Temisas Gran Canaria

The impressive setting for Temisas, with its backdrop of impenetrable cliffs, provides views across a ravine that falls away down to the sea, while the village itself is sleepy and atmospheric, with original stone houses and cottages. To get here by car, take the GC-550 weaving around the mountains from Agüimes to Santa Lucía de Tirajana. As the road approaches Temisas, set on a natural balcony, note the terracing up each side of the centre and incised into the valleys below. The terraces were worked until relatively recently, however, mass tourism on the coast came along with less gruelling, better-paid work, which resulted in a mass exodus from the village.