The Town Hall of El Sauzal wants to convert the viewpoint of The Garañona, in the town center, in a large balcony that hangs over the Atlantic Ocean. The local government (CC) seeks financial support from other public administrations to transform an obsolete space, which steals views from the road, into an icon, into “the most important viewpoint in the north of Tenerife”, in the words of the Sauza mayor, Mariano Perez (DC).
The northern Consistory has been working for more than three years on a project designed by Urbano Yanes, municipal architect, and valued in its first phase at around 900,000 euros. The first door that the City Council has touched is that of the General Directorate of Tourist Infrastructure of the Government of the Canary Islands. “We don’t know if we will get that financing or not; nor when it could touch us, but we believe that it is a strategic place for the North and we trust that we will be able to channel the project before the end of this mandate”, details the mayor.
Mariano Pérez acknowledges that this dream depends on supra-municipal support: «Obviously, it would be very difficult for a municipality with a budget of 9 million euros to execute alone a project of 900,000 euros», since this represents 10% of annual resources.
The initiative foresees a radical change of the current viewpoint of La Garañona, in an area of about 750 square meters. Urbano Yanes, the architect responsible for the project, explained to THE DAY that it is about converting the current space into “a balcony over the cliff, a terrace towards the horizon, which gives the sensation of hanging over the cliff”.
Currently, the viewpoint is removed from the edge and offers limited views of the Acentejo coast and the Arenal beach. With this new project, the area would have a cafeteria with spectacular views and a “bird’s eye” viewpoint, with a perfect orientation to enjoy the spectacular sunsets of the Sauzalera coast.
The idea is to create a large terrace that “gives the feeling of hanging over the cliff”
The project plans to maintain the vegetation of the area, but is committed to reconfiguring the parking space so that from the street you can enjoy unique views of the entire coast of Acentejo and the rest of the north of Tenerife. Without the visual barriers that currently allow you to pass by this cliff of more than 300 meters of altitude without noticing the immense and wild Arenal beach.
In 2019, in an interview in EL DÍA, Mariano Pérez anticipated that his dream, shared with the municipal architect, was “to build the most important viewpoint in the north of Tenerife in La Garañona”. A “so emblematic” site, to which “many people go and where we have thought that a floating viewpoint could be built. We have already adapted the planning and our architect, who is one of the best in the Canary Islands, is working on a project that would be the great work that would support the town. That proposal is already in place three years later and now all that is needed is for it to obtain the necessary financial support to turn El Sauzal into an obligatory stop to enjoy the best views of the sea in Tenerife.
