Now a
lively
and
historic
university
town,
LA
LAGUNA
was
Tenerife's
first
major
settlement
and, for
over two
hundred
years,
its
capital.
Though
the
government
may have
moved,
and its
bland
suburbs
now melt
with
Santa
Cruz,
its well-preserved
centre
remains
a
showpiece
of
Canarian
architecture
and the
city
remains
the
cultural,
religious
and
learning
centre
of
Tenerife.
A
good
deal
higher
than
Santa
Cruz and
so with
a
considerably
cooler,
cloudier
and
rainier
climate
than at
the
coast,
the town
took its
name
from its
proximity
to a
former
lagoon
which
was
drained
as late
as 1837,
after
having
already
shrunk
as a
result
of
logging
in the
area.
Today,
La
Laguna
is seen
at its
best
during
festivals,
particularly
Corpus
Christi,
when
many of
its
central
streets
are
bedecked
with
complicated
patterns
of
flowers
The
Town
La
Laguna
does
little
to court
the
tourist
industry,
and
despite
being
crammed
full
with
examples
of the
vernacular
architecture,
its most
impressive
buildings
can be
viewed
within a
couple
of hours.
Though
the old
town is
in a
geographic
sense
its
centre,
it's the
university
district,
just to
its
south,
that is
the
busiest
area of
town.
This
grid of
streets
buzzes
with
students
and is
awash
with all
the
usual
student
hangouts
- bars,
cafés
and
bookshops.
Though
founded
in town
in 1701,
the
present
university
campus,
just
beside
the
motorway,
was
built in
the
1950s
and is
nothing
special.
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