From the S. side of the Plaza the Calle de Santo Domingo leads to the Priests’ Seminary (Seminario Conciliar), once a Dominican monastery. In the side-street opposite No. 30 the second door on the left leads into the garden of a Farm Building (finca) which contains a venerable dragon-tree (p. [30]; fee).
The Iglesia de la Concepción, at the W. end of the town, contains a fine carved pulpit.
Excursions. A fine drive (12–15 p.) may be taken viâ (4½ M.) Tegueste and (5½ M.) Tejina, not far from the gloomy Barranco de las Palmas, to (10½ M.) the fishing-village of Bajamar, near the Punta del Hidalgo, a headland which affords a splendid survey of the precipitous N. coast of the island.—We may also hire a mule (6 p.) to take us to the laurel forests of Las Mercedes or La Mina. From Las Mercedes we may ascend past the Cruz el Carmen (about 2950 ft.) with its rich thicket of bushes (Erica scoparia), and past the Cruz de Afur (3405 ft.) to the (3½ hrs.) *Cruz de Taganana (3068 ft.), a splendid point for surveying the great Peak and the E. coast as far as Santa Cruz. We may then descend to the N., through a magnificent old *Forest of Canary laurel, viñatigo (p. [30]), tree-heath (Erica arborea), and Pleiomeris, to the village of Taganana (689 ft.), near which the tall pinnacles of the Hombres de Taganana tower above the abrupt rocky coast. Or we may go on to the N.E. to the Cruz del Draguillo (2205 ft.) and descend thence to Igueste and San Andrés (p. [36]) on the E. coast.—Another excursion from Laguna is to the (2 hrs.) ancient Forest of Agua García (p. [38]) to the W.
Beyond Laguna the High Road, bordered at first with eucalypti, now crosses the plateau of the Rodeos to the Laguna Saddle (2008 ft.; watershed), and descends thence, affording fine *Views of the Cumbre (p. [33]), the Peak itself, and its spurs, and passing the hills of Guamaza famed for their view of Tacoronte, to the Bandas del Norte, the far cooler and greener N. coast of the island.
12 M. Tacoronte (1762 ft.; Camacho’s Tacoronte Hotel, on the road above the town, pens. from 9s., good; pop. 4200), beautifully situated, is well adapted for a longer stay. Near it is produced the best wine in the island, and its orange-groves are famous.
From Tacoronte to Puerto Orotava a motor-omnibus of the Grand Hotel (p. [39]) plies daily at noon in connection with the tramway mentioned at p. [34] (½ hr.; fare 12 s.); cab, ordered by telephone from Santa Cruz, in 2–2½ hrs., 20–25 p.; diligence (dirty) at 9 and 5, viâ Villa Orotava (3 hrs.; fare 3 p.), to Puerto Orotava (4 hrs.; 4 p.).
Excursions. The road to the N.E. leads past the slopes of the Montaña del Picón, and through the Valle de Guerra, to (7 M.) Tejina (p. [37]).—To the N. we may descend (1½ hr.) the precipitous rocks on the Coast (650–980 ft.), where the numerous caves are said to have once been inhabited by the Guanches (p. [31]).—To the S.E. lies the (1½ hr.) primæval *Forest of Agua García (2588 ft.), the finest in Teneriffe, with its huge erica trees overgrown with creepers, its venerable laurels, and superb tree-ferns. Specially charming is a sequestered nook at the Madre d’Agua, the source of the water-conduit.
The Puerto Orotava road (conveyance, see p. [37]), whence the route to Sauzal diverges to the right a little farther on, passes through wheat-fields, vineyards, and orchards, and is bordered with tamarisks, Canary palms, oleanders, aloes, and hedges of geranium. The steep slopes of the Cumbre are carefully cultivated in terraces up to the evergreen zone of the cloud-region. Fine view of the rock-bound coast and the blue ocean to the right.
15 M. Matanza (1585 ft.; ‘slaughter’), the scene of the last defeat of the Spanish invaders (1494), is now a village of 2000 inhabitants.
Beyond (17 M.) the little town of Victoria (1240 ft.), where the Guanches sustained a decisive defeat in 1494, the road forks. The new road, to the left, crosses the Barranco Hondo, a ravine about 330 ft. deep, by a viaduct (1909); the old road winds down into the Barranco Hondo. The two roads unite at the church of (20 M.) Santa Ursula, a palm-girt village (886 ft.; 2200 inhab.), on the crest of the Ladera de Santa Ursula, noted for its wine. About 1 hr. above it is the farm of La Florida (p. [40]).