Playa Jardín de Punta Brava. [Garden Beach at Punta Brava]

This marvellous strip of shoreline is the result of coastal reconditioning finished in 1993 running from the Castillo San Felipe as far as the suburb of Punta Brava. It is a series of black, volcanic sand beaches, surrounded by splendid garden and pedestrian walkways, designed by the artist Cesar Manrique. Along a 600-metre shore front, service and leisure facilities, enhanced by flourishing gardens, sea-water cascades, and artificial caves live up to the area’s name. The quality of the facilities and its well-kept natural beauty make the Playa Jardín a place of singular beauty designed for leisure and awarded the European Union’s Blue Flag. The construction of Playa Jardín cost the Ministry of Public Works nearly 2,000 million Pesetas. The works, supervised by the artist César Manrique and the engineers Amigó and Olcina, were executed by the companies Cubiertas y MZOV and Ferrovial. To cover the old pebble beach, 23,000 cubic metres of volcanic sand extracted from the sea-bed nearby were used. The construction of the semi-submerged breakwater which protects the beach from the heavy swell prevailing on the north coast required 4,226 concrete blocks of 20 tonnes each, equivalent to 35,207 cubic metres of concrete.