Centro de Interpretación Geológica
An interpretation centre housed in the old village casino of El Pinar, at a key point in the south of El Hierro. Its panels explain how the island was formed and which geological stages it has passed through, with a section on how the local population has managed its geological resources. It is run by the island company Meridiano and has a shop and toilet. Bus line 2, which links El Pinar with San Andrés and Valverde, stops within reach.
El Hierro is the youngest island in the archipelago and its landscape says so plainly: lava flows, cones, badlands and an enormous scarp slicing the island along its northern side. The centre gathers that story into a room of panels running from the volcanic origin through the successive stages of building up and breaking down the island edifice, so anyone who comes here before touring the island reads the roadside scenery far better afterwards.
The second half of the display is more human than geological: how stone has been put to use, how water has been sought and channelled, and how the sheer harshness of the terrain shaped where people settled. The building, the former casino of El Pinar, belongs to the network run by the island's public company, the same one behind the Ecomuseo de Guinea, the Geopark centre and the Mirador de la Peña, so several visits can be strung together on one trip.
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