WHERE IS PUERTO DE LA CRUZ?
Puerto de la Cruz is in the north of the island of Tenerife and located in the municipality of the same name (which is actually the smallest municipality on the island). The town is about 30 kilometres west of the capital town of Santa Cruz, and approximately twenty minutes from Tenerife North Airport and about an hour and ten minutes from Tenerife South Airport.
Tourists and locals alike mix harmoniously together in Puerto de la Cruz, where there is almost always some thing going on! July is a particular busy month for the town, and this year in particular, the locals are not holding back after almost three years of restrictions due to Covid.
PUERTO DE LA CRUZ IN JULY
The month of July in the resort of Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife is just one long party! And especially so this year, it seems that all stops have been pulled out!
As locals enthusiastically embrace the celebration, bemused holidaymakers look on and can only thank their good luck for booking their holiday in Puerto de la Cruz during the month of July and being able to partake in this experience.
From mid June onward, preparations are well under was as the decorations begin to go up around the town centre and its main thoroughfares. Pretty coloured flags are hung across the streets and over the little port area, whilst colour lights are strung from lampposts to light up the night sky.
During the month of July, Puerto de la Cruz is celebrating the Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of fisherman, and local houses and decorations around the town reflect this. Many are decorated in sea related themes, with fisherman’s nets, fishing baskets, shells and images of the Virgen Carmen.
Celebrations include dancing in the street to live bands and music, the fairground, various processions, musical concerts, fireworks and of course, the slippery pole competition!
VIRGEN DEL CARMEN
The procession of the Virgen del Carmen takes place on the 12th July and is a perhaps the major event of the July Fiestas.
Before the Virgen is paraded around the streets on her journey to the port, mass is held in the church of La Peña de Francia where the magnificent Virgen Del Carmen resides. If you are not lucky enough to get inside the church for this event, large screens are placed around the port area so that the service can be enjoyed by everyone.
Once the Mass is complete, the Virgin is carried out of the church along San Telmo and down into the port where she will embark on board the fishing vessel the Nuevo San Ramón. Carried primarily by fishermen, they sing songs that they dedicate to her. As the Virgin slowly and often quite precariously – makes her way through the streets of Puerto de la Cruz, it is not uncommon for mums and dads of young babies to hold them up to be blessed by the Virgin as she passes.
On her arrival at the port, the crowds part to make a pathway down the small beach towards the sea, where she is greeted with lots of splashing of water and to the now traditional cry of “Nothing happens, the Virgen is on board”. Fireworks announce that she is boarded on the fishing vessel and off she sets on her journey around the small the port.
On her return to shore, she is taken back through the streets and returned to her place in the church. The whole process takes around four hours and is fervently celebrated by the locals.
Needless to say, the partying and celebrations continue long in to the night in Puerto de la Cruz with live music and dancing in the streets until the early hours.