Tag Archives: R. Doug Wicker

Today I shall show you the sights continuing northeast along Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito, then take you on a short jaunt east to the parallel Calle Avenida Maritima. Here we’ll look at the famed Los Balcones (The Balconies) near the intersection of Avenida Maritima and Calle Tedote. But, first, let’s continue on Pérez de Brito:

Again, make sure you glance down the side streets toward the black sand beach. No telling what colorful surprise awaits you:

This long pedestrian street that keeps changing names has some hills on it. I found that topping these hills allowed for some colorful compositions above the heads of most of the crowds. That makes for some fun shots, such as this:

Not that people shots are to be ignored, though. When the composition is both fun and colorful…

When you arrive at the restaurant pictured above, you’ll actually be at the Placeta (small square) de Borrero. Some neat stuff here. Even the optical shops have a certain charm:

Above La Placita Restaurante, two stories up, is a wonderful florally decorated balcony:

But if you look below that you’ll find a sign with an arrow pointing to the left. That sign will say Balcones Tipicos, which translates to “Typical Balconies.” So, what constitutes a “typical” balcony here in Santa Cruz de La Palma? Let’s follow the directions over to Avenida Maritima, hang a left there, and head on over to Stop #3 on the map you see below:

This map was so handy that I photographed it with my cell phone for later reference. But, again, what constitutes a “Typical Balcony” here? Let’s take a look at a couple of them:

Wednesday we’ll take a gander at more Pérez de Brito scenes before heading on foot north to a castle formerly surrounded by a moat.

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At the conclusion of Monday’s article on our transatlantic Vision of the Seas arrival into La Palma in the Canary Islands, I was showing you our trek onto Santa Cruz d La Palma’s fun pedestrian street Calle O’Daly. Today we continue that northeasterly trek to where Calle O’Daly becomes Calle Real for a short stretch before changing names again to Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito.

The street scenes here are lovely with brightly colored pennants, picturesque balconies, wonderful streetlights protruding from building façades, and cafés with umbrellas offering shade to patrons.

But as lovely as this street is, things get really interesting where it changes names to Calle Real. It is here that the street fronts Plaza de España with its Renaissance architecture and Iglesia Matriz de El Salvador (Mother Church of El Salvador) with her incredible stone bell tower. Here is the church entrance and a statue of Manuel Diaz Hernandez:

Let’s take another look at that massive red door:

On the westside of Plaza de España is what appears to be a brightly decorated open air altar:

But, wait… what am I forgetting? Oh, I know. I mentioned the beautiful stone belltower:

Disregard the clock on that belltower. It was still early morning when I zoomed in on the upper details:

Don’t forget to occasionally turn around to view from a different perspective the areas you’ve already passed. About three minutes’ walk past the church, well after Calle Real becomes Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito, you’ll be able to capture the buildings from atop a hill:

Needless to say, looking east occasionally will give you charming views such as this mottled white and blue statue of a whale on the black sand beach from which Santa Cruz de La Palma is famous:

This week’s Fun Photo Friday will be the first of three dedicated to Santa Cruz de La Palma. See you then!

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