While exploring our temporary 91-day homes, we're always on the lookout for weird and wonderful collections, whether that's parasites in Tokyo, fancy hats in Savannah, tobacco in Macedonia, or … umm … male genitalia in Iceland. So, when we learned about the private doll and teddy bear collection at ARTlandya, near Icod, we knew we'd be paying a visit.
It's fair to say that we were fairly underwhelmed upon pulling into the parking lot, and casting our first glance upon the Juan Évora Ethnographic Museum in the Teide National Park. This had to be one of the smallest museums we had ever seen -- a stone shack with two rooms in the middle of a wasteland. But the price was right (free) so we decided to check it out.
Jürgen and I are very much "plan-ahead" guys. When we leave the house, we know exactly what we're going to do; otherwise, we'd never be able to cram so much into 91 short days. But we also leave ourselves open to surprises… such as our visit to the House-Museum of Cayetano Gómez Felipe in La Laguna. And these spontaneous experiences often turn out to be among our favorites. Our plan was to visit the church of La…
After having paid €5 apiece to look at a tree, we were a little wary of dropping the same amount on another "experience" in Icod de los Vinos. But I'm glad we did -- the Casa de Plátano was definitely worth the price of entry. And not just for the delicious banana they give you upon entering.
You won't need to spend much time on Tenerife, before noticing the wooden balconies that hang off so many the island's houses. These "Canarian Balconies" are a famous architectural trademark of the archipelago. To learn more about them, we visited the Casa de los Balcones in Orotava.
With its unique collection of aboriginal mummies, archaeological finds, and focus on endemic flora and fauna, the Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología is one of the premier museums on the Canary Islands. We made it one of our first stops in Santa Cruz.
The Casa Lercaro is just one of many historic homes found in the old quarter of La Laguna, though it might be the largest. The palace was built in the late sixteenth century for a powerful family of commercial magnates from Genoa, and a visit to the museum is almost as fascinating for the tour of this ancient home, as it is for the exhibitions themselves.
