Las Nieves Hermitage

The first thing you see is the contrast: white walls against the dark rock of the Roque de las Nieves, which looms straight behind the church, with the mountains of the north-west climbing beyond it. From the road into Puerto de las Nieves the two read as a single picture.

The interior repays the effort of catching it open. A wooden ceiling covers the room, and carefully made model ships hang on the walls, the kind of offering a harbour church gathers from the people who work the sea. An information board nearby covers the altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin of Las Nieves, the figure the whole village is named after.

• The door opens only for short spells on Saturday and Sunday mornings; on weekdays you see the church from the outside only.
• The car parks closest to the church charge a fee.
• Free public toilets stand about 90 m away.
• Two information boards stand by the church, one on the hermitage itself and one on the altarpiece of the Virgin of Las Nieves.
• The entrance is wheelchair-accessible.

The hermitage stands on the road into Puerto de las Nieves, Agaete's harbour village, so there is almost no last stretch to speak of. By car, the nearest paid car park is about 40 m away; a second one, surfaced with fine gravel, lies about 190 m off.

By bus, get off at the Puerto de las Nieves stop, about 150 m away, and walk over. The church slots easily into a drive along the mountain roads and viewpoints between Agaete and the Mirador del Balcón, with lunch in the harbour village afterwards.

Best: Saturday late morning or early on Sunday, the only times the door is open.

Avoid: weekdays if you want to see inside, when the church stays shut.

The wooden ceiling and the model ships are only visible during those weekend openings, so time the visit around them. For the outside alone any hour works, and late in the day the sun comes in low off the sea and lights the slopes behind the white walls.