GALDAR

The most historic of all Guanche towns and now the centre of a banana growing area, Galdar shelters from the sea behind the near-perfect volcanic cone of La Montana de Galdar. it has an excellent covered market (famous for handicraft and local produce) in the main street and a fine square, Plaza de Santiago. The church, with its wide neo-classical facade unusually built in a pale fawn-coloured stone, stands on the site of the palace of the former Guanche kings. The town also boasts a monument to Tenesor Semidan, the last king of Galdar (Calle Guariragual), unveiled by King Juan Carlos I of Spain in 1986. The one-storey town hall on the corner of the square is a building of real charm in the best Canarian Hispanic style. A dragon tree, planted in the patio in 1718, practically bursts through the walls.

A road runs out of the square for 200m, soon descending to an archaeological park, still under construction. This contains the famous Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave) of Guanche times (a model can be seen in the Museo Canario, Las Palmas: Discovered by chance in 1873, it is elaborately decorated with squares, circles and triangles in red, black and white.