La Rambla de Castro

Municipality: Los Realejos

Aproximate Time: 3 Hours

Maximum Height: 635 meters

Minimum Height: 199 meters

Distance: 10,1 Km

 Area Information

We are on the coast of Los Realejos, which space is protected with the Canary Law of Natural Spaces, exactly La Rambla is protected as Paraje Natural de Interés Nacional ( natural place which is important for its vegetation, history, etc)

After the conquest of the island, the zone was an important emplacement. As it has been mentioned in other publications, the lands were distributed among the people that helped in the conquest. La Rambla de Castro is not only famous for his vegetation, but also for the  buildings.

Rambla de Castro and one of the beach.

La Haciendas (big houses with lands) are the common buildings in the area, however La Hacienda de Castro is the most representative of all of them. In the place we find the hermitage dedicated to Saint San Pedro too. It was built in the 18th century and the image of the saint is a representation of baroque on the island. Finally, for the zone it is situated San Fernando's Fort, a defensive strength that was constructed at the end of the 18th century. The aim of that building was protected the coast, due to the pirates' presence that assaulted the craft that were departing from the islands.

The Water has been and still is a scarce resource on the island, due to the abundance that existed in the zone, this area was characterized for being green, with rich and fecund lands of the whole island. This area had plenty of water, for that reason it was constructed an Elevador de Agua las Gordejuela (is a machine which drove water to different parts of the island). The importance of the water did that Gordejuela's Water elevator was constructed in 1903, unfortunately it is in ruins. This machine supposed a great advance of the industry in the zone, which turned into a milestone due to the fact that it was built in a complicated zone  and for sheltering the first steam engine of the island. The aim of that construction was to use the waters of the zone, to be transported to the diverse neighborhoods of the municipality.

Elevador de Aguas la Gordejuela

The wildlife is protected. It is possible to see some endemic vegetables as the Canary Palms, tabaibal-cardonal (it is a typical vegetable formation of the island) and dragon trees. Related to the fauna of the zone, there are endemic species, the main representation are the birds, like pigeon.  

Description of the Path

The drop of the path

The path begins in San Pedro, in the vicinity of the road TF-5. The beginning of the path has cobblestones and has signposting. The entry that has a fence to forbid cars, possesses a small opening in order that the passers-by could enter. Cars can be left in the zone or it is possible to take the public transport, line 363 (from Puerto de la Cruz) .

Along the footpath we find the different vegetable species, some ponds, etc. Leaving the cobblestones it is situated La Casona de Castro, a big yellow house with yards.

Signs

Continuing walking, we can find some junction that going to the same site, but following one path or another we will see different things, but all of them have signs. One of the paths goes to the Fort, the place where it is possible to observe the coastline and the beaches of the zone.

At a quarter of the path we find a bridge that it allows to cross a ravine. Finishing the ascent  it can be appreciated the banana plantations. To go on walking, apart from seeing some houses, we will find a door, which only has the form, and a few meters a barrier. 

After that, we start to descend and we will be in the neighborhood of the Toscal-Longuera. The place where it is located El Elevador de Agua la Gordejuela,  not been possible to visit it, and there is a hermitage too. After crossing another bridge, we follow the path to the cliffs, the place where we are continuing seeing the shore of the island. On having finished this part, we come to La Romantica II which is an  urbanizations. In that part, we continue the path crossing the neighborhood. The area is composed of the typical houses of the years 60-70, which were constructed during  the boom of the tourism of masses of the zone of El Puerto de la Cruz.

Path after the second brigde

In the neighborhood there are signs that indicate the continuation of the path. After the housing estate, the path continues to the cliffs which finishes at Hotel Maritim and the resident development urbanization with the same name. In this part also it is possible to see the beach of  Los Roques (there are big rocks near to the beach). The path finishes when we come to this housing state. 

Finally it is possible to do the path of several ways. Firstly going from San Pedro to the Hotel, secondly going from the Hotel to San Pedro or doing it both directions.

La Casona de Castro