Clustered
on a
small
flat
shelf
base of
immense
cliffs
beside a
deep
harbour,
GARACHICO
was,
along
with La
Laguna
and La
Orotava,
one of
the
first
crop of
important
towns on
the
island.
The
town's
narrow
cobbled
streets,
rough
fisherman's
cottages
and
grand
town
houses
were
once
part of
Tenerife's
most
important
sixteenth-century
port,
until a
series
of
natural
disasters
plagued
the town
and
ultimately
ruined
its
harbour.
But at
least
for
visitors
the
results
of this
drama -
lava
rock-pools
in the
town's
bay and
charming
old
streets
frozen
in time
- are
engaging
and
picturesque.
Originally
both
town and
harbour
grew up
on the
grant of
Genoese
banker
Cristóbal
de Ponte
who
developed
the land
that
he'd
received
as
payback
from
Alonso
de Lugo
for
financing
the
island's
conquest.
Thanks
to a
deep
natural
harbour,
the town
blossomed
as a
stop-off
for
numerous
ships to
the
Americas,
and a
point of
export
for
sugarcane
and wine
from the
north.
But in
1645
natural
forces
interrupted
the good
times,
when a
volcanically
induced
landslide
spread
over the
town,
sinking
forty
boats
and
killing
a
hundred
people.
Undeterred,
the town
quickly
rebuilt
its
houses
and port,
only to
see much
of it
destroyed
again in
1706
when two
slow-moving
prongs
of lava
crept
into
town.
Though
no-one
died in
this
eruption,
the
harbour
was
mostly
filled
in and
so
rendered
useless
to large-scale
commercial
traffic
- a
death
knell
for the
commercial
concerns,
which
moved on
to
Puerto
de la
Cruz to
the east.
In 1905
an
earthquake
reminded
locals
of the
continued
threat
posed by
nature,
while
more
recent
studies
of
satellite
images
have
revealed
worrying
and as
yet
unexplained
subsidence
of up to
20cm
around
town
The
Town
Garachico's
few
landmarks
aren't
exciting
sights,
though
the walk
around
its
small
centre
is well
worth it
for a
closer
look at
old
fishermen's
houses
as well
as
ostentatious
town
houses
with
ornate
and
typically
Canarian
balconies.
One
of the
town's
oldest
and most
striking
buildings
is the
stocky
little
harbour-side
fort
Castillo
de San
Miguel
. Built
in the
sixteenth
century
to
protect
Garachico
from
pirates,
the fort
was one
of the
few
buildings
to
survive
the 1706
eruption
and is
now home
to a
vaguely
diverting
rock and
fossil
collection
(daily
10am-6pm;
¬0.60).
More
engaging
are the
views
from the
castle
ramparts
across
the
village
and out
to the
Roque de
Garachico,
a lone
rock
monolith
in the
bay.
One
of
Garachico's
unique
attractions
is a
series
of
rock
pools
behind
the
Castillo
de San
Miguel.
The lava
here is
part of
that
which
closed
off the
harbour
and
ruined
the town
in 1706,
but
locals
have
made the
best of
it by
creating
paved
walkways
between
the
natural
bathing
pools.
Formed
as lava
cooled
on
contact
with the
sea,
these
are fed
and
cleaned
by the
tidal
action -
making
bathing
possible
only at
low tide
during
calm
seas.
Parallel
to the
main
coastal
road is
the
inland
Calle
Esteban
Ponte.
This
narrow
road
separates
out rows
of
elegant
and
mostly
wooden
town
houses
and runs
to
Plaza de
Juan
Gonzalez
de la
Torre
, which
includes
a small
park
whose
centrepiece
is the
Puerta
de Tiera
, a one-time
gate to
the
town's
harbour.
There's
also an
old
wooden
winepress
on
display
in the
park.
To
the west
of the
plaza
and park
are
several
narrow
streets
lined
with
traditional
fishermen's
cottages,
while to
the east
is the
town's
main
square,
Plaza
de la
Libertand
. The
centrepiece
of this
square
is a
statue
of Simon
Bolivar,
the
nineteenth-century
South
American
freedom
fighter.
His
tenuous
connection
to
Garachico
was his
grandmother,
who
emigrated
from
here
after
the 1706
disaster.
On
the
western
side of
the
plaza
stands
the
grand
Iglesia
Santa
Ana
, the
town's
main
church,
destroyed
and
rebuilt
after
the
tragedies
of 1706,
with a
fine
wood
ceiling.
On the
opposite
side of
the
square,
the
Convento
de San
Francisco
(Mon-Fri
9am-7pm,
Sat
9am-6pm,
Sun
9am-2pm;
¬0.60)
houses
the
town's
small
and
ramshackle
museum.
Its
collections
include
a number
of
shells,
stuffed
birds,
and an
exhibit
of locks
and keys
through
the ages.
More
interesting
is the
scant
information
on
Garachico's
history,
particularly
its role
as a
major
port.
Most
rewarding
of all,
however,
is the
wander
around
the
extraordinarily
pretty
old wood
balconies
and
atriums
of these
former
convent
buildings.
Finally,
fans of
the
elegant
and
accomplished
woodwork
on
balconies
around
Garachico
might
like to
visit a
small
museum
at the
western
end of
the
seafront,
the
Museo
Capinteria
Antigua
at Avda
República
de
Venezuela
17 (daily
9am-7pm;
¬1.50).
Old
artisans'
tools
have
been
beautifully
displayed
here
alongside
photos
of their
craft
around
town.
