Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

There is a funny story behind this day trip which ended up being memorable for all of the wrong reasons. My photographer and I visited Gran Canaria to escape the crowds whilst they recovered, but Maspalomas was getting busier by the day with humans who were partying in Playa de Ingles. The reason I went to Las Palmas was to escape the crowds of humans and their noise. I had a nice quiet bus ride across the island watching the weather and landscape change as I passed by.

I arrived into the San Telmo bus station and something didn’t feel right. Turns out I had escaped the crowds in a way I could never have imagined. I travelled 65 kilometres to visit a city which was closed for the day, I had escaped the crowds in style. Shrove Tuesday or Pancake day is a holiday for the city of Las Palmas as they celebrate by throwing a huge Mardi Gras carnival. However, I do not speak Spanish so I did not read any of the signs advertising the street wide party prior to leaving Maspalomas bus station.

Where do you start to explore an entire city which is empty? I’ve always dreamed of having a city to myself but I never thought it would be something which would ever happen. I decided to start in Vegueta, the historical side of the city. I love how the district is really colourful, compared to a lot of Spanish cities which are painted white. The main tourist sites are easily reachable by foot and the pedestrianised area has many signs to direct you to your destination.

I made my way to Plaza de Santa Ana to see the giant Catedral de Santa Ana de Canarias. However, I was more impressed by the metal dog statues outside but I have no idea what the purpose of these are. They look as though they are guarding the city, I like the dog statues even though a couple of them looked as though they wanted to eat me (I stayed a safe distance away just in case). I loved the flowers which were planted outside of the Tourist Information, they made the square even more colourful. The Tourist Information has a lot of free maps and helpful staff who advised me of which restaurants and cafes were open on the day I visited.

I headed up a small unassuming street which led me to Plaza del Espiritu Santo, a small oasis in the centre of the city. An ancient Dragon tree stands by a fountain and Hermitage all dating back to the 17th century. It is a beautiful site, with the yellow buildings and narrow sloping streets, I found the whole area to have a distinct Latin American feel.

I wandered through several sleepy side streets which led me back to the huge cathedral. The smell of freshly ground coffee was floating towards me so I made an impromptu stop at a small café which gave me the chance to enjoy two of my favourite things; coffee and people watching. I could have sat in the shady street all day but there was lots more exploring to be done.

Next up was a visit to Christopher Columbus’ House, Casa de Colon, which is located in Plaza del Pilar Neuvo. I would have loved to see the inside of the ancient building which Christopher Columbus stayed in back in 1492 but it was closed for the day. I was slightly disappointed that everything I wanted to see was closed but I was able to explore the streets at my own pace without any fear of being stood on.

I wandered through the streets of Triana without any destination in mind but found myself heading back towards the coast. San Telmo park was bustling with locals enjoying the pleasant weather and I was surprised to find a small art installation. The wildlife photography was a great addition to the park.

The weather was improving and the lady in the Tourist Information had told me the Santa Catalina area of the city was a 30 minute walk along the coast, so I headed off in the direction of the marina (any excuse to see the boats). My aim was to find the Fuenta Luminosa, a giant fountain which is surrounded by a beautiful park, before heading back to either the delicious looking Moroccan restaurant I had found or Chiwawa Cantina Vegueta for veggie friendly Mexican food. This was the beginning of mistake number 2, 4.8 kilometres and 1 hour and 8 minutes was the time it took me to walk to the Santa Catalina bus station and by that time I was exhausted. Then I realised, I had totally missed the fountain I was looking for, instead I had walked 3 kilometres further than the fountain and I knew I could not be bothered to walk another 5km for lunch. So l just headed straight to the Bus station to find the correct bus back to Maspalomas. Sadly, I didn’t even manage to find the carnival, something I thought would be easy to do.

I managed to get the window seat for my journey back to the south of the island but I hit all of the holiday traffic and the bus ride ended up taking 2 hours but I didn’t mind as I enjoyed watching the scenery out of the window. I finally found a spot for lunch at 4pm and realised how lucky I was to explore a city without the crowds. I hope this happens again in the future as it was an incredible experience.

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