FATAGA TOWN

This charming town of white houses with pink roofs, sitting on a knoll in its barranco, is much praised as an example of all that is loveliest in Canarian mountain villages not least by its own inhabitants. They describe their home as tipico, pequeno, bonito 'traditional, small and pretty' and themselves, with no false modesty, as muy amables 'very kindly'. There is no arguing with any of that.

Fataga's reputation has spread and the village now has several bars and souvenir shops on either side of the main street. This is the thoroughfare connecting San Bartolome de Tirajana in the centre and Playa del Ingles in the south. But the village itself, so neat, with cobbled alleyways, white houses, pink roofs and floral patios, and cocks crowing in clear, mountain air, seems timeless. It falls steeply into curved terraces like stacked plates and ends in a barranco floor bristling with palms. Above, the cliffs walls are made up of rocks like organ pipes. The tiny church, planted around with shady trees, was built in 1880 and bears a plaque marking its centenary and commemorating those who built such a great work.