Villa de Winter
A lot of mystery still surrounds the villa de winter and its conections to other parts of the island. It was first built in 1946 and sits on a plot of land the exact same shape as the island scaled proportioanlly to that of the island and it's position with in the grounds match exactly it's real position on the isalnd, was this a coincidence or mathmatical genious by Winter. Why should a construction of this size be built on a volcanic desert with one of the longest beaches on the island, and what pupose did the undergound caverns serve to this villa, the bunkers and lime furnaces, some natural from volcanic origin, caverns and the like of Cofete have been found at Ajuy also known for military dealings.
It is called villa de winter after the German General Gustav Winter it was modelled on a villa first built in the black forest by an engineer Gustav winter, its function is not exactly known although it was surpposed to be a private house for vacations, it is believed that it was used as a secret base and that possibly a strong point for the german submarines.
It must have had some purpose as two german airplane hunts were found and it's believed they where there to protect the base and to intercept any allied planes that dared to come close to the island, it was necessary to keep the base secret which they managed to do as it was'nt discovered till months after the fight finished.
Underground tunnels connected the house to underground caverns found in the mountains, it is believed that a tunnel was made through the mountain to conect Cofete to Morro Jable for transportation of the military, though it no longer exists as the only way to get here now is up over the top of the mountain.
Native workers where brought in to work on the villa under maximum security and had to leave every night as the whole of the Jandia Peninsula became a closed military zone.
There is much speculation to the mysterious cemetery that lies by the beach (is it for the workers that died there during the construction of the villa or from rock falls from the underground tunnels) we may never know.
The villa is massive an impresive with two floors partially constructed built into the slope of the mountain, with the tower built on the northwest side,
The tower believed to be a look out tower or used for signalling to submarines and german airplanes that landed on the airstrip an Jandia.
The villa has a stone built balcony on the front looking out to sea the views are spectacular.
It is called villa de winter after the German General Gustav Winter it was modelled on a villa first built in the black forest by an engineer Gustav winter, its function is not exactly known although it was surpposed to be a private house for vacations, it is believed that it was used as a secret base and that possibly a strong point for the german submarines.
It must have had some purpose as two german airplane hunts were found and it's believed they where there to protect the base and to intercept any allied planes that dared to come close to the island, it was necessary to keep the base secret which they managed to do as it was'nt discovered till months after the fight finished.
Underground tunnels connected the house to underground caverns found in the mountains, it is believed that a tunnel was made through the mountain to conect Cofete to Morro Jable for transportation of the military, though it no longer exists as the only way to get here now is up over the top of the mountain.
Native workers where brought in to work on the villa under maximum security and had to leave every night as the whole of the Jandia Peninsula became a closed military zone.
There is much speculation to the mysterious cemetery that lies by the beach (is it for the workers that died there during the construction of the villa or from rock falls from the underground tunnels) we may never know.
The villa is massive an impresive with two floors partially constructed built into the slope of the mountain, with the tower built on the northwest side,
The tower believed to be a look out tower or used for signalling to submarines and german airplanes that landed on the airstrip an Jandia.
The villa has a stone built balcony on the front looking out to sea the views are spectacular.
Some parts of the villa are still un accessible to the public and are under reconstruction, you can see the wooden arches and the lovely engravings on the interior and the exsterior, you can see the old garage with it's truck still inside although well hidden.
The expansive roof space has cell like accommodations built under the eaves which indicates it could have housed many servents or the most likely theory is it housed many troops, also under ground level there are white walled hospital type rooms which could have been used for convalecence and the white tiled walls of larger rooms could have been operating theaters.
There are indications that there are even lower levels below the lowest accesible levels we where aloud to see, many doors and rooms are bolted and only certian areas are viewable.
You may be lucky enough to get a look around the villa and be given a tour by the nice old man with his flock of goats, but only if he wants to let you in.
The expansive roof space has cell like accommodations built under the eaves which indicates it could have housed many servents or the most likely theory is it housed many troops, also under ground level there are white walled hospital type rooms which could have been used for convalecence and the white tiled walls of larger rooms could have been operating theaters.
There are indications that there are even lower levels below the lowest accesible levels we where aloud to see, many doors and rooms are bolted and only certian areas are viewable.
You may be lucky enough to get a look around the villa and be given a tour by the nice old man with his flock of goats, but only if he wants to let you in.
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