Because of yesterday’s cloudy weather, we hope to sunbath a little today. Unfortunately, the day starts not too bad again if it’s about the weather, so we decide to visit the capital of Gran Canaria in the hope that it will become brighter later on. We set off a little later than usual, but well rested at least. We take the highway straight to the city and after a while we are in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Then we leave the car in one of the cheaper car parks near Vegueta district. Unfortunately, there are probably no free parking spaces, and even if so, finding them is close to a miracle. This is typical for the capitals.
Las Palmas, Vegueta
Las Palmas is the largest city we visit during our trip. In the first moments of our journey it doesn’t feel as if it was the capital. The streets are empty and there is no noise. We quickly reach the district of Vegueta, the old town. We stand by the most important monument of Gran Canaria, which is St. Anne’s Cathedral. Its construction began in 1497 and lasted 73 years.
We are on a short walk by the monuments in the district of Vegueta. Here we can see, among others, the house of Columbus or the monument of Nestor Alamo.
Views from the roof of Las Palmas Cathedral
Then we reach the main square at St. Anne’s Cathedral and meet more people. The kids from the local school play here. Although the tourist season ended a few weeks ago, this place is very popular. We go up the cathedral. The views from there are great. You can see whole Las Palmas from above. Especially interesting is the view of houses located higher and higher. The housing estate starts low and ends a couple of floors higher. Distinguishing building is the Town Hall, which is located on the same square as the cathedral.
The panorama on the other side is much worse. The view of the ocean is spoiled by the platforms near the harbour.
After all the photo shoots we go down to take a more detailed picture of the square. There are monuments of dogs. There are exactly 8 of them, and their collection is called Perrot de la Plaza. Dogs are the symbol of the Canary Islands. Their name comes from the word canis (from Spanish – dog).
Canary breakfast in the old town of Las Palmas
Time for a lunch. We enter a narrow street, where our parents-in-law had previously discovered a nice café-bar. It turns out to be a hit. We order coffee, orange juices, roasted potatoes with mojo sauce and toasts. Wojtek says that these are the best toasts he ate. They were greased with tomato sauce – the bar’s own production and covered with fresh Spanish ham. Also they were perfectly baked. Even so many months after his return, he cannot forget about them. The pub is called La Taberna de El Monje. It is located right next to the cathedral itself. Below are photos of the place and its surroundings taken while waiting for meals.
After the meal we move on. We pass through the narrow streets, take photos of interesting monuments, which unfortunately there are not many here.
We get to Plaza de Cairasco, where there is an interesting memorial and a small monument.
Las Palmas, Triana
After some time we reach Triana, a district where we find a large promenade (Mayor de Triana). There is a ton of shops on both sides. At the request of my brother-in-law we visit the jelly shop where he chooses a little bit of different kinds of sweets. Then we take pictures, trying to reproduce the poses from the monuments. Is it accurate? I don’t know, but it’s fun.
It starts to get brighter. Compared to the weather conditions in the morning, now there are much less clouds in the sky. Slowly we head back to the parking lot in order to get to another place in Las Palmas. Of course to the beach.
We get to the car and continue road to the north on the highway along the ocean.
We get to the next car parking from which we will be closer to the beach we visiting. Parking lots next to Playa de Las Canteras are unfortunately very expensive, so we choose Aparcamiento Sanapú Parking located a bit further away.
playa de Las Canteras
Along the way we pass Parque de Santa Catalina– a small park where we buy ice cream. After about 15-20 minutes walk we reach the beach Las Canteras. We set up and spend a few good hours here. The temperature is very high, because it exceeds 30 degrees. Burnt members of the trip lay under an umbrella, others sunbathe. The water is ideal for swimming – even Wojtek is tempted to hop on. I, according to my custom, take photos for half an hour.
First I go in the direction of La Isleta. It is a peninsula where you can see beautiful volcanic landscape. You can drive there and stroll through the dark rocks. La Isleta is very interesting and makes Las Canteras beach unique thanks to its views.
Then I turn back and go in the other direction. From the distance you can see a bridge on the GC-2 motorway and a building with a white tower – Alfredo Kraus Auditorium. It’s a bit against the light, so it’s hard to take good pictures.
Then I go back to the guys and take a few more photos.
The sun gets lower and we can play with the shade a bit. It’s hard for me to sit down and stay in one place.
And when the sun is completely low, I take photos of this kind.
After the sunset we return for the dinner to our usual place in Arinaga. Food is too good here and we just can’t push ourselves to have dinner elsewhere.
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