How to arrive:

If coming from the south, the best way to arrive to the San Juan district is to take the motorway GC1 to the district of Marpequeña and the commercial park of Telde and exit at junction C1-18-11. If coming from Las Palmas, take the motorway until you arrive at the commercial park of Telde and take the C1-18-11 road. Once on this road, known as “Avenida de Cabildo” Telde is just 3 kms away. In order to get to San Juan you need to turn right just before arriving at a large roundabout know as “Dahora”, recognizable by the huge glass and metal structures resembling birds heads. The most convenient way is to follow this street until you reach the park; there is a large parking area near the park where you can see the San Juan church towers. These towers will serve as a guide because the entrance to the San Francisco neighborhood passes through San Juan.

If you decide to take public transport, the best option is to take bus number 80 from Las Palmas, they leave every 20 minutes starting at 7am and the last bus leaves at 9.20pm. When visiting the historical area of Telde, it´s best to get off at the bus stop located next to the “Dahora” roundabout, regardless of whether you are visiting San Juan or San Francisco. There are various ways of entering San Juan. If only visiting San Juan, it´s best to walk along the street “Leon y Castillo”  you can also enter the San Juan district from the street “Carlos Navarro” another entrance is through the street “Inés Chemida” leading to the San Juan square or you can enter by the “La Fuente” alleyway.

Estimated duration of visit: 45minutes

Regional History:

Telde goes back in history to the pre-Hispanic times. It was one of the great kingdoms of the old Tamarán and both in and around the city you can find many examples of the old Canarian way of life as well as hundreds of archeological finds.  References to Telde go back to before the Spanish conquest, the most famous reference being about the creation of a Bishopric by Pope Clement VI in 1351, when the first European settlers arrived on the islands. Later on, in 1386 Carmelite and Augustine monks settled in the city, but they were thrown out by the islanders around 1391.

After the conquest in 1483, Telde became an agricultural, industrial and a commercially prosperous city with a remarkable social and cultural life. It was the fourth most populated city in the Archipelago.

Route:

The route through the historical town of San Francisco invites us to totally relax; such is the peace and quiet found at all times of the day in this neighborhood. Whatever the time of day, it´s very relaxing just to walk along the streets and enjoy the calm and tranquility and soak up the atmosphere in this wonderful area. Time seems to have stood still due to the absence of activity in the streets, which sometimes appear practically deserted. None of its buildings are open to the public, not even the church, which is why the visit doesn´t have a timetable. In this area, there is nowhere to stop and have a drink and bite to eat; this visit goes through the San Juan area.

In fact, both districts are considered of great cultural interest, which was awarded, back in 1981 with a category of joint artistic and historic neighborhoods of San Juan and San Francisco.

This area was already occupied in the pre-Hispanic era and we know this due to the numerous remain that have been found in the area at different times throughout history. The colonization was the start of the actual San Francisco area. It was original called “Altozano” (Hill) and was a place where farmers, labourers and workers of the gentry settled. In this area we can find many small houses of just one or two floors, with two-tiered tiled roofs, plantations, orchards and gardens. The houses are arranged in an urban framework. Narrow cobbled streets are similar to those found in old Andalusian areas. Nowadays the traffic in these streets is limited to the few residents that live in the streets, which helps create a special atmosphere of calm and tranquility, difficult to find in any other area.

The district takes its name from San Francisco because in 1610, the Fransiscan order built the convent and the church in the highest point of the area. A reminder of this era are the many crucifixes that can be found in the streets, stopping points along the route when the Franciscan monks celebrated the procession of the stations of the cross. Many different routes can arrive at the point where the church and the San Francisco Square meet, but we recommend taking a leisurely stroll along the streets and leave this part of the neighborhood to last.

So, if we go along the street “Carlos Navarro” we can continue to the end until we come to the street “Carreñas” until we arrive at the square and the church. Before arriving at the church, we recommend stopping at every corner and admiring the small lanes. You will enjoy this calm walk observing the well looked after houses, even those that now lie empty.

Just after entering the district from the street “Leon y Castillo” we come across the small street “Calle de la Fuente”. Stop and admire this beautiful street before going back the way you came towards “Carreñas” street. We leave behind us on the right hand side “Calle Tres Casas” (Three house street) where we find an inscription on house number 1 indicating that this is the house where the poet Julian Torón was born.

We begin this walk by strolling down the Calle Carreñas  in the direction of Calle Altozano which both come together to join up with  Calle Carlos Navarro by walking along Calle Carreñas, we arrive at the point where the Portería and all the other streets come together to form the entrance of the Leon and Castillo neighborhood. From this crossroads in a northwest direction we can see the chimney of the sugar factory, set in the middle of vegetation and palm trees, this was the old rum factory of Telde. At the crossroads we go along Calle Portería, in the background we can see the façade of the church and Plaza de Los Romeros, but before arriving we´ll stop at number 13 to take a look at the Casa de la Sall (House of the Sall family), this was the family home of the Canarian painter Manolo Millares Sall. The church of San Francisco is situated in the same place where the hermitage of Santa Maria used to be. It is a plain building made up of two different rooms, the latter added in the 19^th Century. However we can only admire its beauty from the outside, as it is not open to the public. One side on the Church looks over a small square containing a fountain, one of the many magical corners found in this quarter.

The Los Romeros Square, invites the visitor to stop and admire. It offers a panoramic view of the last section of the Barranco Real de Telde (Royal Valley of Telde). Looking in the same direction, we can also spot the “Cendro” neighborhood, an old aboriginal settlement containing several cave houses, and by looking to the left in the uphill direction, another of Telde´s neighborhoods can be seen, which at one time was the second biggest pre-Hispanic urban centre of the island. At this point of the tour, there are two different possibilities to carry on the route. The first is to go down Calle Santa María, which runs parallel to the valley or go along Calle Bailadero and absorb the atmosphere of its quaint streets. We recommend the second option as it is more attractive and has more to offer the visitor. We´ll go through a small square with a fountain, until we reach Calle Inés Chemida, here we can appreciate and admire a strange detail which we will find in several of the streets in the San Francisco area, the name written it two different forms. This itself occurs in Calle Inés Chemida street which also reads as Inés Chimida, this can also be found further ahead in Bailadero which used to be Baladero. As you leave this area by Calle Inés Chemida and head towards San Juan, you will leave with a beautiful memory of this neighborhood. This route provides the most spectacular access to the San Francisco area, due to the aqueduct of the 19^th Century linking the old workers district to the gentry district. The aqueduct is the last monument that we see in San Francisco, but before arriving at the crossroads with the Bailadero we can´t help but notice Calle Huerta (Orchard Street) which stands out due to the obvious influence of the Mudéjar, distinguishable by its white houses and walls.

At the beginning of the Bailadero, our attention is drawn towards the remains of an old aboriginal house and the house of Betania which used to be the house where the “Salesiana Nuns” retired, which today has been converted into a leisure area, mainly used for after school activities. Unfortunately it is not open to the public however we can still appreciate its beauty and magnificence from afar whilst we walk along the area where the aqueduct is found. Carrying on we arrive at Plaza de San Juan(San Juan Square).

Remarks:

The best way to do this excursion is immediately after San Juan, you can unite both of the routes by entering through Calle Inés Chemida after having visited the majority of the San Juan area, only the Leon and Castillo museum is left to visit.