I mentioned in my last post that on our last day we were heading to other side of the city, metaphorically and literally speaking. Metaphorically as we were heading from the old town to the more contemporary beach area and literally as the beach is on the opposite side of the narrow peninsula the city is built on.
When we visited the city for the day on our last trip everything was a bit rushed especially as the beach and the old town are a few km apart and require a bus trip to travel between them. This time we had an opportunity to enjoy both the old town and beach area at leisure.
Our last day was Epiphany which is the major Spanish Christmas Holiday celebrating the arrival of the three wise men and the exchanging of gifts. We heard the excited screams of the young children in the flat across from ours, clearly opening presents and I saw one of the parades of cars with people dressed up as the three wise men when checking out the bus times.
I was a bit worried that everything might be closed up for the holiday but while conventional shops are shut, everyone else goes out for the day (much easier in sunnier climes than a dank December day in the UK) so all the restaurants and bars were open (and busy) and the buses ran as normal.
We had a nice leisurely morning stroll along the promenade to the north.
The weather seemed to improving slowly, excellent views along the coast towards Galdar and Tenerife in. the distance.
Looking back to the main beachfront.
Time for lunch. Hard choice among the many restaurants on the seafront, but we picked a superb little Tapas bar with friendly staff for our final lunch of the holiday. Clinking glasses with a teapot is not something I’ve done before!
After lunch we took a wander along the sandy beachfront, stopping off to look at the sand sculptures of the Nativity.
They were really rather good.
Its a huge beach and the only golden sand stretch in this part of the island.
Time to sit for a while and have a swim. The beach is protected from the bouncy waves by a natural reef just offshore so the water is calm and clear and perfect for an easy swim. Lots of fish as well.
While the family sunbathed I took a wander along the sands.
Even though its quite a modern seafront, I really love the place.
Happy family atmosphere and still some fine views.
All that swimming and walking is thirsty work so it was time for another sit down and an afternoon beer or two.
We bagged a spot by the Volleyball courts and enjoyed watching these guys play – they were seriously good.
On the adjacent court was a family enjoying their epiphany day – they were seriously bad!
Such was the quality of our little spot we stayed for a couple of hours and by the time we moved on the sun was starting to go down.
We strolled back up to the rockier part of the promenade to watch the people surfing and fishing.
It was too cloudy for a truly awesome sunset but the views were still pretty decent across the coast.
And across to the main promenade with the sun lighting up beachfront buildings.
Reluctantly we tore ourselves away to catch the bus back to apartment with packing to be done ready for our flight home in the morning. A brilliant last day to end another superb winter holiday.
The weather for the flight home was superb so we had some great views of the island as we departed.
La Garita and La Bufadero are in the bottom part of this photo.
Las Palmas city
Tenerife looming large on the horizon above Las Palmas.
The crescent shaped bay on the far side of the peninsula is Las Canteras beach.
Mountains of northern Portugal (I think)
And the sun sets over the UK (and our holiday) as we approach Luton Airport.
By far our most favourite activity in our holiday home in Puerto de las Nieves was watching the sunset.
We were out to watch the show every evening.
Mostly we watched from the wooden benches or the rocks near the seawater pools
Which has the advantage of a small bar for a nice cold lemon beer to help things along.
Our first night was cloudy and the sun disappeared behind a bank of cloud before the colours could emerge.
After that for almost the rest of our stay the evenings were pin sharp clear. Great for soaking up the last warmth of the sun but not quite so good for dramatic skies.
Still plenty to enjoy (as well as the beer!). Watching to comings and goings of the ferries.
Walking on the cliffs to admire the deep brown hues of the rocky coastline.
There are paths along this coast but despite being here for almost two weeks I never seemed to find the time!
We sometimes watched the sunset from the harbour.
The views different but equally eye catching.
We did have one evening with a thin cloud cover that gave us a little more colour.
A small amount of pink glow to the sky.
Tenerife and El Teide always attracts the eye and the camera lens.
I always tried to catch the ferry crossing the suns path.
In the second week the waves had picked up and added an extra dimension to the sunsets.
I spent a lot of time trying to catch a shot of the waves with the sun behind.
These were pretty good but my best effort is the headline photo at the top of the post.
More pink skies.
More views of Tenerife.
Crashing waves by the seawater pools.
Wave action.
And much smaller boats crossing the suns path.
One evening we just sat on one of the benches on the promenade.
There was always a gathering of people and a happy relaxed atmosphere, never loud or crowded.
A great spot to admire El Teide.
A fine family time with beer and snacks.
On our last evening in PdlN we finally had a degree of cloud cover above the horizon and we hoped for aa more colourful display.
As the sun went down it began to illuminate the clouds.
More small boats and Tenerife combos.
Waves catching the evening light.
And we finally had our glorious show of colour.
I took a huge number of photos and its taken me quite a while to filter them down.
I like this one as it has all my favourite features. Orange sky, dragons back ridge, Tenerife and waves.
Took a couple of weeks but we had the perfect last evening by the sea.
We had to tear ourselves away as the sky darkened and the colours faded. Magnificent spectacle to end our stay.
But that was only the end of our stay in PdlN. We had one more place to visit at the end of our trip.
I mentioned in the previous post that we needed a swim after our visits to Teror and La Garita.
The north coast of the island is largely rocky and exposed to some pretty big Atlantic waves (other than the long sandy beach in Las Palmas – more on that in a later post)
To counter this there are several man-made seawater pools along the coast so we headed to one of those, Los Charcones.
It was an excellent choice. There were a couple of pools as well as large paved area to sit and sunbathe and freshwater showers.
There were also some superb views in both directions along the coast.
There was a calm and relatively shallow inner pool, perfect for an easy swim.
But it was the outer pool that was the most fun. It was deep and absolutely teeming fish and crabs. Best of all you could get really close to the massive waves without being under any threat as the rocks protected you from – most – of their power. You could sit on the edge of the pool and let the waves just crash over your head and turn the pool into a bouncing frothy jacuzzi – great fun.
The Funsters enjoying a sit in the sun post-swim.
We spent a very happy couple of hours here, yet another really great find. I would have taken some photos and video out by the waves but I wasn’t sure I could hang onto my phone in all the action!
After the swim we could just sit and watch the world go by and the tide slowly engulf the pools.
There were lots of surfers out braving some pretty huge waves.
And lots of these comical little birds who waddled about right in front of us in large groups.
As the sun went down it got chilly pretty quickly and headed home. A great day out with plenty of variety but all less than an hour from home base.
Gran Canaria has some fine old colonial Spanish towns so we thought we’d pay one a visit.
Teror is about 1000 feet up in the hills above Las Palmas and was coming up on our searches as the best of these old towns.
We parked up and took a wander in, discovering what a gorgeous little spot it is.
The houses are notable for the elaborate carved wooden balconies like this one.
The main street was a delight especially on a warm and sunny winters day.
The side streets were equally impressive.
The main church, Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pino, another stunning building. Both outside.
And inside.
And the Plaza del Pino square it overlooks.
The Water Steps of Calle de la Diputación. Several of these hill towns have these streams flowing through the town.
An interesting feature to walk up.
With great views over the town from the top.
This fine building was my favourite. The old Town Hall, the Ayuntamiento.
The tree shaded square it overlooks is also very fetching.
A much closer view from out front.
And a fine example of one of those wooden carved balconies.
We spent a happy couple of hours wandering the pedestrian streets and squares.
More fine houses and balconies to admire.
There were numerous bars and restaurants lining the streets but many seemed to be closed for winter or only had tables in the shade.
The rear of the main church.
And its impressive bell tower.
As we wanted to eat outside we took our leave of Teror. Its quite small so a couple of hours is more than enough to see the main sights. We headed back to La Garita for lunch, a stroll on the beach and another look at La Bufadero. The day wasn’t over though. We felt like we needed an afternoon swim.
After a few days easing the Prof into the holiday vibe it was time to leave TJF to chill out (and wash her hair – a major undertaking!) and tackle another walk in the mountains
One the islands better known summits and routes is the ridge out to Alatavista. Its 1377m (not especially high by Gran Canaria standards) but it looked like a fine ridge and as its near the coast gives a more exaggerated sense of of its height than the mountains in the centre of the island.
The walk is made eaiser by the fact you can park up at well over 1000m but there is still plenty of up and down to work off holiday excesses.
The first part of the walk drops below the road on the opposite side to the ridge walk to Altavista. I like these sorts of traversing paths and this was a a good one.
Great views of the narrow lush valley of Lugarejos and its reservoirs.
The green trees, brown mountains and deep blue sky are an alluring combination.
The path twists and turns to either side of the ridge rather than sticking to the crest. You could likely traverse the ridge but without a path it would be hard work and there can be some rocky and exposed scrambles.
Much easier to stick to the path and enjoy the easy walking to look at the views.
The small mountain reservoir of Presa del Vaquero
The very odd flat plateau of farmland called Acusa Verde. Strange to see such an expanse of flat ground in the midst of some of the deepest of gorges.
Superb views out over the Atlantic towards Tenerife.
Looking back along the ridge we’d walked.
And the final climb to Altavista summit – much more substantial and steeper than I’d expected.
The main focus of attention were the amzing views of the interior with Roque Nublo and Roque Bentayga standing proud.
The Prof steeling himself for the hot, steep climb to the top.
There were two summits and I took a steep path to the first top while the others took the easier path around the side. A chance for a panorama shot to the centre of the island.
TBF waits for me to downclimb one of those exposed scrambles I mentioned.
The ridge and the path ends abruptly at a dramatic overlook towards La Aldea. The mountains at the back are the ones that overlook the beach of Los Caserones (see earlier post).
The perfect place for lunch.
Almost happy selfie.
We spent a while just sat in the warm sunshine. It really is perfect hiking weather in these mountains in January. In fact this was the best way to spend New Years Day!
Panorama looking south and west, Tenerife and El Teide on the horizon.
Looking straight down the reservoir of Presa del Parralillo tucked into the mountains.
Our route back was a return along the same ridge. I’ve learned that out and back routes can be just as enjoyable as a traditional circuit. You get a different perspective and a different light as the sun moves across the sky.
We traversed the actual summit on the way back.
More fantastic views across the sea to Tenerife.
TBF looking very pleased with herself and why not on such a fabulous day.
Zoom shot with a much clearer view of Acusa Verde, Roque Bentayga and Roque Nublo in the distance.
TBF on one of the more spectacular sections of path.
With the sun behind us on the return the leg, the forested sections were a joy.
The stretch with green shrubs at ground level was especially fetching.
The views switching from the west and over to Tenerife.
And east over to the centre of the island.
Another superb clear day in the mountains and as always finished off with a beer and sunset back at base
A short post to highlight what is still a bit of family fun harking back to when the kids were small – tide-pooling.
This being the Atlantic, the rock pools are packed with interesting stuff (unlike the Med). We spent many happy hours, just me and TJF, poking around in the pools, normally at the end of the day, while waiting for sunset.
Here we are enjoying ourselves.
TJF peering into the dark depths.
The most interesting finds this year were an array of sea slugs.
I’ve seen them before in Brittany but those were just a plain dark brown.
These were much more interesting both in colour and shape. Rather like a Dr Who alien creature from the 70’s.
It was fascinating watching them move about.
I thought they were quite beautiful, in a very creepy sort of way
A little video to show them in action.
The pools were also teeming with fish left behind by the tides.
But my favourites were the Red Rock Crabs. They were everywhere in enormous numbers and it was always fun watching scuttling about the near the waters edge.
This was the best picture I managed when I cornered one behind a concrete pillar (they are very hard to get close enough to for a photo).
Before it scuttled back into the salt water pool.
Happy memories of some quality father and daughter time.
After our visit to the museum and lunch back at our home town we needed to head out to collect the Prof from the airport. We thought we’d make a trip of it and headed to one of the beach resorts on the east coast of the island.
We decided on La Garita, a small resort with a black sand beach. Rather than park up in town we headed for a car park near a feature called La Bufadero just along the coast.
And what a wonderful little spot it was!
There is a large deep hole in the lava rocks where the sea floods in through a cave entrance lower down and then swells up to the top before plunging back down in a cascade of water.
There is also a much smaller blow-hole that generates a cloud of spray and creates a beautiful rainbow effect as it catches the sun. Its mesmeric to watch it but rather than pictures the video below gives a much better impression.
We watched for ages and I could have stayed and watched it for hours. There was even one mad bloke who was walking along the narrow edge on the seaward side as the waves crashed in. I would have though his chances of surviving falling into the water would have been pretty slim.
The coastal walk along the cliffs was just as fine. I really liked this sculpture that overlooked the beach.
We took a wander across the black sands as the sun began go down. Apart from one rather ugly grey block of flats it was a charming little place.
Another example that with a bit of research and and a willingness to explore you can find some fabulous lesser known spots wherever you travel.
We wandered back along the seafront and due to the marvel of the Flightradar App, were able to track and then watch the Prof’s plane fly along the coast before turning to land at the airport a few miles down the coast.
We finished off our walk and then collected him to join us for the second week of our holiday and it was great to have the whole family all together again.
We enjoyed our visit so much, we came back later in the week for another look at La Bufadero, a walk across the beach and a fine lunch in an excellent restaurant overlooking the bay.
A great find and we enjoyed a paddle in the waters – the sea looked rather too rough with a powerful undertow for swimming.
An aimless and slow wander across the waterfront was more than enough compensation (and we had a swim planned for later – more on that in a future post).
The sculpture and La Garita beach.
A decent shot of one of the many crabs clinging to rocks near La Bufadero.
Quite amazing how they all managed to cling on in the powerful flood of the sea as it rushed in and out.
Fascinating spot that became yet another favoured place on our travels.
We have another prospective Prof in the family with TJF off to Uni in September to study Archeology. She found out that there is a very well renowned museum devoted to the original people who settled the Canary Islands.
Its called the Cueva Pintada or the Painted Cave Museum. Its the remains of one of their original settlements. Over the years it was buried under soil as the islands became widely inhabited and cultivated.
A farmer, turning over the soil for his banana plantation discovered the first remains and since then more and more of the settlement has been uncovered. The museum is now covered over to protect it and the museum devoted to it is exceptionally well presented and staffed.
You can see the remains of their native dwellings, houses and where they prepared food, stored water etc.
Housed in this room is the original cave with very delicate paintings still visible. Its heavily protected and you can’t take photos as they are so fragile but it was a wonderful experience to see evidence of the original, and in a wider historical context, largely forgotten, people of the islands.
It reminded me very much of the Roman settlement discovered when excavating the Acropolis Museum in Athens, preserved and accessible to view in a very similar way.
Despite the fact its very well advertised and and a very enjoyable visit, there were only a handful of people there.
This is a reconstruction of one of their houses and what they think it may have looked like.
Even now very little is really known about these original people and their story is a rather sad one.
Its thought they originally arrived from Africa around 1000 years ago although no-one knows for sure. They settled in small groups across Gran Canaria, managing to fashion a pretty well developed society in what is a pretty hostile environment for those times.
And then the Spanish arrived. The islanders welcomed them with open arms but they were treated as savages who needed to be civilised or put another way converted to Christianity. The islanders had their own beliefs and religion and fought against the Spaniards but were no match against the invaders.
Villages were destroyed, tribal leaders were either killed or imprisoned, families set apart. The islanders had little choice but to succomb to their new rulers. Many were sent back to Spain never to return, women were forced to marry their conquerors. Most heartbreakingly of all (to my mind anyway) was their places of worship were systematically built over with new Christian churches. To all extents this was the genocide of an entire culture. Some were allowed to stay and to this day some of the residents of Gran Canaria still carry the genetic traces of their ancestors.
Until I visited the museum I had no real clear idea or concept of these original settlers (other than an awareness that were some). At least now the museum does a fine job of keeping this culture alive.
After a very enjoyable couple of hours looking around we had a bit of time before our bus back to the resort.
We decided to look around the small old town of Galdar. The main town is a bit of an untidy industrial sprawl, but the old town is gorgeous, if quite small.
A fine old church and and leafy square are the main focus.
Its surrounded by a number of streets with more fine old buildings.
Inside the church was also lovely.
Its rather good that our new Prof-in-waiting is opening our eyes to something more than just beaches, sightseeing and mountains on our family holidays.
After a few days of easy wandering and swimming it was time for more strenuous activity and a walk in the high mountains.
We were up early and on the road just after 8am in a effort to be back in time for sunset beers by the pools.
Before we parked up, a brief stop at the Delgollada de Becerra with a marvellous early mornming view out over the gorges towards Tenerife and El Teide in the distance. The ridge in the middle ground of the photo is one we’d explore later in the trip.
It was decidedly chilly when we set off. You tend to forget that up at 1600m in December, even here, the temperatures can but quite nippy. We saw frost on the ground and one section of ice as we walked.
Our first port of call was Pico de las Nieves, highest point on the island.
Although you have to be a rock athlete to make the very highest point!
Its a fine viewpoint though and it was a truly superb day of crystal clear blue skies and warm sunshine.
A nice happy couple selfie, even I managed a smile!
I’d chosen a route that I hoped would mix up up some nice woodland sections with more open stretches.
It turned out to be an excellent choice governed and planned with the rather good and pretty accurate Discovery Walking Guide Map.
Panorama looking to the south of the island.
And back to the top of Pico de las Nieves and its military radar dome.
We emerged from the forests onto a wonderful open section of broad rocky ridge. We were heading for summit to the right of centre in the above photo hoping it would make a good lunch stop.
The walking here was just wonderful and despite looking somewhat impregnable the rocky top had a well marked trail.
So we picked our spot on the top and settled down for a long and leisurely picnic. What a place for lunch looking out over the famous Roque Nublo to Tenerife.
Panorama looking out north and west.
TBF enjoying her lunch.
Looking back along the rocky crest.
Panorama looking north and east back to Pico de las Nieves.
A view towards Tamadaba where we’d picnicked a couple of days earlier
And another summit view of our lunch spot.
Slopey, unsmiling selfie.
Time to move and complete our circuit. The summit is El Montanon, I think.
TBF and Pico de las Nieves
It was quite a descent down to the road near Roque Nublo.
We had an idea to walk out to it again, but having visited before and the fact its very popular and busy told us a longer lunch stop was a better use of our time.
It was absolute chaos at the roadhead, cars parked everywhere and long queues trying to get through.
We didn’t linger and insread took a short out and back to another dizzying viewpoint overlooking one the islands many spectacular gorges.
No-one else seemed to bother so we had it to ourselves. It woukd have made another fine picnic site.
The final stretch took us down and back up from one of the islands many small reservoirs, Presa de Las Hornos. I say reservoir, but it was nothing more than a rather murky little green stagnant pool, although the dam was impressive.
A short steep climb had us back at our start point, the huge, expnsive and very well provisioned picnic site at Llanos de la Pez. Time to head home for those sunset beers. We stopped off for more views of the island. This one from Delgollada de las Palomas.
And again from the Caldera de Galdar.
And a final view over to Las Palmas. The sunset beers were wonderful by the way. Perfect finish to a superb days walking. Gran Canaria is just magnificent for hiking and deserves much more exploration than the bare scratching of the surface that we’ve done.
Our favourite spot for a stroll in Puetro de las Nieves are the semi-natural seawater pools of Las Salinas.
The lava flows create natural channels and hollows and with judicious use of concrete have created 3 pools for swimming.
They are wonderfully clear and make a great spot for swimming, especially handy as the coast here is rocky and open to some pretty wild Atlantic breakers.
There are some nice wooden platforms where we spent many happy hours sitting and watching the waves, the sunsets or sometimes just the people.
There are also some of the channels left as nature intended. You be a brave/foolish person to try swimming in these.
Much better to swim in the pools which we did on several occasions – although our preferred spot was in the harbour as they have showers there.
A fine spot just to potter about and sit in the warm sunshine.
Looking back to the pools from the seafront promenade.
Stunning clear water on a calm day.
On other days the waves were absolutely massive, crashing into the shore in a quite amazing fashion.
Sometimes easy to forget the islands are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
The narrow gully just beyond the pools was often the best place to watch waves crash in to the rocks and long the deep channel.
The photos don’t really do justice to the size of the waves and the noise.
Hopefully this little video compilation will do that a little better.
When the waves were crashing in it was a fun time to swim in the pool nearest the open ocean.
Even wth the protective barriers it was pretty difficult to reach the ocean side of the pool. As near as you can get to swimming in the wild ocean while staying safe.
TBF remains on safer ground.
The Prof enjoying a swim.
TBF takes on the relatively calm water of the other pools.
Before tackling the more turbid waters of the ocean side pool.
Not quite as clear water!
Some mad souls were out bodyboarding in the waves. No idea how they get out to the waves unharmed seeing as the shore is mostly large sharp edged boulders.
Late afternoon was our favourite time to spend here.
The setting sun turns the mountains a deep golden colour and contrasts perfectly against the blue sea and sky.
A great time to just wander about on the rocks and watch the waves.
We spent many happy hours just exploring the rockpools and edges – more on the stuff we found in a later post.
Always backed by the dramatic mountains of Tamadaba.
A nice father/daughter picture – from our first evening I think.
One of the quieter evenings (it was normally quite busy as the sun went down)
TBF poses in the evening light.
Calmer waters as the tide goes out.
Sunset’s from here are superb – but more on that in a later post as well. A family shot to finish things off.
I spend alot of my time surfing the web looking for ideas on places to go, walking routes, travel ideas and tips to plan the perfect holiday or day out. (I'm a project manager I like to plan). I thought it was time to share my own experiences and contribute to the vast amounts in information that's already out there.
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