035 to Gúímar

Bus Routes: 470[Granadilla], 035[Fasnia, Guimar]
Return: 035[Roques-Fasnia,Granadilla], 470[Los Cristianos]


Did you know there are pyramids in Tenerife? Well neither did I! Instead of an immediate return to Icod I decided to start exploring another bus route running out of Granadilla in the direction of Gúímar, the town had come to mind when I was looking at the Easter calendar and I also thought this would be an interesting trip as the TF-28 runs, more or less, parallel to the Autopista del Sur heading NE to Santa Cruz but is about half way or more up the mountain range. It takes in Arco and Fasnia and some tiny hamlets along the way. It is a very scenic journey taking some 1.5 hours door to door of an age when it used to take 11.5 hours to get from Santa Cruz to the south before the Autopista was opened. I have marvelled at the grandeur of the route to Icod well this route winds up and down and round the many barrancos along the route. I finally managed to see some of the cave dwellings I have mentioned before still home to descendants of the Guanches. My photographs do not do justice to the steepness and ruggedness of many of these barrancos but I hope they give you a flavour. It is worth making the trip just for the views.

I caught the 09:30 470 which got me into Granadilla with ample time to catch the 10:40 035 to Gúímar. The technician was working on the electronics so I managed to see the nerve centre carried by all of the Titsa buses. We arrived in Gúímar at 12:15, the last stretch of the journey is completed along the Autopista presumably because there are no villages between Fasnia and Gúímar and it is faster. There is a very nice little bus station at Gúímar but no-one seemed to know if there was a Tourist Information Office. I left the station and, after a false start left which only lead to shops I decided to go the opposite way turning right and following the path. It turns out that this was the main road through Gúímar and the Tourist Information Office was about 5 minutes walk. It is housed in what we would have called a 'Coach House'. 

The building surrounds a cool centre courtyard containing lush plants and a fountain where passengers would cool off from the heat of the journey. There would have been a place to eat and a bar and the upper floor consisted of bedrooms to rest in or stay overnight. It is now partly museum and offices for the 'Dept of Culture'. Having obtained my free map, there are no guide books in English, I wandered down the street to the restaurant recommended as having fresh food every day. I had a traditional meat and seafood 'gumbo' and fried mushrooms to follow. Now replete I wandered off around the town. I had the quest for the times of the Easter processions in the back of my mind but they all seemed to start late in the evening so decided that this was out as the last two buses don't run as far as Granadilla  (I think the driver takes the bus home).

My next objective was the pyramids which turned out to be about a 10-15 minute walk from the church. If you search for the 'Pyramids of Gúímar' on the internet you can make up your own mind about this. Tor Heyerdahl gives his reasoning for these pyramids but the Archaeology Dept on Gran Canaria doesn't give it much stock. Either way for between 7.5 – 10 euros admission the Ethnographic Park is well worth a visit. There is a museum and auditorium and exhibits from Heyerdahl's kon-tiki expedition and the research he did all over the world. Canarian gardens depict the working and cultural history of the people of Tenerife and there is also a cave under one of the pyramids. I did not have time to view everything as this could be a day out in its own right. I wandered back down to the bus station to catch the 16:45 back to Granadilla. Next time I may come up the motorway to give more time to explore but there are also those villages in between?

You  will all be pleased to know that the school holidays out here produce rain too!

View my 'Gúímar' Photo Album