A splended half day out would be enjoyed by the whole family when visiting the Pyramids of Guimar.

On the east coast, not far from the capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is the small, and otherwise innocuous town of Güímar, which is home to the Pirámides de Güímar - a stunning collection of small pyramids, contained in a small park.

The six step pyramids of Güímar are still something of a mystery - they were originally suspected to have been constructed by farmers who stacked the chunks of rock while clearing land. This was, apparently,

common practice on the islands. On the other hand, there used to be nine pyramids at Güímar - the others have vanished, possibly used as building materials.

In 1991, the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (of Kon-Tiki fame) discovered that the 'heaps of rock' were something more - they were in fact bona fide pyramids, with similarities to those build by the Mayans and Aztecs in Mexico.

Heyerdahl also ascertained that the rocks had not come from the surrounding fields - the rocks are actually lava, from the lava fields of El Teide. He also found an astronomical orientation - on the summer solstice, a double sunset can be seen from the platform of the

biggest pyramid at Güímar. The sun sinks behind a mountain peak, moves behind it, then appears again before setting behind the next mountain - two settings for the price of one.

In addition, of all the existing pyramids of stairs on their western side, leading towards the rising sun on the winter solstice. Heyerdahl never did find out how old the pyramids were - or who built them. Some Guanches, the first known inhabitants of the Canary Islands, who were still in the Stone Age when explorers arrives during the middle ages, lived in a cave under the pyramids - which is not necessarily proof of anything