Agulo entered last week, officially, in the network of The most beautiful towns in Spain, next to Garachico. The so-called Balcón del Atlántico, for its spectacular views of Teide or Bombón de La Gomera, is one of the smallest municipalities in the Canary Islands (1,183 inhabitants), which can now boast of what visitors have verified, its heritage and landscape beauty.
Much of that credit is due to Rosa Chinea, its mayor since 2015, with a great job in keeping her town like a paten and reordering the flow of historical buildings that Agulo has, despite the fact that some keep their farms, very close to the City Hall, abandoned; one of the concerns of the municipal councilor.
“Our fight from the beginning was to get on the route of the most beautiful towns in Spain. When the visitor arrives at Agulo, he always highlights how beautiful it is, for its order, for its cleanliness, for the kindness of its people. In addition, we have that balcony with Mount Teide in the background that watches over us day and night and that historic center that is worthy of walking and getting lost in it ”.
The mayor explains that “it has not been easy to achieve it, because they give you a 40-point audit that must be passed and we have achieved it. Now it remains to maintain it, a responsibility of both the neighbors and the City Council. If our ancestors have achieved it so far, I think that we are serious enough to maintain it, because there is no doubt that all that municipality that has been named the most beautiful town in Spain, has noticed it in its economy.
Chinea assures that it will be “a shock” for Agulo and the whole north, “because we are tired of people talking so much about that emptied Spain and if that happens it is because there is another Spain that is not interested in being full. My fight is to put Agulo in value and in that I am going to break the horns ”.
The Agulo City Council, to maintain that distinction, is working on an ordinance to clean up all those abandoned buildings. “It is clear that Agulo does not have resources, because we are the penultimate of the 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands, in terms of budget and inhabitants, and we need outside help to rehabilitate some large houses abandoned by their heirs. The five most beautiful towns in Spain in the Canary Islands are going to unite to find the financing that we need ”.
The arrival of the winter tourist season in the Canary Islands has also been noted in Agulo, with daily visitors who walk its cobbled streets in the three neighborhoods of the town. “You talk,” Rosa Chinea tells us, “with any restorer in Agulo and they tell you that they are at the top, sometimes overwhelmed. The important thing is that the fabric expands, and remember that Agulo is not only the old town, but also has three more neighborhoods, Lepe, La Palmita and Las Rosas, the latter being the gateway to the Garajonay National Park ”.
In this upper area of Agulo is one of its greatest tourist attractions, the spectacular Abrante viewpoint, designed by José Luis Bermejo, which today has its restaurant closed. “Both the Abrante viewpoint and Casa Lugo had a two-year concession and a one-year extension that could not be extended. Now we are putting out to tender in Abrante a bathroom for people with reduced mobility and a small warehouse so that the restaurant can be operational, and in the rural hotel Casa Lugo we are going to undergo renovations because it had sanitation and roof problems. Once these works are finished, we will draw up the specifications for those administrative concessions, because I have it clear, the public must be put out to tender; we do not have the capacity to carry out the activity ”.
