Teror town Gran Canaria

White houses with exposed grey stone, dark wooden balconies, turned and decoratively carved, enchanting small patios hidden behind stern doors this is the style of Canarian vernacular architecture which is revealed at its best in Teror. Elegant and well preserved, the town also has the distinction of accommodating, in its splendid main square, shaded with ficus and pine, the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pino the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pine, the patron saint of Gran Canaria. On this site and in the branches of a pine tree, so legend goes, the Virgin appeared to the first bishop of Gran Canaria, Juan Frias, on 8 December 1492.

The interior of the church is grand, with stone columns, a wooden coffered ceiling, a gilt retablo or altarpiece shaped like the stern of a ship and above the altar, the 15^th century statue of the Virgin on a silver litter. The Virgin is traditionally dressed in the richest robes, regularly changed. She was also covered in a mass of precious jewels until 1975 when thieves made off with the treasure. They were never caught, and the incident is still a source of great anger and regret even to the most secular of Canarios.

Teror is an important place of pilgrimage to islanders all through the year but particularly during the fiesta of the saint on 8 September. Everybody converges on the town on foot, donkey, car or cart to offer prayers, fulfil religious promises, bring gifts of fruit and vegetables for the needy and of course to dance and sing the nights away. Every other week of the year, on Sunday mornings, a popular market is held behind the church.