With no early schedule, we took our time getting up and having breakfast. Richard’s former coworker, Roberto, met us at 10:30 to show us the city.
5.8 miles walking in Santa Cruz.
2022 Spain
The first stop was at a military museum to understand some of the history of the island. Roberto is a student of history and explained the battles and knew where to take us.
One of the most famous battles was England’s Admiral Nelson attacking at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. His ships outmanned the local militia and volunteers under General Gutièrrez, but some English captains, including Admiral Nelson, were killed or injured leaving the English troops disorganized without leadership. They signed a peace accord allowing that Tenerife has never been defeated and the British troops were allowed to leave on their ships. Admiral Nelson lost an arm to a Tenerife cannonball.
Another interesting story concerned the Spanish assistance of American forces in the Revolution. Spain sent money and supplies for the war. Bernardo de Gàlvez fought up and down the Mississippi and then shelled Mobile to take it from the English. Only Pensacola, considered impregnable, remained in England’s control. Gàlvez sailed through, located the arsenal, and blew it up. The English captain raised the white flag. At the New York parades to celebrate independence, Gàlvez’s ship was the only one in the harbor, and the Spanish official responsible for channeling Spanish financial aid was seated immediately left of Washington. The city of Galveston is named for Gàlvez.
In the afternoon, we visited another archeological and natural history museum. Each of the Canary Islands had its own creation history, indigenous peoples, and customs. Tenerife has quite a collection of mummies, as the volcano area was an important area for burials that have been preserved from the elements.
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