¡Buenos Dias en Gran Canaria!

Phew, we made it to Spain! Well ok, an ‘outpost’ anyway. We berthed in Las Palmas, the largest city in the Canary Islands, on the island of Gran Canaria. Las Palmas has a population of nearly 900,000 people. This is just one of 8 islands that form the archipelago, all autonomously administered by Spain. I thought that this meant we were arriving into the European Schengen area, for which, upon first entry, ‘non-EU people’, which includes Australians as well as British, need to undergo barometric registration of iris and fingerprints. ChatGPT and Copilot, both ‘reliably’ informed me that this was the case, even for passengers arriving by Cruise Ship. We were also arriving into a brand new terminal…..

No checks whatsoever! Except for the Princess Medallion which is standard for boarding and deboarding Crown Princess, as well as accessing your cabin and purchases onboard. I was last here 10 years ago, and all I remember doing was going to the shopping Mall and having lunch there. Today, I was being more adventurous in doing an all-day shore excursion around the Island.

The main industry on the Islands is Tourism, which began in the 1960s with the advent of ‘package holidays’, and now accounts for 80% of the economy. The remaining 20% is from smaller scale crops of banana, tomato and cucumber, as well as niche sugarcane (for Rum) and wine crops. All other goods are imported, which is evident from the large, busy container port near to the Cruise Ship Terminal.

The Islands are volcanic, with 46 on Gran Canaria alone. They are not considered dormant, as a volcano erupted on the Island of La Palma in 2021; also there are numerous undersea volcanoes. To avoid ‘upsetting’ the volcanos, there is no mining or deep excavations; power comes increasingly from Wind Farms (powering 25% of needs) and the remainder from fossil fuels. A hydroelectric power station is being constructed on Gran Canaria; one main use of electricity is to provide free water via the 46 desalination plants; the ground is dry, it rains infrequently averaging 26 days a year, and there are no fresh water springs. The presence of long sunny days in the south of the island, is why this is such a tourist drawcard. The north of the island is often cloudy and more humid due to the prevailing trade winds, and therefore greener than the south, where most resorts are concentrated.

The Islands strategic position to the west of Africa, interested explorers as a replenishing stop en route to the East Indies. The first explorers were Berbers, from northern Africa; these were followed by Romans, Spanish and English navigators. The name “Canary” Islands did not come from the ‘Canary Bird’; this was actually name after the Islands. The explorers thought they saw dogs on the land, and it was named after ‘canis’, latin for dog. In fact these were not dogs at all, but ‘Monk Seals’, but the name stuck.

The Spanish settled Gran Canaria in 1480, and then the other islands in the Archipelago. Other rival nations, such as the Dutch and British tried to conquer the islands, but failed. In the British defeat Admiral Nelson lost his right arm. Relations with the British did improve, and fleets used the Canary Islands as a stop en route to the Americas, as well as the First Fleet to Australia! The British were also the ones to introduce Banana crops to the Canaries, and now they still come in droves to enjoy the sun and the beaches.

The main tourist areas of Gran Canaria are in the South; most hotels and resorts are concentrated around Playa des Ingles. As I stated before it is much drier and sunnier here with both white and black (volcanic) sand beaches; much of the sand has blown across from the Sahara.

Interesting Fact: Did you know?

When you lie on the powdery white sand beach in the Tropics, sipping your drink; do you know how the sand was produced?

Well, Parrot fish in the Tropical seas have sharp teeth, and graze on coral reefs, biting off pieces of rock and dead coral to eat the algae living inside. Their digestive systems extract the nutrients and excrete the undigested calcium carbonate skeleton as fine, powdery white sand. A single parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of sand every year, with some estimates suggesting they create up to 85% of the white sand found on tropical beaches!

Having experienced pot-holes on Australian Roads (not fixed due to lack of money) to ‘African Massages’ in South Africa and Namibia, it was ‘luxurious’ to have an air-conditioned coach coast along on a smooth motorway! Our first stop was a the town of Maspalomas on the very southern tip of the Island. Here sand dunes from the last ice age extend down to the ocean. We stopped to view the spectacle from a viewpoint within a resort.

We then started a long climb up very windy and narrow, but immaculately smooth, roads in between volcanic skeletons, up to various viewpoints. We ascended beyond the ceiling of the ‘sea cloud’, and were afforded magnificent 360 degree views from the very centre of the island. There were a few picturesque villages here, and at 1400m above sea level, we stopped to at “Cruz de Tejeda”, where we could clearly see the semi-active volcano, Mount Teide, on adjoining Tenerife, some 35km away.

We then started our descent to visit two towns towards the north on our return; again through twisty roads and small villages, but now the landscape was lush with Palms, Pines, small orchards of Apples and Almonds, Prickly Pears, and Bananas. There were even Australian Eucalypts, introduced as their extensive roots could stabilise the lush volcanic soil.

The first town we stopped at was Teror, a picture perfect settlement with a well preserved old town centre, under monument protection. There is a basilica, the quiet Virgin of the Pine Square in front of it, and neatly fronted buildings with wooden balconies along the picturesque Calle Real de la Plaza street.

Our last stop was virtually on the edge of Las Palmas, the town or Arucas. The Church of San Juan Bautista is the leading architectural and social monument in the municipality. It was built entirely in Arucas stone by local master masons, and it dates from 1909.

We had some free time for shopping before returning to the port. We now ‘leave’ Europe to visit Casablanca in Morocco, before ‘entering’ Europe again, this time on the Spanish mainland in La Coruna.