The Fiestas Patronales in honor of San Gregorio Taumaturgo take place in various Canarian towns but the best is in San Gregario which is in Telde in the north (bus number 1 from the South).
Photo By PhotoStream
This is a celebration of all the trees, flowers and plants and a lot of pruning and planting goes on to keep Telde looking its best!
San Gregorio Taumaturgo performed many miracles and is the Patron Saint of Earthquakes and Floods (obviously working then because we haven’t had many of those!)
There is also a shopping centre in Telde you might like to visit. Alcampo is an enormous hypermarket and it is so big the staff are on rollerblades! There is an Ikea nearby too and a bowling alley. There’s also a good sports store called Decathlon where you can buy loads of sports products cheaper than at home.
Photo By Acramelo
A big part of the fiesta is to fill in the “alcorques” which are the holes in the tree trunks, to stop excessive irrigation or rain getting in (not much chance of that, it hasn’t rained here in about 7 months ha ha!)
Photo By Raquel Morrison
The focus is also on the elderly or wheelchair users because the areas are cleaned up and made easier for everyone to get around. The Fiestas Patronales in honor of San Gregorio Taumaturgo 2008 will be fun to go to if you miss the 2007 one and Telde is an interesting place to visit and very accessible by bus.