El Club · Tejeda

The Tejeda Medicinal Plants Center is a museum or interpretation center of ethnographic and natural theme dedicated to disseminate the medicinal use of plants in the Canary Islands. It is located in Tejeda, on the island of Gran Canaria, next to Párroco Rodríguez Vega street, and is a tourist resource linked to the cultural and natural heritage of the municipality. According to municipal sources and the FEDAC file, it is a publicly owned facility of the Tejeda Town Council, oriented to nature and ethnography. The space explains the historical relationship between people and plants through traditional remedies, popular knowledge and its contrast with the scientific view, so its main function is informative and didactic. The information available presents it as a unique center in the Canary Islands for its specialization in medicinal flora. The municipal website mentions an exhibition hall with contents on the origin and functions of plants, and elements set as the Canarian apothecary of the nineteenth century and other thematic corners, which reinforces its character as an interpretive museum rather than an artistic or archaeological museum. The sources consulted do not show a single date of foundation or inauguration that fully coincides, so it is advisable to keep this data as unverified if maximum documentary accuracy is required.

Cuevas del Rey is an archaeological and rural site in Tejeda, in the interior of Gran Canaria, located on the slope and immediate surroundings of the Roque of the same name, in the middle of the Tejeda caldera. It is a troglodyte complex excavated in volcanic tuff of reddish tones, with more than a hundred artificial cavities distributed in several levels and oriented mostly to the north face of the rock. The complex includes habitation caves, storage spaces and granaries, as well as burial cavities and other structures linked to cultural practices. The so-called Cueva del Rey or Cueva del Guayre stands out for its large size, rectangular or quadrangular floor plan and decoration painted in white, black and red, with bowls and channels in the floor; the granary area also stands out, with silos located at higher elevations and more difficult access. What can be seen today helps to understand how the ancient Canary Islanders took advantage of an abrupt relief to live, store cereal and organize their settlement with platforms and stairs carved into the rock. Because of this density and conservation, the enclave is among the most important pre-Hispanic settlements of the Gran Canarian summit. Its patrimonial interest is high: the Town Council of Tejeda includes it in the archaeological complex of the Sierra del Bentayga, declared of Cultural Interest, and also Roque Bentayga, Roque Camello and Cuevas del Rey are part of the Cultural Landscape of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Llanos de la Pez is a summit site on the island of Gran Canaria, in the municipality of Tejeda, located in a wide mountain plain very frequented as a recreational area and starting point for trails. The toponym is associated with the ancient "pez", a vegetable pitch historically used in the caulking of ships, and the environment is part of the central highlands of the island, between enclaves such as El Garañón, Corral de los Juncos and Los Andenes. The landscape combines reforestation pine forest, open plains and volcanic relief of the summit, with good panoramic views over the mountains of Gran Canaria and, on clear days, towards other peaks of the archipelago. It is a popular place for walking, resting and organizing routes, with connections to itineraries such as Llanos de la Pez-Cruz del Saucillo, which runs along the high insular summit. Its natural and scenic interest is based on the altitude, the mountain environment and the summit vegetation, in addition to its function as a public space for hiking and outdoor recreation. Different descriptions present it as one of the most important recreational areas of Gran Canaria and as an enclave with infrastructures for the enjoyment of nature. In practice, Llanos de la Pez is relevant both for its recreational value and for its role in the orderly visit to the summit of Tejeda. The information available indicates that access to camping requires permission and that the use of the site is regulated, which reinforces its character as a managed natural space sensitive to the risk of fire and the conservation of the environment.

The Mirador de la Degollada de Becerra is a natural and scenic viewpoint located in Tejeda, in the interior of Gran Canaria, next to the dividing line between Tejeda and Vega de San Mateo, on the GC-150. It sits on a mountain pass that opens one of the best known panoramic views of the island, within the scope of the Biosphere Reserve of Gran Canaria. From this point you can see the Tejeda basin, modeled by erosion on volcanic materials, with steep slopes and deep ravines that draw a very characteristic relief of the center of the island. The enclave stands out for the view of two volcanic landmarks of the first order, Roque Nublo and Roque Bentayga, as well as wide views of the summit landscape and, on clear days, the Teide in the background. Its interest is not only scenic: the viewpoint helps to read the geological history of Gran Canaria and is part of a protected territory and very representative of the island. The Cabildo also links it to a visitor center, which reinforces its role as a point of interpretation of the landscape and biodiversity of the environment. For the demanding traveler, it is a key stop in Tejeda because it concentrates in a single balcony the volcanic geology, the large rocks and one of the best readings of the island relief. Its attractiveness is maintained both during the day and at sunset and in observation of the night sky, as long as the weather is good.

The Abraham Cárdenes Sculpture Museum is an art museum dedicated to the work of the Canarian sculptor Abraham Cárdenes, born in Tejeda. It is located in the center of the municipality, in Plaza del Socorro, with coordinates 27.99509, -15.61525, in Tejeda, Gran Canaria, province of Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Its main function is to conserve and display a fixed exhibition of the artist's sculptural production, and it also has a temporary exhibition hall linked to the plastic arts circuit of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria. The municipal and tourist documentation presents it as a cultural resource of reference within the town, together with the tourist information point. The sources consulted do not give a specific date of construction of the building or a specific architectural style for the building that houses it. Its heritage value is verified by its exhibition content and by its direct relationship with one of Tejeda's most representative creators, closely linked to the local cultural identity. The museum is part of Tejeda's patrimonial offer in an environment of strong landscape and cultural value, where the town combines historical resources, popular tradition and plastic arts. Its interest lies both in the work of Abraham Cárdenes and in its role as a space for artistic dissemination for the population and visitors.

Las Niñas Dam is a reservoir located in the municipality of Tejeda, in the summit of Gran Canaria, within the environment of Majada Alta and the Nublo Rural Park. It is located in a mid-mountain area, about 900 meters above sea level, in a small plain between the mountains of Ojeda and Pajonales and the escarpments of the Arguineguín ravine. It is a landscape of dammed water surrounded by Canarian pine forest and volcanic relief, very representative of the island's interior. The place is interesting for its contrast between the sheet of water, the forests of repopulation and the frame of summits, in addition to its function as a point of recreation and stay in the nature. The dam is one of the most important reservoirs in Gran Canaria and is the second largest on the island. Its surroundings have been consolidated as a recreational and camping area, which reinforces its value as a space for public use in an area of high environmental interest. It also has landscape and informative relevance, because it usually appears in guides and routes of Gran Canaria as an emblematic enclave of the midlands of Tejeda. Some sources also mention its association with hiking routes and bird watching, due to its location within protected areas and the Biosphere Reserve of Gran Canaria.

The Roque Bentayga is a rocky place of volcanic origin located in the basin of Tejeda, in the heart of Gran Canaria. It is a piton or basaltic monolith integrated in the Sierra del Bentayga, a ridge of rocks aligned from east to west that reaches heights of between 1,007 and 1,412 meters and forms a geological, scenic and cultural unit of great uniqueness. The most striking feature is its abrupt silhouette, visible from most of the peaks, and the contrast between the rock and the surrounding landscape of midlands and ravines. The interest of the visit is not only natural: at its base and surroundings there is an important archaeological site with dwelling caves, granaries, silos, walls and the almogarén, a ceremonial space associated with the ancient Canary Islanders. Its heritage value is exceptional because it combines volcanic relief, pre-Hispanic human use and ritual significance in the same enclave. In 2018 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest with the category of Archaeological Zone, and is part of the Cultural Landscape of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria, which reinforces its relevance in the island as a whole. For the demanding visitor, Bentayga offers high mountain scenery, geological reading of the relief and one of the best gateways to the aboriginal history of Gran Canaria. Its location in Tejeda makes it a key reference to understand the relationship between nature, settlement and sacred memory in the summits of Gran Canaria.

The Roque Nublo is a volcanic monolith and the most emblematic element of the Roque Nublo Natural Monument, in the municipality of Tejeda, Gran Canaria. The protected area occupies 451.8 hectares and is part of the Nublo Rural Park; its relief responds to a modeling of erosive origin on volcanic materials, which has left one of the most recognizable silhouettes of the island. It rises about 80 meters above its base and reaches 1,813 meters above sea level, in an environment of peaks, escarpments and wide interior views of the island. What can be seen and justifies the visit is precisely that combination of isolated rock, high Canarian mountain landscape and panoramic views of the center of Gran Canaria, with strong visual presence from many points of the environment. Its interest is not only scenic: it is protected as a Natural Monument since 1994 and the whole area is considered an Area of Ecological Sensitivity. It is one of the most representative symbols of Gran Canaria and appears recurrently in tourist and local guides and materials, due to its geological, identity and scenic value. The given location, Tejeda (27.96833, -15.61083), corresponds to the best known Roque Nublo on the island, within the rural park of the same name, and not to other homonymous toponyms.