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Fuerteventura beaches, What to see in Fuerteventura ?
Tarajalejo Beach: Art from end to end
Nov
Tarajalejo: As small as it is beautiful. This is how this peaceful coastal town in the municipality of Tuineje, south of Fuerteventura, is.
Here the skies turn blue and the light from the Atlantic is clear. The sea is lived in every corner, in every pebble, in each of its neighbors. It is palpable, above all, in its gastronomy, in that which still keeps the tradition of the cuisine of Fuerteventura.
More than four centuries ago, a group of fishermen settled permanently in this enclave, giving rise to the cozy town of Tarajalejo.
Its bay is protected, on both sides, by high rocky cliffs. On the left flank there is a small dock, where in the past, freight ships kept coming and going.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the port of Tarajalejo became the fourth most important pier in Fuerteventura and the second in the south of the island. Illustrious passengers embarked and disembarked on it, as well as all kinds of products, whether cattle, grain, food or wood. Now it is the ideal place to shelter the boats that wade through this part of the Majorera coast.
At the opposite end, the waves crash against a small cliff topped by a unique dwelling.
Between the two rock guardians there is a beautiful semi-urban beach of fine black sand, gravel and pebbles, which is 1,370 meters long and 45 meters wide.
The waters of Tarajalejo are calm although the wind in this area is always present. The tide plays with the coast, giving rise to changing and magical sands at low tide. Sands that will disappear hours later, leaving a beach of small pebbles.
The beach has wooden walkways, several rescue and lifeguard posts, showers, wastebaskets, amphibious chairs for people with reduced mobility, and other services that will make your stay more comfortable. Also a few meters from the beach, bars, shops, hotels, even a restaurant nestled in the sand. A luxury!!.
Behind the beach there is a renovated promenade. Huge and white corporeal letters, with the name of the town, welcome us and invite us to discover the “MARESEUM”.
Tarajalejo promenade
The «MARESEUM» is an open museum, made up of a set of five artistic works made by authors of different nationalities, around the same theme; the sea and all that it encompasses and inspires.
The sculptures that are placed along the Avenida Marítima were made in November 2017, at the I International Meeting of Sculptors of Tarajalejo, the FÔRMAR 2017.
“Fisherman of Dreams” is the first sculpture that we come across. On a basalt rock stands the figure of a fisherman collecting his nets. This work by the Majorero Juan Miguel Cubas is dedicated to all those people who, in one way or another, make it possible for the dreams of others to be fulfilled.
A little further on, and after having passed the wooden bridge that spans the Cardón ravine, we discover the work “Seahorse”, by Antonina Fathullina.
A friendly seahorse that faces the Atlantic and whose interior is loaded with sea stones, serves the author of it to represent the symbol of the ocean, a reminder of the importance of ecological balance on Earth. Vivid example of the incredible boundless beauty of nature.
A few steps later is Ana Mamulashvili, from Georgia, who invites us with her work “Window to infinity” to observe the sea through a sculpture full of waves that symbolize the continuous movement of water, as if the ocean never ended.
From this window the viewer can contemplate the place where the waves merge with the horizon.
Ten meters separates the Mamulashvili sculpture from the next point of interest, and it is not a sculpture. It is a point of bookcrossing (book exchange). A small wooden hut, no more than 30 centimeters high, raised on a pole, gives us the opportunity to spend an afternoon at the beach reading some of the novels that its interior houses. You can also leave books or magazines at this point, so that other visitors can enjoy reading by the sea.
Leaving the house behind, we came across a merman: the “Pearl Thief IV”. Legend has it that this type of siren has, for thousands of years, helped the Japanese Ama (women of the sea) in their task of collecting pearls on the coast of Shima.
Amancio González, author of the sculpture, wants to recognize with this work the work of women in all trades related to the sea.
In front of the stony siren, a small pond full of tarajales, sea goats, matomoros, salty and other halophilic plants are the refuge of a varied birdlife. Curlews, egrets, stilts, spoonbills, plovers, and even gray herons come together in this brackish-water wetland.
At the end of the walk the largest work of all is installed: Canary Islands. The sculpture, the work of Jhon Gogaberishvili, is made up of seven basalt stones that symbolize each of the main islands of the Canary Archipelago.
The stones are connected by elements that, like oars, are born from a large ship suspended in the air. A ship whose sails are shaped like an hourglass, similar to volcanic mountains, a time meter that takes us back to the very origin of the Archipelago.
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