Cactus Garden

The Cactus Garden is located in an old quarry used for extracting coarse volcanic sand or picón, used by ancient prickly pear or chumbera growers (plants from the cactus family) to conserve the soil's nighttime humidity. The artist César Manrique saw the potential of this abandoned place, making it into an unusual terraced site where over 500 cactus species are grown, organised into categories. The complex, which bears the unmistakable stamp of Manrique, is presided over by a windmill formerly used for grinding corn and restored for educational purposes.