Centre Tour - Vega de San Mateo

A little bit further up the road – at another 300 m more above sea level – we reach the small town of Vega de San Mateo (commonly called just ‘San Mateo’), an agricultural centre located in a fertile, green valley.



Famous for its large cattle and agricultural markets, held every Sunday, it is almost a tradition for many inhabitants from Las Palmas to make their weekly provisions of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs as well as cheese and other local specialities on these markets.



Worth visiting in the centre of this village is its major attraction, the Museo Etnológico La Cantonera, where an old farmhouse, consisting of several, 300 years old peasant cottages was turned into an ethnographical museum, documenting the everyday life of the ‘Canarios’ of past times. The collections include all sorts of historic agricultural artefacts, ceramics, furniture and farming equipment. As there is also a rather good restaurant on the site, it can get quite busy here at weekends.



There is also a church with a 17^th-century statue of San Mateo – Saint Mathew – who is also the patron saint of this village.