La Orotava

It is not known what the origin of the town's name is, but the vast majority of researchers say it probably originated from the language of the Guanches, who called the area Arautaba or Arautápala. Taking linguistics into account, Orotava probably came from a corrupted form of a Guanche word that was then borrowed into the Spanish language.

The Guanches lived primarily in coastal areas and in the vicinity of the largest canyons and hillsides in the valley. In these places food and means of subsistence were easily found. For the Guanches, the highest peak in Spain (Mount Teide), which is situated in this township, was regarded as a place of worship.

On the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, such as Alonso Fernández de Lugo, the people of Tenerife resisted. Tenerife was the last of the Canary Islands to be conquered, in 1496. The origin of La Orotava goes back to the 1502 when the land and water were portioned out among the men who had taken part in the conquest.[5]

Engraving realized by the French naturalist Sabin Berthelot of the great dragon located in the garden of the House Franchy, in La Orotava. Published in his work "Histoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries" in 1838

The export economy established by the European settlers after the conquest in the 15th century spawned large commercial and passenger movements that were to last for decades. The first foreign visitors quickly felt drawn to the clemency and beneficial qualities of weather conditions found in the Taoro Valley.

La Orotava has a rich land for farming and its economy has been based on agriculture for centuries, with products such as wine, tomatoes, bananas and others that were exported mainly to Europe and the UK.

It was not until beginning of the 19th century that the tourism industry broke through. The natural environment of La Orotava helped attract many researchers and exclusive high-class groups from Europe. At this stage La Orotava was a leading cultural center accommodating many travellers and writers, among others William Wilde and Alexander von Humboldt.

Nowadays, La Orotava is visited by Northern Europeans all year round, specially during the winter months when the climate is quite mild, and over Christmas and New Year.

The Orotava Valley stretches from the sea up to the mountains at 2,000 m which begins near Las Cañadas up to Pico del Teide at 3,718 m is Spain's tallest mountain. The valley includes the municipalities of Los Realejos, Puerto de la Cruz and La Orotava.

La Orotava is subdivided into various locations such as El Rincón, La Florida, La Perdoma, San Antonio, La Luz or Aguamansa, among others

Panorama of Valle de La Orotava

The British School of Tenerife has its La Luz Campus in La Orotava.[6]

• El Ayuntamiento (town hall)
• Mirador Humboldt, after Alexander von Humboldt, from the greatest panoramic attraction over the valley.
• Casa Molina
• Plaza de San Francisco
• La Casa de los Balcones
• El Teide, which is Spain's highest mountain
• Iglesia de La Concepción (church), one of the best examples of Baroque era in the Canary Islands
• Sociedad Liceo de Taoro

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  Teide
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  San Agustin
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  Drago in La Orotava
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  Liceo de Taoro
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  Church Nuestra Señora de la Concepción
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  Casa de los Balcones
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  Casa de los Balcones, Patio
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  Jardines Marquesado de la Quinta Roja
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  Mausoleum Jardines Marquesado de la Quinta Roja
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  Plaza del Ayuntamiento
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  Corpus Christi in La Orotava
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  Flower carpets
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  Flower carpets
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  The bronze sculpture by the artist Ana Lilia Martín, born in La Palma (Canarias) in 1963, depicts the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt. The sculpture has been on the terrace of the Humboldblick viewpoint in La Orotava since 2009

• Fernando Estévez – sculptor.
• Dr. George V. Perez (1861–1920), Anglo-Spanish Physician who settled in this area and became a renowned local physician and later, a botanist.
• Matías de Escobar y Llamas – friar, speaker and writer.
• Diego Rodríguez Fernández – footballer (CD Tenerife, Real Betis, Sevilla FC, Spain)
• Carlos Benites Franquis de Lugo (1691–?) – governor of Spanish Texas between 1736 and 1737.
• Luis Francisco Benítez de Lugo y Benítez de Lugo (1837-1876) – politician. Freemason and pioneer of Spiritualism in Spain.

The English author Christopher Isherwood describes completing his novel Mr Norris Changes Trains in La Orotava in the summer of 1934 in chapter 10 of his autobiography Christopher and His Kind.

The English author Radclyffe Hall in chapter 37, section 3, of her novel "The Well of Loneliness" has her character Stephen Gordon state to her love interest Mary Llewellyn,"I'd like to get you right away for a bit, the weather seems pretty awful in Paris. Puddle once told me about Teneriffe, she went there ages ago with a pupil. She stayed at a place called Orotava; it's lovely, I believe – do you think you'd enjoy it?"

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Orotava.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for La Orotava.

• List of municipalities in Santa Cruz de Tenerife
• Universidad Europea de Canarias