Playa de Vallehermoso, Gomera, Spain

two abandoned places in one day? but let me start at the beginning...
today we went hiking along the valley abajo from vallehermoso to playa de vallehermoso and back. there are trails at the side of the valley as well as in the middle, so except for a small part you do not need to walk the same trail twice. somewhere in the middle of the valley after you passed banana, mango and avocado trees, you pass by an interesting concrete building which seems to have a big garden. so we decided to explore it on our way back and we found a wonderful botanical garden. the building belonged to david bramwell, professor for plant biodiversity. the garden was constructed in 2000 under the direction of the architect fernando menis. 1.86 million euro were invested in 16,219 square metre, plant species from five continents including plants from all the canary and endemic in la gomera were initially planted. the garden is now abandoned for years. in one hand, despite a broken window, the building is in an apparent good shape; on the other hand, the wildernesses cover most of the area and the green houses are destroyed.
but this is not the only abandoned building we found on our hike... on the cost we found the castillo del mar, a former banana loading station. since 1890, all goods on the island, mainly bananas, have been packed via the castillo del mar and then loaded onto the steamboats via the "pescante", a wooden structure that led over three basalt columns. in 1950 the trade via el castillo was stopped and the place was forgotten. the old coastal road was quickly buried by rubble and rocks, making it impassable. in 1981 thomas müller acquired the port facility, but since access was only possible by sea, first attempts at renovation failed. the construction phase began in 2001 and all the natural stone walls that were built as protective walls against both the sea and pirates were restored. a stage and two event rooms of different sizes were integrated. the castillo has been closed for several years due to financial problems and a lack of electricity.
for us it was definitely a nice adventure and a great hike.Read more