Different day, different island, same island group…Las Canarias. Same gorgeousness that all islands seem to share, along with a laid-back lifestyle, lots of docks, marinas, water sports, and beaches, of course. We were last in the Canary Islands eight years ago, and not much has changed (although we have!). Last time, we rented a car and drove to Gran Canaria’s famous sand dunes and Maspalomas Beach. Today, we stayed near our ship and downtown Las Palmas. This city was founded in 1478, and soon thereafter, hosted a yet-unknown Christopher Columbus, who anchored here and spent some time on the island in 1492. Some 100 years later, in 1595, Sir Francis Drake tried to plunder the town. Even though the islands are an autonomous community of Spain, the Canary Islands are closer to Africa (62 miles) than to Spain (1,000 miles).
The photos are all from a leisurely walk around the city near the port. Not surprisingly in Las Palmas, most photos contain palm trees! In the fourth photo, we really liked the variety of palm tree you see that has a smooth brown trunk, then stops and changes to a smooth green trunk, then sprouts into palm fronds. The palm trees across the street in the photo are a more familiar variety. There are a lot of tall ships in the photos, including the complicated rigging of the Alexander von Humboldt II, which is particularly dizzying considering that each line has its own name, or designation! There are many inter-island tall ship voyages, as well as many that begin in the Canary Islands and end in various African and Mediterranean ports.
We were particularly amused by all that the shop in the final photo had to offer. It is a tiny venue but had a little of everything you might want in the way of souvenirs…a one-stop shop for tourists. The sign on front notes that “TODAY, we have the best prices in Gran Canaria…” We think it has probably said that for many years!
