Zona Arqueológica de Cañada de Los Gatos — Attraction in Mogán

Pay your modest €4 and enjoy a scramble up the rocky hillside to some glorious views and a small cafe above Canada de los Gatos - full of shy cats at night. But if your idea of 'archaeology' extends beyond The Conquest (of Canaries by Spain, that is, not Hastings by William of Normandy) you may be slightly underwhelmed. Remains of buildings reminiscent of - but less beautifully fashioned than millennia BC - Maes Howe in the Orkneys scatter the barren, rocky hillside above Puerto de Mogan. The surprise comes on learning that they only predate The Conquest of the 15th century! A necropolis consisting of cave burials in bubbles in the lava may be older - this is behind the Cordial Hotel. But in comparison with ancient Greek cultural remains and high artistic output.... this site is a footnote in a very local history, which was aboriginal far into recent centuries. Add to this that The Conquest was a fairly vile, retrograde Catholic crusade and "archaeological" for this site becomes a sizeable misnomer. Do go anyway! - it is background to an island whose history can otherwise only be measured in vast...

With very few cultural places to visit on the island, we thought we would give this place a go!

We it's a break from the beach and resorts, so that's a plus.

It is cheap to enter and great views when walking around the site.

It's basically settlement dating from the Middle Ages to the present.

There must be about 20 or so excavated building foundations. Once you have read the signs on the first couple, you have read all of them. All the signs say the same thing with slightly different wording.

Once you have followed the path around, you reach a cafe with a great viewpoint.

From there, you can either go back the way you came or continue along the side of the mountain to see an old cemetery and the alternative way out.

If you chose the latter, you exit via a hotel. As we got lost, we wandered around the hotel grounds, and my partner took advantage of the toilets, which she said were very clean.

We eventually found...

Interesting place, well explained history and what you see. The entrance is close to the pin, if you get to the corner of the park you see signs. Take water on a hot day and prepare for a little hike through the area, easy though. Visit the area before going to the viewpoint. From the viewpoint you go on a path towards the bar (temporarily closed now) and continue to the cemetery, with great views and geological formations on the way. The cemetery is in the valley, so if you go down it's a bit of a climb to return the same way. The cemetery is really interesting, with lots of explanations and pictures of the findings. The door at the cemetery was open and could exit through the hotel, otherwise it's a bit of a climb back up....