We took a local bus from the hills above Los Cristianos to Santa Cruz. The outskirts of Santa Cruz and the bus station weren't very appealing, so we didn't linger and took a bus directly to San Cristóbal de La Laguna. The old town is easily accessible on foot from the bus station via a gently sloping main avenue.

The pedestrianized city center is full of well-maintained monuments, and it's very pleasant to stroll around. Our visit took a whole day, including a stop at a restaurant and another at a café terrace behind the cathedral.

We were enjoying a typical local drink: barraquito (a coffee foam) when I suddenly heard a whistle coming from the bell tower. I jumped out of my chair, already hoping to be able to mark two cells on my Excel spreadsheet from red to green: on the one hand, the WHS of San Cristobal de la Laguna, and on the other hand, Silbo, the whistled language of the island of La Gomera, inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, but I couldn't find any whistler and sheepishly returned to the table to finish my coffee in peace.

We explored the city in a fairly methodical way, first strolling along the Cale Obispo Rey Redondo to the Church of the Conception, stopping at the Santo Domingo de Guzman Convent (Dominican, 16th century) (photo), and the patio of the Hotel Aguere where an artisans' fair was being held. Leaving the courtyard of the House of the Captains General (15th century), richly decorated with tropical plants (another photo), we found our whistlers again, this time visible; one of them was standing on the balcony of the Teatro Leal.

After having lunch in the patio of the Cayetano Gomez Felipe house-museum, we left via the Alcalde Alonso Suarez Melian, where we visited the Tenerife Museum of History and Anthropology. A market featuring organic regional flavors was held in the beautiful Plaza del Adelantado, which marked the end of our route.

Since we've never traveled to the Americas, it's difficult for us to compare the beauty of Latin American colonial cities with the city that served as their model. We, however, were filled with admiration because this city was unlike any we had ever visited. Leaving aside architectural styles, it was undoubtedly the combination of different building materials that captivated us: white stucco for the large, bare surfaces, black volcanic cornerstones, and the finely carved wooden protruding elements, all set within a lush, tropical landscape.

When we refer to the official UNESCO website, the ICOMOS analysis of the justifications that the State Party put forward to request the inscription of San Cristobal de la Laguna on the UNESCO list seems clear, logical, and legitimate to me: the absence of walls, the grid plan whose main streets radiate towards the Church of the Conception, conceived and regulated by a single man, Governor Alfonso Fernandez de Lugo, the civilizing and administrative function, etc... This city seems to herald a new era.