This streak of technicolour rock is called the Spring of Tiles  because it looks like Andalusian glazed azulejo tiles pouring out of the mountainside (or so the people who named it said). 

The green, red, orange and purple colours formed over 13 million years ago at the tip of a vast volcano when superheated steam and gas reacted with iron in the rock. At Los Azulejos, you're standing right on the rim of an ancient crater.

After a million years the volcano went extinct and was later covered by another massive eruption between 12.5 and nine million years ago. Millions of years of erosion (and a bit of help from roadmakers) then exposed the colourful crater rim again. 

While there are several other green patches of rock in the area, this is the biggest and most spectacular, and also the only one you can drive to.

Driving from Mogán, stop for a photo in the little parking bays just after you spot the Azulejos. Then, once you get to the patch, try the papaya and orange smoothies at the juice shack. Made from local fruit, they are as sweet and tasty as they come. 

A couple of hundred metres past the Azulejos, you get a spectacular Barranco full of red boulders that look incredible in the early morning sunshine. Then you are back on the road and heading west along the  GC 200; Gran Canaria's most spectacular drive.