Title: Night of San Juan – Los Cristianos
Location: Las Vistas beach
Description: Hey it’s bonfire night Spanish style as they celebrate mid summer with bonfires on the beaches around all the coasts. From early evening to the early hours of the following morning people gather around large roaring bonfires and families and friends eat and drink around smaller more intimate fires. It’s all about cleansing and renewal, tradition has it that you should jump over the flames three times and make a suitable wish for a better year ahead.

In Los Cristianos the statue of San Juan is carried down to the beach promenade from the Floristeria Canarias in Calle General Franco (just past the cultural centre) at 9.30pm. Midnight is the high point as people walk into the sea for cleansing and the staue of the Virgen is also carried into the waves, but the celebrations will go on for hours.

Date: 2010-06-23

A candy-striped beacon as you gaze out to Palm Mar from Las Vistas beach, Los Cristianos. This is the newer 167 foot lighthouse, added in 1978, and fully automatic. A smaller squat building next door, is the 1898 original, perched on an outdrop of Malpais de Rasca. The stone for the original was quarried from Montaña Guaza , a popular walk that that marks the transition from modern tourist zone to the protected volcanic beds of Rasca. There have been plans in recent years to add a small jetty and car park for easy access – watch this space, as they say in Tenerife.