Tour of the North
- The Tour in 360º
The north of the island can be subdivided into two fiffenrent routes, the first a tour of inland towns and villages and the second following the coastline.
In both cases, as a starting point we can use the Autovía Marítima at the Alcaravaneras Beach section where the Julio Luengo tunnels link up with the Autovía del Norte (the main road for the north of the island).
INLAND ROUTE
Arucas - Firgas - Moya - Valleseco - Teror
Shortly after exiting the tunnels you will pass the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus on your right. This route begins by following the coastline along the Autovía del Norte until you reach the turn-off for Arucas, the main town of the north of Gran Canaria. This is an attrective town whose historical centre has a distinctly nineteenth century flavour and is rich in buildings with carved stone façades. The town possesses its own quarries which produce stone of a bluish hue and the finest example of the traditional craft of carving this stone can be seen in the paris church of San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist), whose building was initiated in 1909. The church was designed in Catalonian neo-Gothic style and features spires of thirty metres in height with delicately carved turrets. In many ways it sums up the hard-working and religious nature of the Arucas people who reflected in this work the prosperity enjoyed by the town from the late nineteenth century to the golden age of banana cultivation, which still plays an importan part in the local economy.
One noteworthy building to be visited in the town centre, which is an exuberance of flowers and abundance of carved stone, is the Casa del Mayorazgo which houses the Museo Municipal (Municipal Museum).
Arucas also possesses an attractive public garden known as Jardín de Hespérides (Hesperides Gardens) surrounding a nineteenth century mansion of neo-classical design, which used to be the summer residence of the Marquis of Arucas. The garden, which features a hundred Australian palm trees, a small pond covered in water lilies, century old dragon trees, a giant fungus and a thirty metre high palm tree, is a splendid place to relax while visiting the town.
Great views of all directions of the island can be enjoyed from the restaurant at the top of the nearby Montaña (mountain) de Arucas, particularly down over the plain of Arucas, which is gradually losing the intense green of banana plantations. You will also be able to make out the tall chimney of the Ron Arehucas rum distilleries and visit its building and that of the Heredad de Regantes.
Just a few kilometres away lies the picturesque township of Firgas, famed for its mineral waters whose source is the Barranco de las Madres. Firgas is also well-known for the production of fine hand-made wooden articles such as yokes, ploughs, chests and balconies.
Next we reach the town of Moya, which perches at the very edge of a very deep revine. Nearby we can find Los Tilos, the last redoubt of a vast laurel forest which, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the island, covered the whole of the base of the wide revine which separates Moya and Firgas and extended as far as the townships of Valleseco and Teror. Moya is the birthplace of the Canarian poet Tomás Morales, a modernist whose writing is as sonorous and emphatic as the Atlantic Ocean upon which he drew for inspiration. The Museo Tomás Morales is opposite the parish church, from which the visitor may contemplate the impressive craggy ravine and its sheer rock faces. Any visitor to Moya should not leave the town without first buying some bizcochos lustrados (sugared sponge cake), one of the most popular of the island´s delicacies.
A short distance inland from is Valleseco, which means literlly "Dry Valley“. The irony of the name is that this part of the island actually receives the most rainfall per year. In this township we can find the Laguna de Valleseco (Valleseco Lagoon) which fills with fresh water during the winter months and which has recently been the object of important environmental restoration programs. In the winter months it plays host to several breeds of migratory birds including the common egret. Nearby there is a chestnut tree wood and a recreation area.
After Valleseco it is worthwhile making a short deviation in order to be able to contemplate the magnificent, centureis-old Canarian Pine trees, which can be found in an area known as Pinos de Gáldar. These wonderful trees grow on the western slope of the Caldera de los Pinos de Gáldar, a relatively recent volcanic creation with a spectacular crater like an upside-down cone.
This is the best part of the island for eating grilled meats and the area is famous for its vegetable stews, such as those of watercress and jaramagos (local wild vegetable).
A drive from the Pinos de Gáldar to Teror completes oru tour. Teror is home to the Virgen del Pino, the island´s patron saint. The Basilica was built in the seventeenth century although it also features a tower, whose plan is octagonal, from the era following the Conquest, which was constructed in the Gothic style of the late fifteenth century. The Basilica was built to venerate a fifteenth century carved image of the Virgin sculpted in the style of the Sevillian School.
The town itself is situated in a strategic position on the slopes of a mountain valley which links the north with the centre of the islan and is a treasure trove of the Canarian architecture with its cobbled streets and hand-crafted carved wooden balconies.
Teror attracts hundreds of visitors every Sunday to its popular open-air market, where well-loved local products such as chorizo (a soft spiced sausage) and hand-made sweets elatorated by the nuns of the Cistercian Order can be purchased.
The fiesta day of the island´s patron saint, Nuestra Señora del Pino is held on the 8th September, and is a day on which thousands of pilgrims from both this and other islands congregate in Teror to offer their finest agricultural produce to the Virgin. Every different type of traditional regional dress con be seen in Teror on this day.
COASTAL ROUTE
Santa María de Guía- Galdar -Agaete
The second tour of the north of the island starts from the same spot as the first. Travelling along the northern coast of the island, this tour will take us through the municipalities of Guía, Gáldar and Agaete.
A few kilometres from the starting point of this route is the coastal area of San Felipe, which is highly recommended to the visitor for some of the best fresh fish available on the island.
Just after the start of the main road to Moya, in Pagador, the main road crosses the spectacular bridge of Barranco de Silva (Silva Ravinel), which is the highest bridge in Spain and the second highest in Europe. Off to the left, on the old highway, we reach the Cenobio de Valerón (closed temporarily by works of conditioning), which is part of the township of Santa María de Guía, and is a primitive granary used by the prehispanic islanders to store their grain harvests. It is a site of historical significance as it demonstrates that the natives of Gan Canaria, in contrast with those of the other islands, who did not develop beyond the animal husbandry phase, developed an agricultural infrastructure capable of producing surpluses, which were then stored. The pintaderas, earthenware seals engraved with geometric designs associated with the natives, are believed to have been used for sealing and identifying these silos.
After the Puente (Bridge) de Silva, the road runs on towards the town of Santa María de Guía, at a distance of some 37 kilometres from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. One of the outstanding features of the town is its parish church which possesses several works of the Guía-born artist Luján Pérez, a figure sculptor, whose work, dating from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is to be found all over the Canary Islands. Some examples of his work can be also admired in the Catedral de Canarias (Canary Island Cathedral) of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
It is worthwhile stopping off in this township to try out the local quesos de flor (flower cheese), so called because it is made using ewe milk and the flower of the wild thistle. A couple of kilometres further on we come to Gáldar, home to the guanartemes or original island rulers and rich in archaeological sites demonstrating how densely populated the area was in pre-Hispanic times. The best known of these sites is the Cueva Pintada (painted Cave), which was discovered in the cave the original settlement has emerged, close to the site of what used to be the palace of the guanartemes, in the square just in front of the present church. It is known that the stones used to build the palace – which were late used in the construction of the church – were perfectly cut and assembled without the aid of mortar.
Near the Playa del Agujero are the remains of another pre-Hispanic settlement – one of the largest concentrations of houses and burial mounds in this part of the island. The remains of irrigation ditches confirm that this pre-Hispanic civilisation was agricultural. The settlement also features a necropolis where some of Gran Canaria´s most important burial mounds have been preserved intact.
From Gáldar, the road runs on to Agaete, where the visitor can observe the Pinar (pine forest) of Tamadaba, perched at the top of the majestic cliffs which surround the town´s fishing port of Puerto de Las Nieves. These cliffs fall steeply into the sea which is guarded by a distinctive needle of rock, known as Dedo de Dios ( The Finger of God), which just out from it. In the post Las Nieves was one of the few points along this rugged coastline which gave access to the island´s interior. Nowadays the port has a regular ferry service which connects it with Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
However, there is much more to enjoy in Agaete to see than the sea. In August every year the old part of the town plays host to the Fiesta de la Rama (the Fiesta of the Branch), which commemorates the age-old rite of invoking the rein. The festival consests of a dance which lasts for several hours, in which thousands of participants, carrying branches, dance past the Ermita (Chapel) Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves and down to the sea shore. The Ermita de las Nieves houses an artistic gem, which is a Flemish triptych of the Virgin patron saint of sailors dating from the sixteenth century. The middle plate of the truptych represents the Virgin and Child.
Agaete is also home to the Huerto de las Flores garden, which contains a vast collection of American trees. The Valley, which enjoys a sub-tropical climate, provides perfect conditions for the cultivation of coffee plants, guava fruit, mangoes an avocado pears.
Fresh fish dishes form the typical cuisine of Agaete. Particularly recommendable is the caldo de pescado (fish soup) which is served in all of the restaurants in Puerto de Las Nieves.
