La Oliva in Fuerteventura

Getting out and about in Fuerteventura is easy and a great place to start is La Oliva. It is the former capital that gives its name to the municipality covering most of the north of the island. It is easy to find and is situated on the main inland road that runs north to south.

An Article by local Historian, Bernie Power, with The Voice Fuerteventura

Travelling through the Villages, including La Oliva 

Starting from the popular holiday resort of Corralejo in the north of Fuerteventura, you follow a long, relatively straight road which will take you inland. 

This journey is easy to do by hire car, as there is really only one road, so its very difficult to get lost. Following this route, you will pass a few smaller villages on your way south, such as Villaverde - or the Green Village as it is more commonly known. This village is often referred to as the 'bread basket of the island' as it was where most of the food for the early settlers was produced. It is quite rural, with loats of spaces for agriculture to thrive. It also get a lettle cooler here in the evenings than it does on the coast, so it's greener and with less salt in the air, so the soli is good for growing local vegetables, as well as the islands famous Aloe Vera plants. 

La Oliva - Northern Fuerteventura, Canary Islands. 

The next village you will come to is La Oliva, named after the wild olive trees that grew abundantly in the area. The first settlers to arrive here did so in around 1510, and they were called The Hernandez brothers. They were responsible for the guards who watched the grain fields and built the first shelters in the area. 

The Church in La Oliva Main Square 

Once the Hernandez brothers created a settlement, over time, the area became more populated and there are still ruins visible which were once the farmer’s homes. There are also many extended and renovated houses, scattered in and around the countryside which still show features and hints of the agricultural past, but are now family homes, small holidings of goat farms.

By far, the the most impressive building in the village is the church, which stands proud in the centre of the village and is made entirely from local rocks. The tower was the first part of the building to be erected, in around 1700, and acted as a watchtower for marauding pirates, who were rife in the surrounding waters during that time.

The rest of the church was finished by 1711 and is dedicated to Our lady of Candelaria. It houses some great artworks including an enormous painting of The last Judgement featuring heaven and hell, possibly just to scare the kids into behaving!

La Cilla in La Oliva

From the church, if you walk right towards the El Cotillo road, you will find a beautifully restored building called La Cilla or The Granary Museum. It was built around the same time as the church and was used to store the tithe (taxes) which were given to the clergy. The applicable tithes were also calculated here and what they decided, was the amount you gave. This was deduced by how much grain etc. was available on the island at the time and allowed them to control and restrict exports so that they could feed the population during the hard times. Inside the museum, they explain (in your language) all the hardships faced by the locals living in a desert island and how they overcame and managed to save as much water as they could. This includes the drainage and irrigation systems that they implemented, and will help to explain some of the strange workings that you will see on the sides of some of the mountains, when you drive around.

La Casa De Los Coroneles - La Oliva Village

If you walk back towards the church, on your right are some old stone ruins. This is what is left La Capellanía, the place where the priest would stay. You can see how the walls were constructed using local stones, cemented together with mud and straw. Just past the church and the Ayuntamiento (council buildings) you will see something that looks like a castle, standing proud at the end of the road. This is La casa de los Coroneles or The House of the Colonels and the seat of the owners of the island; a sometimes harsh, cruel, despotic and hereditary regime. They made La Oliva the capital for more than 200 years and fortunately spent most of their lives abroad. However, that is another story! All around the house, you can still see the edges of the fields that used to grow hardy crops like barley and rye, that did not need much water, which were tended by the local farmers.

La Oliva Village and local Faciities for site seeing

Nowadays, it is much easier to park and stretch your legs. It is also quote easy to obtain something to eat or drink, as there is a refreshments kiosk outside the church and lots of palaces you can sit and relax in the sunshine or shade. There are also a few bars, restaurants and cafes, with restrooms and diffrent foods and drink on offer.

There is also plenty of free parking and a petrol station nearby for those who are travelling by car. And if you have little ones in tow and fancy a meeting some of the local woldlife, then In the rocks around the House of the Colones, are a family of Barbary Ground Squirrels, which people often confuse with chipmunks, that are great fun to watch and photograph. They are quite tame, just please be nice and respect the local wildlife by not feeding them junk food or anything that they should not have.

Art Museum in La Oliva

The Village is also home to the Casa Mane Canarian Art Museum or Centro de Arte Canario - Casa Mané for those who fancy indulging in a little local culture too. But for those of you who prefer to taste the local delicacies then the house of Colonel Pedro is also worth a visit as there you can buy local wares, produced by the artisans from around the island. La Oliva is a sleepy, little village, full of nice little places to sit and wonder at what life really would have been like for the locals of the past. A time before technology, tourism and television came along.