, on its facade, you can see five other individual balconies, these of iron, while on the first floor, two large windows on each side flank the access door, studded. Inside it stands out its inner courtyard in two heights, which is surrounded by wooden columns topped in Corinthian capitals that support a very rich wooden balustrade and happily colored by its lush vegetation. Interestingly, to access the upper floor you have to do it through a spiral staircase made in Canarian pine tea, so traditional in local colonial architecture. The superior rooms are those that house the museum of the House of the Balconies. The House of Balconies also has a center for teaching, promotion and dissemination of typical handicrafts so that they are not lost. It has its own store where these typical Canarian products are sold. You can also visit the House of Eladia Machado, former workshop of jigsaw founded in 1932. The building stands out for its plateresque doorway with side columns, and its narrow upper balcony.

Located in the historic center of the city of La Orotava, in Tenerife, you will find this Casa Lercaro, a 16th-century colonial mansion, which has the official recognition of National Interest, with the category of Monument. The origin of the house can be seen perfectly in the marble heraldic shield that is on the façade at the height of the third floor and that represents the noble family Ponte, Lugo, Grimaldi , Fonte and Rizo. The style of the facade reflects the baroque on the balcony of the second and third floors. Inside, the fresh patio that now houses the Café Grimaldi stands out, which allows you to enjoy a coffee in your relaxing terrace, as well as delicious Canarian cuisine. The Casa Lercaro has a permanent exhibition of antique furniture, as well as allowing the acquisition of original decorative gifts.

The Matrix Parish of Our Lady of the Conception is one of the best ecclesiastical representations representative of the baroque of the island of Tenerife. It is located in the municipality of La Orotava, in its historic center, just five minutes walk from the Casa de los Balcones and the Town Hall.   Built under the safeguard of Bishop Fray Diego de Muros in 1498, it soon had to be expanded, just 15 years later, in 1514, a renovation that was completed in 1516. After successive extensions and remodeling, the earthquakes that it produced the Güimar volcano at the beginning of the year 1705, made it advisable that the old temple should be demolished due to the bad condition in which it remained after the tremors, and that a new one should be erected.   The construction of the current building began on December 11, 1768 with contributions from the common people, the nobility and the Crown. On December 7, 1788, the current mother church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was inaugurated.   The Baptistery stands out inside, located on the lower floor of the Clock Tower, where there is a beautiful baptismal font from the 18th century. In the Chapel of Calvary is the carving of the Holy Christ of Mercy, of the late sixteenth century, and next to Him, the image of the Virgin of Sorrows and St. John the Evangelist, early nineteenth century.   In the Chapel of La Candelaria, on the other hand, there is a 19th century carving of the Virgin of La Candelaria, an invocation that was prayed especially during the earthquakes of the Güimar volcano that affected the previous building.   The High Altar is very rooted, in style, which was throughout Europe in the nineteenth century, neoclassical. In it you can see the Tabernacle of marble, made in Genoa by Gaggini.Also of the same artist is the Genoese pulpit, while the iron gate that separates the pre-ministry, also inaugurated in 1832 along with the Tabernacle and the Pulpit, was held in London.

The Casa del Turista is located a few meters away from the Casa de los Balcones, facing in front of it, in an old mansion built in 1590, the Mansion de Molina.   Commissioned by Francisco de Molina and López de las Doblas, who was married to the daughter of the regidor Benítez de Lugo, the house was passed through all his descendants until in the 19th century, dedicated to the care and teaching of roosters from fight, it was falling little by little in disuse and abandonment until being declared in ruin.   Around the twenties of the twentieth century, the house was sold to Lorenzo Machado and Benítez de Lugo, family to which he currently belongs, because the house is owned by his grandchildren, Messrs. Schönfeldt Machado.   Two-storey mansion, its façade stands out for its stone-plated portico style portico. It has a single balcony on the front, on the portico, narrow but with a beautiful balustrade, and around it, four windows that follow the old colonial style.   Today the Mansion is occupied by the Tourist House where there is a permanent exhibition of traditional Canarian embroidery. Here the typical magician suits are made in the section that they opened in 2012, the "Boutique del Mago". It also has an excellent sample of clay crafts that are made in the same house.

The building of the Ayuntamiento de la Orotava is located in the Plaza de Alfonso XIII in the historic center of the city, just 5 minutes walk from the Casa de los Balcones, the Parroquia Matrix of the Conception and of the Plaza of the Constitution.   The Municipal Palace was completed in 1895 in a neoclassical style. In the solar one was raised in the middle of the XIX century the old clariso convent of San José which was demolished after the confiscations of Mendizábal.   Mafiotte and Manuel de Oraá were its architects who, following the aforementioned neoclassicism of the time, decided to install a small lodge in the central part. Inside, the City Council also has an interesting display of works of art, a collection of its own made up with donations from the Museo del Prado, among others. In addition, it has the works of the well-known "Heritage of the German" (the Fund Reinhold Erwin Schoenwerk) and works of the Fund of the Old Casino Orotava.   The building was remodeled in 2001 and the works ended four years later, in 2005, affecting these, mainly, the backyard.

The Plaza de la Constitución, which is popularly known as "plaza del Kiosko" because of the kiosk that has been installed in it, in neo-Mudejar style since 1916, is located located just 5 minutes walk from the Town Hall of the Villa, in front of the Liceo Taoro and the Marquisate Gardens of the Quinta Roja, and next to the church of San Agustín.   It was built on what was formerly the Llano de San Roque, because in the vicinity was the chapel of that saint. In a short time it became the center of meeting and social life of the town. It changed its name to "the Constitution" in 1820 in honor of the legal text that was approved eight years earlier, in 1812. At the end of the 19th century the square was paved, and the definitive reform that gave it the current form was made at the beginning of the 20th century, in the year 1902.

The Hijuela del Botánico is one of the most attractive tourist spots in the Villa de la Orotava. It is located between the City Hall and the Plaza de la Constitución, a short distance from each other, located in what used to be the orchard of the clariso convent of San José.   It was built in 1888 and declared an Asset of Cultural Interest, within the category of Artistic Garden, and depends on the Garden of Acclimatization of La Orotava, which is known as the Botanical Garden of Puerto de la Cruz.   In its interior it has a wide range of native flora, but also tropical and exotic species brought from other parts of the world. Species of dragon trees, cedars, pines and palm trees are part of that local flora, but you can also see Chinese sequoias, Chilean palm and even a gingko biloba with Paleozoic fossils.

Order and harmony are the characteristics of these Victoria Gardens that back in the nineteenth century designed the French artist Adolph Coquet. However, its beauty not only lies in the perfect synchronization of each of its beds, but in the views that they have.     Elaborated in different steps that seem to go into the sea, from them you can see as background landscape, from the heights, the Atlantic Ocean, always present in these islands.     Inside there is an elegant mausoleum built in white marble in which eight Corinthian columns stand out in which there is an omega symbol. This mausoleum was built to bury Diego de Ponte, Marquis of the Quinta Roja, to whom the church refused a Christian burial for his membership in Freemasonry. However, after the revolution of 1868 and a year later the constitution of 1869 that proclaimed freedom of worship, Freemasonry stopped being persecuted, so the Church had to lift its denial and finally agree to be buried in holy land .     The Mausoleum was empty, but still today is one of the most remarkable elements of these gardens, and of course, more photographed.     Curiously, these Victoria gardens were built to shelter in an elegant mausoleum the remains of Diego de Pinte, Marquis of the Quinta Roja, to whom the church had denied his Christian burial. However, and even when the mausoleum was built, the Marquis did not end up being buried in it.     Visiting hours:     -The whole year     -From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.     Price of the visit:     -Free

Liceo de Taoro is a society, located in a historic downtown building in La Orotava, which promotes art and culture, as well as sports and leisure in the town itself.   It was located in 1999 in what was the urban palace of the Ascanio, an eclectic-looking building whose colors and shapes stand out in the central setting in which it is located, facing the Plaza de la Constitución and next to Victoria Gardens, in the historic center of the city.   Since its construction in the sixteenth century was the home of the historic family of the Grimón and it was inhabited, among others, Tomás de Nava y Grimón, Marqués de Villanueva, founded the Botanical Garden of La Orotava. In the year 1866 the family sold it to Alonso Ascanio Bazán and Molina, mayor of La Orotava, this family, the Ascanio family, who kept it until it was sold to its current owner in 1999.

The Church of Santo Domingo was erected in the seventeenth century on what was formerly the Hermitage of San Benito Abad. It is a convent complex that after the period of religious confiscation in Spain in the nineteenth century had different uses, from barracks, to citadel and even school. Exterior is very sober, although it emphasizes its arches of half a point and above all its slender tower. Inside it is a cloister with wooden galleries in arcades. The church has a Latin cross plan with three naves. It is currently the headquarters of the Ibero-American Art Museum.

The Casa Mesa was built in the sixteenth century by Diego de Mesa on the corner between Viera and Tomás Zerolo streets, in front of the Church of Santo Domingo and the Museum of Ibero-American Art. Already in the seventeenth century, the house belonged to Juan de Mesa, Marquis of Torre Hermosa. It was in the twentieth century, in the year 1902, when Francisco Bethencourt and del Río acquired it, when he segregated and divided it in two: the aforementioned Casa mesa and next to it, the Casa Torre Hermosa. The Casa Mesa stands out at first sight for its intense red color, but above all, its beautiful Plateresque doorway gives access to the interior.

The Museum of Latin American Art, MAIT, is located within the convent of the Church of Santo Domingo, in an old building of the seventeenth century. The beauty of the enclosure with its entrance stone arch, the supported cloister and the wooden ceilings, raised the possibility of permanently exposing the great artisan work that the Ibero-American culture has given to the world , with special incidence, to the Canarian crafts. MAIT offers a sample of popular art in America and the Philippines, popular musical instruments from Spain and America or traditional Spanish pottery, among other exhibitions.

The Museo de las Carpet de la Orotava is one of the most curious and attractive museums that can be visited in this municipality. The fame and tradition that accompany each year the presentation of the Orotavense carpet gives it that special point of interest that this museum has. Located next to the Casa de los Balcones, in this museum we can see the design of all the rugs that have been presented in La Orotava year after year, as well as knowing the traditional art of making them. We will also know about the origin of this peculiar art that we enjoy every year on the occasion of Corpus Christi.

The Humboldt viewpoint is part of the network of viewpoints that is located on the Orotava Valley, from where there are spectacular views that reach not only the valley and its banana plantations, but also the entire Port of La Cruz, La Orotava and even Los Realejos, besides having a magnificent view of all the volcanoes that surround it, among them, the Teide. Its name owes it to the eminent geographer Alexander von Humboldt, who spent time in this area of Tenerife admiring its landscapes and taking geological, cartographic and floral notes of the island. It is located in the caretter of the Cuesta de la Villa, between the towns of Santa Úrsula and La Orotava.

The pride of Tenerife, the unmistakable symbol of practically the entire archipelago is El Teide and all its surroundings are declared World Heritage Sites

Located on the island of Tenerife, El Teide is a volcano that has an altitude of 3,718 meters above sea level (7,500 meters above the Atlantic bed), thus constituting the highest mountain high of Spain. It is also the third largest volcano behind the Hawaiian volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. El Teide is located within the Cañadas del Teide National Park, considered by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 2007. It is also recognized as a Natural Monument within the Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic complex that constitutes only this volcano but also other minor ones. From the tourist point of view, the Teide National Park is the most visited National Park not only in our country, but also in Europe, as well as being the second most visited in the world.

Parque infantil, perfecto para pasar una buena tarde, tus hijos podrán disfrutar sin duda, allí podrás ir a pasar un rato en los columpios o incluso patinar aprendiendo las señales de tráfico. Además consta de columpios para personas con movilidad reducida.

Librería ubicada en el Multicentro Comercial El Trompo, en el Polígono Industrial San Jerónimo de La Orotava. Agapea cuenta con una extensa variedad de libros de las más diversas temáticas y  te ofrece la posibilidad de reservar libros online para ser recogidos posteriormente en la tienda o enviados directamente a tu domicilio. Además, organiza eventos culturales, como presentaciones de libros por sus autores, e infantiles, como cuentacuentos que deleitarán a los más pequeños.