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Always referred to as though it were a single town VALLE GRAN REY is actually a deep gorge carved out of the island's ancient rock containing a number of villages along its length. What visitors usually mean by Valle Gran Rey is the collection of villages near the sea, where the valley fans out into a small fertile delta, filled with banana plantations and surrounded by forbidding basalt cliffs. More tourist infrastructure and more tourists are concentrated here than on the rest of the island put together - though by Canarian standards it remains a minor resort. There's not much to do here, but the relaxing sand-and-pebble beaches and a collection of pleasantly low-key bars and restaurants are a good base for a laid-back holiday or, as is the case everywhere in La Gomera, sensational hiking. In the late 1960s the valley became the destination of choice for many German hippies and drop-outs. As their numbers have dwindled, their place has been taken by a multitude of generally left-wing German students and professionals seeking an "alternative"beach holiday - away from the package destinations elsewhere in the Canaries. But though most of the upper valley is terraced for agriculture, the comparatively large earnings from tourism havebeen irresistible to locals who have built lots of small apartment blocks to accommodate visitors near the sea. These are concentrated in five villages, separated by small banana plantations and tenuous building restrictions that prevent them melting together. At the point where the mouth of the narrow valley opens out into a delta, clustered houses have clawed their way up a cliff to form La Calera . Steep stairs and winding alleys connect old buildings enjoying great valley and sea views. The biggest and busiest of the three resorts, Vueltas is built around the valley's harbour and still retains some of the feel of a small harbour village, despite all the newly erected, small-scale apartment buildings. On its western side new building work has created nondescript housing and tourist accommodation in two areas known as Borbalan , along the road to La Calera, and La Puntilla , along the seafront. La Playa , a ten minute walk further west alongside a large pebble beach, is also a collection of newer buildings, clustered around a relatively modest beach where a short busy promenade creates an easy-going seaside atmosphere.
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