Abona granadilla

Granadilla de Abona is a municipality belonging to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the island of Tenerife —Canary Islands, Spain—.

The municipal capital is located in the urban area of Granadilla, located about 640 m s. no. m. With 52,447 inhabitants (INE 2022), Granadilla is the fourth most populous municipality in Tenerife, after Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna and Arona.

Toponymy

The name of the municipality derives from its administrative capital, the exact reason for this name being unknown. Some researchers suggest that it was given to it by the colonizers because of its resemblance to the region of Granada, in the Iberian Peninsula, while others propose its origin in the presence in the area of the endemic shrub known as granadillo Hypericum canariense.

The nickname "de Abona" was incorporated into the municipal name by Royal Decree of June 27, 1916 to differentiate it from other homonymous towns.

Symbols

Shield

The heraldic shield of the municipality was approved by the Government of the Canary Islands on March 2, 1995. Its description is as follows: «Shield: in an azure field, in the upper part of it a circle of ten stones in their natural color, crowned by a primitive gold crown, and two spears (añepas) in their natural color. In the lower part of the shield, a ship from the 16th century with three masts. On the rear mast a necklace with the inscription "Victoria". On the border in gules ten ordered pomegranates in gold. Stamp: Royal Crown closed."

The circle of stones, the crown and the two añepas refer to the Guanche kingdom of Abona, to which the town belonged. The ship represents the one used by Ferdinand Magellan during his stopover on the island, named Santa María de la Victoria. The ten grenades on the border represent the ten population entities of the municipality, as well as a reference to the municipal place name.

Flag

The municipal flag consists of three horizontal stripes of equal size, red, white and red, with the municipal coat of arms in the center, in the white strip. It was approved by the Government of the Canary Islands on January 3, 1997.

Geography

It is located in the south of the island, bordering the municipalities of Arico, Vilaflor de Chasna and San Miguel de Abona.

It occupies an area of 162.44 km², which is equivalent to almost 8% of the insular total, making it the third largest municipality in Tenerife.

The municipal term adopts a triangular shape, a provision that is given by the progressive narrowing of the municipality from the coast to the summit. Its eastern and western limits are made up of two deep ravines that start on the southern wall of Las Cañadas del Teide and reach the sea. To the east, the ravine of the River separates Granadilla from Arico, and to the west the ravine of La Orchilla serves as the limit with San Miguel. To the northwest, Granadilla stretches to the end of Vilaflor. To the north, the municipality culminates in the Guajara Mountain, at an altitude of 2,715 meters, the highest level of the term and the second highest on the island after the Teide-Pico Viejo complex.

Orography

Geological formation known as Lunar Landscape, in the upper area of Granadilla

The upper section of the municipality, between the summit and approximately 600 meters, presents a steep slope, which softens from that level to the coastline.

The territory has been deeply affected by Quaternary and historical eruptions, which is reflected in the relief; A good example of this are the numerous volcanic cones that cause accidents, as well as the notable yellowish salt piles, so characteristic of this sector of the island. Among the most outstanding volcanic formations in the interior it is worth mentioning the Guajara Mountain and a whole series of more or less preserved volcanic cones. The main ones from north to south are the mountains of Iferfe, Las Chozas, El Lugar, Acojeja, Chiñama, Montaña Gorda, Yaco, Ifara and Los Riscos.

In the coastal zone there are numerous volcanic manifestations of great interest, highlighting the Montaña Pelada, an explosion caldera resulting from the interaction between magma and the sea; and Montaña Roja, a cone product of a coastal eruption that was connected to the island by an arm of volcanic materials. Between these two elevations there is one of the most important dune systems on the Tenerife coast.

Hydrography

The municipal area is crossed by a multitude of ravines and gullies, the largest being the ravines of Río, Géñiga or Las Vegas, Guirre or Helecho, Charcón, Chabuguito and the Orchilla ravine.

Climate

The climatic conditions are those derived from its location on the southern slope of the island: outstanding temperatures and low rainfall. The midlands register a greater volume of precipitations and the environmental humidity is also higher than that of the coastal area.

Average climatic parameters of Granadilla de Abona (1980-2000)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	21.6	22.0	23.1	22.9	23.7	25.3	27.5	28.4	27.9	26.5	24.7	22.7	24.7
Average temperature (°C)	18.4	18.6	19.4	19.4	20.3	22.0	23.8	24.7	24.4	23.2	21.5	19.6	21.3
Temp. medium (°C)	15.2	15.2	15.7	16.0	17.0	18.7	20.1	21.0	20.9	19.9	18.2	16.4	17.9
Total precipitation (mm)	11	14	18	7	1	0	0	0	3	9	27	23	116
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	3	14
Hours of sun	195	201	218	215	241	249	287	268	203	209	197	199	2670
Source: State Meteorology Agency

Flora

Landscape of the municipality

The climatic characteristics decisively influence the vegetation, since it is perfectly adapted to dryness, with a predominance of xerophytic species.

The coastal zone up to 100 masl is dominated by the sweet tabaibal of Euphorbia balsamifera and the barrillas of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Around the Montaña Roja-La Tejita area, the thickets of gorse Launaea arborescens and salty Schizogyne sericea stand out, while in the bed of the Las Monjas ravine there are abundant balo formations Plocama pendula. A small cardinal of Euphorbia canariensis subsists in the area known as Malpei.

From 100 meters above sea level, the vegetation is scarcer due to the plowing for cultivation. The landscape is now dominated by the bitter tabaibal of Euphorbia lamarckii, especially in the southwestern sector of the municipality, and by replacement scrub composed of incense Artemisia thuscula and cruets Rumex lunaria. These thickets give way from 400-500 meters to those made up of jaguars Cistus monspeliensis and broom Chamaecytisus proliferus, which are also components of the pine forest.

The pine forest appears at around 1,000-1,100 meters of altitude. It is a poor, clear formation, dominated by the Canarian pine Pinus canariensis that is interspersed with abundant scrub and some euphorbias typical of the coastal zone. As you ascend, the plant formations are scarcer, made up of scrubs of Teide broom Spartocytisus supranubius, Teide wallflowers Erysimum scoparium and summit roses Pterocephalus lasiospermus, until reaching the rock discovered at the culminating point of Montaña Guajara.

The extensive Salix canariensis willow grove located in the upper section of the Río ravine is also noteworthy.

Wildlife

The group of vertebrates is dominated by birds, standing out those linked to arid and coastal habitats, such as the curlews Burhinus oedicnemus, the runners Cursorius cursor, Little Plover Charadrius dubius, Common Plover Anthus berthelotii, Marsh Terrestrial Calandrella rufescens, Gray Shrike Lanius excubitor, the Moorish bird Bucanetes githagineus, the kestrel Falco tinnunculus, the Cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea or the seagull Larus cachinnans. In the coastal sector of the municipality, the abundance of migratory birds stands out, such as the gray heron Ardea cinerea, the little egret Egretta garzetta, the common sandpiper Calidris alpina or the Greater Plover Charadrius hiaticula. Inside, there are numerous species of birds, such as the alpispas Motacilla cinerea, the warbler Phylloscopus canariensis or the linnet Carduelis cannabina. In the area of pine forests and peaks, the presence of the blue finch Fringilla teydea, the great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major, the common chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, the sparrow hawk Accipiter nisus or the eagle Buteo buteo.

Among the reptiles there are three endemic species: the southern blight lizard Gallotia galloti ssp. galloti, the perenquen Tarentola delalandii and the mullet Chalcides viridanus.

Geology

Landscape of the natural monument Mountain Pelada

In the upper area of the municipality, the basaltic-trachybasaltic flows that emerged from the eruption of the La Arena volcano stand out and formed an extensive black “aa” type malpaís that reached the sea. The aforementioned volcano, which corresponds to the Montaña de La Arena at the summit of Granada, is a large reddish-black pyroclastic cone made up of slag, bombs and lapillis, which arose over the phonolitic flows that form Montaña Guajara and which correspond to the last phases of the formation of the Cañadas Building. Interspersed with these two types of flows are another type of basaltic flows that were emitted by medium-sized cones located outside the island ridges.

In the eastern area of Granadilla, the salic pyroclastic soils of heterogeneous composition stand out for their whitish color, with the presence of pumice predominating, and which arose in the last pyroclastic eruptions of Edificio Cañadas. For its part, the western zone, approximately to the west of the Charcón ravine, is made up of basaltic flows from the emissions of the volcanic cones present in this area of the municipal term, and which correspond to lower eruptions of the Axis. rift from Tenerife SE-NW. These cones, of Strombolian origin, are composed of basaltic pyroclasts.

Landscape of the natural monument of Los Derriscaderos

As outstanding geomorphological elements are a large exogenous dome of phonolites and trachytes that arose during Pleistocene eruptions, and which corresponds to the Pinalete and Las Coloradas Mountains. On the other hand, the Pelada Mountain stands out, a cone of hydromagmatic origin with a mostly basaltic composition.

Protected spaces

Granadilla has 38.45 km² of protected natural space, which represents 24% of the municipal territory. It fully includes the natural monuments of Los Derriscaderos, Las Montañas de Ifara and Los Riscos and Montaña Pelada, and part of the natural monument of Montaña Colorada. It also has an area within the Teide National Park and the Corona Forestal Natural Park. It also has the special natural reserve of Montaña Roja.

These protected areas, with the exception of those classified as natural monuments, are also included in the Natura 2000 Network as a Special Conservation Area and Special Protection Area for Birds. Likewise, the municipality's coastline, from Punta Brava to the border with San Miguel de Abona, is protected under the Sebadales del Sur de Tenerife Special Conservation Zone.

The municipality also has the Monte de Utilidad Pública denominated Pinar.

Panoramic Granadilla de Abona. In the center of the image, Gorda Mountain, and on the left the Red Mountain. On the right, the Chimbesque Mountain, of the neighboring municipality of San Miguel de Abona.

History

Guanche period: before the fifteenth century

The territory occupied by the modern municipality has been inhabited since Guanche times, having belonged to the kingdom or menceyato of Abona.

A significant amount of the population of the menceyato was concentrated around the modern center of Granadilla, as shown by archaeological evidence.

European Conquest and Colonization: 15th and 16th Centuries

Although the mencey of Abona had signed peace with the Europeans before 1490, when the conquest ended in 1496, the territory of Granadilla and the rest of Abona became a refuge for the Guanches fleeing from the warring sides submitted.

The colonization of the territory of Granadilla began in 1503 when Alonso Fernández de Lugo handed over the kingdom of Abona to Gonzalo Suárez de Quemada, agent of the III Duke of Medina Sidonia, Juan Alonso de Guzmán, who had financed the conquest and to whom he actually handed over the Lugo lands.

...otorgo e do e entrego a vos el dicho Gonçalo Suares e para vos: el agua del río de Abona, ques en lo dicha Isla de Tenerife, con todas las tierras que se puede regar con el dicho río de Abona... en la muy noble e muy leal cibdad de Sevilla a treze días del mes de febrero año del nascimiento de Nuestra Salvador Jesu Xpto de mill e quinientos...

Leopoldo de la Rosa y Elías Serra Ráfols, 1949.

The representatives of the Duke began to settle around the ravine of the River, founding the nucleus of Las Vegas, although during the first decades of the xvi century The territory of Granadilla and in general all of Abona is sparsely populated, given how expensive it is to put into production the arid southern soil. These lands are dedicated at first mainly to the exploitation of the mountains and the associated peguera industry, as well as livestock and beekeeping.

Church of San Antonio de Padua

For its part, the area where the Granadilla helmet is located was not populated until the middle of the 16th century. It is considered that the Portuguese Gonzalo González Zarco was the founder of the town, beginning to be built around two key points: on the one hand, the Fuente del Lugar, an important water supply enclave, and on the other, the hermitage of Santa Lucía erected by González in the 1560s.

The place of Granadilla began to have its own royal mayor from the second half of the xvi century, the first being the Portuguese Juan Bello, son-in-law of the founder of the town and who left important descendants in the area. For his part, the position of bailiff was shared with Vilaflor and the rest of Abona.

From the outset the area of Abona is included in the ecclesiastical benefit of Taoro, being under the parish jurisdiction of San Pedro de Daute. In 1560 the Abona mill was created, with headquarters in Vilaflor, passing Granadilla to become part of the jurisdiction of the parish of San Pedro Apóstol.

At this time, the two most important means of communication in Granadilla were built throughout the Old Regime: the Chasna royal road, which led from the town to the La Orotava valley, crossing Vilaflor and crossing Las Cañadas del Teide, and the Camino Real del Sur, which led to San Cristóbal de La Laguna along the entire southern slope of the island.

Visit of Fernando de Magallanes

On October 1, 1519, the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, which had landed in Tenerife during the beginning of his first round-the-world voyage, arrived at La Tejita beach. Although at first the fleet made a stopover in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, they had to hide in the Montaña Roja cove as they heard that a Portuguese squadron was looking for them to arrest them. Finally, on October 2, Magellan left for America.

Old Regime: 17th and 18th centuries

In 1617 the hermitage of San Antonio was elevated to the rank of parish, beginning from this moment the development of the town, becoming an important producer of grain enclave for consumption on the island.

In 1648, Granadilla and the rest of the places in the region began to depend civilly and judicially on the mayor of La Orotava, as this town was declared exempt. From this moment on, the real mayors of Granadilla, who until then were appointed by the La Laguna council, are now appointed by said mayor.

In 1665 a convent of Franciscan friars was founded in the town under the invocation of San Luis Obispo, having been requested by the neighbors themselves. The convent suffered a fire in January 1745, and was rebuilt shortly after.

In 1768, thanks to the administrative reforms carried out by King Carlos III, the offices of ombudsman trustee and common deputy responsible for defending the interests of the neighborhood of the places and who were elected by gradual suffrage were created. Likewise, from 1772 the royal mayors began to be elected by the same system. Thus, the first "town hall" of Granadilla was configured.

The Tenerife historian José de Viera y Clavijo describes Granadilla at the end of the 18th century as follows:

Granadilla. Dista de Chasna 2 leagues of good road, and 13 from La Laguna. There is the place located in a valley, looking at the Midday; uneven floor, but gentle temperament. It is fertile soil in wheat, which has solidly given 100 for 1. There are cattle and silk babies. The church is of good factory, with a curative provision of the bishop, and a convent of Saint Francis of 7 religious. Compound the jurisdiction of 1,408 people, some in the payments of San Juan, La Higuera, Pinal, Cantera and Lomo, Palomas, Draguito, Salto, Jaco and Los Llanos. He's got four hermits.

José de Viera and Clavijo, 1772-1773.

In 1798, the Chiñama estate was separated from Vilaflor and added to the municipality of Granadilla, which was now defined by its modern limits.

Modern period: 19th and 20th centuries

In 1812 the municipality of Granadilla was created under the protection of the Constitution of Cádiz. After alternating between constitutional and absolutist governments in the first half of the xix century, the municipality was definitively consolidated in 1836.

Between 1827 and 1837 the municipalities of Granadilla and Vilaflor sued for the place where the Abona notary's office should be established, which had been created in the second two centuries before. Finally, in 1871 the notary's office was transferred to Granadilla, which had already become the head of the region to the detriment of Vilaflor since the 18th century, and in where the notaries generally used to reside.

In 1836 the Franciscan convent of the town was closed due to the Confiscation of Mendizábal, becoming used in subsequent years as a barracks, headquarters of the town hall and dungeon.

On March 28, 1891, in number 757, the liberal-conservative newspaper La Opinión, from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, published a chronicle about the "treacherous murder of the mayor of Granadilla" in the patio of his house in Charco del Pino, one of the many attacks on various public offices that became very frequent during the last decade of the 19th century in the Canary Islands, an attitude that persisted well into the 20th century, and specifically in In Granadilla, during the years 1889 and 1890, intentional fires and other attacks took place, attacking the homes and properties of certain corporate employees, reaching the maximum alarm in March 1891 with the murder in the patio of his house of the mayor of Granadilla and in turn first deputy mayor, Laureano Martín Alonso. Although the aforementioned newspaper published verbatim "The crime of Charco del Pino", about the treacherous murder of the Mayor of Granadilla", and later "the interim mayor of this town, Don Laureano Martín&# 34;, the official chronicler of Granadilla, Emiliano Guillén, considers that at that time the mayor was José García Torres, and Laureano Martín was a mayor who collected taxes, for which he was assassinated by violent gangs.

Pascual Madoz, in his Dictionary, says of Granadilla in the middle of the xix century:

Granadilla (La): town with town hall on the island and diocese of Tenerife (15 leagues), judicial party of Orotava (10), (...). SITUADA in the center of its jurisdiction, in a kind of small valley that form 3 mountains called one Santa, another Cogeja and the highest Buenavista, on whose foot is the town with a fairly decline towards the sea; it enjoys a very healthy CLIMA and a pleasant ventilation. It consists of the population of 150 CASAS the majority of small and earth, although others are high and of pleasant forms, distributed in 4 main streets, others of crossing and 2 squares, the most notable of the first ones are the Water and the Pine, in whose center is the church and the squares; the others are called the Tagoro, the Calvary, the Green Cross and the Fountain, all of the priests Lucia, who was the former church, and contiguous to it is seen a small garden titled from San Antonio; a cemetery outside the village to the part of the S. with a lot of capacity and scellent ventilation. Confine the TÉRMINO by the N. with the serranía of the Summit, base from where the elevated Teide starts; E. with the jurisdiction of Arisco from which a ravine is divided called the River, very deep precipice that is crossed by 2 wooden bridges; S. with the beaches of Red Mountain, whose high peak on the shore of the sea is quite singular, and by O jurisdiction of San Miguel that divides The TERRENO is extremely broken, clay, limestone and sandy, with several of its pine-mounted mountains covered and it kills low. The CAMINOS heads the border towns and the capital of the province and the party, all very stony according to the land. (...); INDUSTRIA the agricultural, some herreros and tegedores of homemade canvas and inferior blankets; PRODUCTION wheat, potatoes, almonds, oranges, grapes, cochinilla and different vegetables; there are very little goats for how harmful it is to the wooded, but rather vacuno, cavalry and above all mular and hunt for perdices, rabbits and pigeons.

Pascual Madoz, 1850.

In 1907 the works of the road between the town of Granadilla and the pier of El Médano were completed. This project was part of a state plan to support private initiatives to remove agricultural products —bananas, potatoes, and tomatoes— from the incipient export economy in the south of the island.

In 1908 the Court of First Instance and the Judicial District of Granadilla were created, which came to bring together the towns of Arico, Granadilla, San Miguel, Vilaflor and Arona. On November 18 of that same year, King Alfonso XIII grants the municipality the title of Villa.

In 1933, the general highway of the South reached the town of Granadilla, a communication route that came to replace the old royal roads. This work is coupled with other infrastructure that will enable the maximum development of export agriculture in the territory of Granadilla: the construction in the 1940s of the Canal del Sur that transferred water from the municipalities of Fasnia and Arico to the rest of the south insular.

In 1941, during World War II, a series of military defenses were built on the coast of Granadilla between El Médano and La Mareta against a possible invasion by the Allied Forces.

Starting in the 1960s, Granadilla developed at the rate of the so-called tourist boom that affected the Canary Islands. This is motivated by its location in the south of the island, which favors the "sun and beach" climate desired by European tourists.

On February 3, 1963, a new fire broke out in the former Franciscan convent, causing its collapse and the death of twenty-three people. The building was partly restored in 1990, burning down again in the summer of 1991.

In the seventies, two infrastructures were built that further promoted the development of the tourism industry in the area. On the one hand, the Autovía del Sur highway that connects Santa Cruz with Los Cristianos opens to traffic in 1971 and will be widened and converted into the Autopista del Sur around 1978, and on the other hand, the second airport on the island is built on municipal land, Tenerife Sur or Reina Sofía, which was inaugurated on November 6, 1978.

21st century

In 2002, a social movement began against the construction of an industrial and commercial port on the coast of the municipality, reasoning damage to the natural spaces of the area and to protected species. In 2004, the Citizen Platform against the Industrial Port of Granadilla promoted a popular legislative initiative before the Government of the Canary Islands, in which the protection of the Granadilla coastline was proposed as the "Special Natural Reserve of the Northwest Coast of Granadilla". This initiative is rejected by Parliament in 2005, although social pressure and environmental groups cause it to carry out a reduction in the dimensions of the original project. Work on the port began in early 2009, being temporarily suspended shortly thereafter and restarted in July 2010.

On March 11, 2010, the Government of the Canary Islands added the title of Historic to Villa.

In November 2017, the new industrial port of Granadilla receives its first berth and remains open.

Demographics

Graph of demographic evolution of Granadilla de Abona between 1900 and 2021

Official regular residents according to ISTAC population censuses.

The first figures on the population of Granadilla appear in the tazmías carried out by the island council in 1531 and 1561. These "censuses" give for the term of Abona —which, in addition to Granadilla, included the rest of the places in the region— a population of 283 people the first and 397 the second.

The population growth of Granadilla de Abona has been considerable in recent decades. One of the characteristics of the municipality is the dispersion of the population in hamlets or neighborhoods, although such dispersion was more pronounced in past times. Within this dispersion there is a tendency to locate these population centers above 450-500 meters of altitude, so that out of a total of ten entities, only three are below said level. This is a reflection of the traditional situation in which agricultural activity determines the settlement of the population in the mediocrities.

As of January 1, 2020, Granadilla had a total of 51,233 inhabitants, ranking 4th in number of inhabitants both on the island of Tenerife and in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as 9th. of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.

The relative population was 315.4 inhabitants/km².

By gender, there were 25,633 men and 25,600 women.

From the analysis of the population pyramid it can be deduced that:

• The population between 0 and 14 years was 16 % (8 120 people) of the total;
• the population between 15 and 64 years was 74 % (37 746 pers).
• and the population aged over 65 was 10 % (5 367 pers.) remaining.

Regarding the place of birth, 52% of the inhabitants of the municipality (26,534 people) were born in the Canary Islands, of which 54% (14,380 people) had been born in the municipality itself, a 38% (10,150 people) in another municipality on the island and 8% (2,004 people) came from another island in the archipelago. The rest of the population was made up of 11% (5,656 people) of peninsular Spaniards and 37% (19,043 people) of those born abroad, mainly in Venezuela, Cuba, Italy and Colombia.

Foreign population by nationality (2020)
Position	Country of birth	Population
1. a	Italy	2519
2. a	Venezuela	1581
3. a	Cuba	1323
4. a	Colombia	877
5. a	United Kingdom	647
6. a	Romania	503
7. a	Germany	462
8. a	Morocco	359
9. a	Uruguay	319
10. a	Portugal	311

Administration and politics

City Hall

The municipality is governed by its city council, made up of twenty-one councillors.

List of mayors since the 1979 democratic elections

Mayor.	Start of mandate	End of mandate	Party
Froilán Hernández González	1979	1983			Independent Granadilla Renovation Group of Abona (GIRGA)
Froilán Hernández González	1983	1991			Innerfeña Group of Independents (ATI)
Francisco Jaime González Cejas	1991	2007			Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)
Carmen Nieves Gaspar Rivero	2007	2011			Coalition Canaria (CC)
Francisco Jaime González Cejas	2011	2016			Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)
José Domingo Regalado	2016	-			Coalition Canaria (CC)

After the 2007 elections, a pact government was formed between CC, PP and ASSPT.

After the May 2011 elections, a pact was formed between PSOE and PP.

On September 27, 2016, with the support of PP and Ciudadanos, a motion of no confidence by the CC against the mayor Francisco Jaime González Cejas (PSOE) was successful, and he was replaced by José Domingo Regalado (CC).

Territorial organization

It is included in the Abona Region, except for its surface immersed in the protected natural spaces of the Teide National Park and the Corona Forestal, which belong to the Massif Central region.

It is divided into ten population entities.

Economy

Facilities of Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER)

The predominant economic activity of the municipality has been agriculture. Until the fifties it was an agriculture dedicated to self-sufficiency: crops such as cereals, vegetables, some fruit trees, mainly orange trees, although potatoes have also been grown on jable since ancient times, the surplus of which is used for export. With the introduction of irrigation, the land in the lower areas is used for tomato cultivation, which acquires great importance, being exported to European countries. Currently, greenhouse crops —vegetables, flowers, etc.— acquire considerable importance.

Although agricultural activity continues to characterize the municipality to a large extent, in recent years there has been considerable labor diversity as a consequence of the establishment of tourist activity in the nearby coastal area; For this reason, at present, more than half of the total assets work in the construction and services subsectors, mainly in the hotel and catering industry.

Within the municipal term, is the Technological and Renewable Energies Institute (which also houses the D-ALiX data processing center).

Services

Education

Granadilla has several public schools spread throughout the municipality:

Health

As for health centers, the municipality has:

Citizen security

In the center of Granadilla there is a local police station and a Civil Guard barracks, as well as a Civil Protection headquarters, which also has a location in El Médano. In San Isidro there is also another local police station.

Transportation

Roads

The main means of communication through which the municipality is accessed are the Autopista del Sur TF-1 highway and the General del Sur highway TF-28, which can also be accessed from Las Cañadas del Teide along the road from La Orotava to Granadilla TF -twenty-one. Likewise, there are a series of secondary roads that connect the different population entities of Granadilla with each other or with other municipalities:

• TF-634 from the Cooperativa del Carmen to the TF-64
• TF-635 from TF-64 to TF-645
• TF-636 from San Isidro to Chimiche by Las Palomas
• TF-638 from The Desert to the Whites
• TF-64 from Granadilla to El Médano
• TF-642
• TF-643 from El Médano to Los Abrigos
• TF-644
• TF-645 from San Isidro to El Guincho by Atogo
• TF-647 de Charco del Pino a Las Zocas
• TF-65 from San Miguel to Los Abrigos

Public transport

The Tenerife Sur-Reina Sofía International Airport is located in Granadilla.

The municipality also has taxi ranks in the town of Granadilla, San Isidro, Los Abrigos and El Médano. It also has a bus station —guaguas—, being connected by the following TITSA lines:

South airport of the island of Tenerife

Paths

Several paths pass through the municipality that are approved in the Red de Senderos de Tenerife:

• GR 131 Anaga - Chasna
• PR-TF 72 Chasna Road - Lunar Landscape
• PR-TF 83 Altos de Granadilla
• PR-TF 83.1 Las Vegas - Los Escurriales
• PR-TF 83.2 Corridor Road
• SL-TF 242 Camino de Las Vegas

Heritage

The municipality has several elements declared Assets of Cultural Interest:

It also has a rich archaeological heritage of the Guanche culture.

Likewise, the file for the declaration of an Ethnological Site in favor of the Caserío sobre La Fuente is underway.

Culture

Cultural facilities

Granadilla has different cultural centers scattered throughout the different towns. It also has Houses of Culture.

Local festivals

In the municipality various festivals and festivals are celebrated, with municipal holidays being Shrove Tuesday and June 13 —festivity of San Antonio de Padua—

The main festivals are:

Sports

As for sports, the municipality has various sports facilities spread throughout the municipality.

• Municipal football fields in El Médano, San Isidro and Charco del Pino
• Municipal Baseball Field in Los Abrigos
• Baskets in El Médano, Los Abrigos
• Estadio Municipal de Fútbol Francisco Suárez Delgado
• Municipal Sports Pavilion
• Municipal pool
• Sports in Granadilla helmet, El Médano, Vicácaro, Los Abrigos, Los Blanquitos, Cruz de Tea, Charco del Pino
• Insular Land of Canarian Fight Pollito de la Barriada, in San Isidro
• Centro Deportivo y de Ocio Los Cardones, in San Isidro

Religion

Cave of the Holy Brother Peter located in the village of El Médano. It is one of the most popular Catholic pilgrimage sanctuaries on the island and the archipelago

The believing population of Granadilla mainly professes the Catholic religion, the parishioners being divided into eight parishes: the matrix of San Antonio de Padua in the town, Nuestra Señora de la Merced in El Médano, Ntra. Sra. del Carmen in Chimiche, San Benito Abad in Los Blanquitos, San Blas in Los Abrigos, San Isidro Labrador in San Isidro, San Juan Bautista in El Salto and San Luis Rey de Francia in Charco del Pino. These parishes belong to the archpriesthood of Granadilla of the diocese of Tenerife, the municipality being under the religious patronage of San Antonio de Padua and Nuestra Señora del Rosario.

Granadilla also has other places of Catholic worship:

In Granadilla de Abona is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the Canary Islands, the so-called Cueva del Santo Hermano Pedro located on the outskirts of the town of El Médano. This place served as an oratory and lodging for San Pedro de San José de Betancur (1626-1667), who was canonized in 2002, becoming the first Canarian saint. At present, a pilgrimage is made every year on the Saturday closest to April 24 from his birthplace in the town of Vilaflor, to the Cueva del Santo. This pilgrimage is organized by the municipalities of Granadilla and Vilaflor.

The municipality also has churches of the Protestant Church, with the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Evangelical Church of San Isidro and Rey de Reyes, all of them in the town of San Isidro.

Twinned cities

• Marina
• South Melena
• Cancun