Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

My first stop in the Canary Islands was in Las Palmas, the capital of the Gran Canaria. It is the third-largest of the Canary Islands and has the second largest population at about 800.000 people.

The view of the city from my window.

The view towards the central mountain.

After the freezing temperatures in mid-November in New Mexico, it was a nice change to be able to walk in a T-shirt during the day. And even at night, the temperatures fall only by about 5 degrees.

The city itself is pretty nice and has some beautiful parks and a few beaches. However, the one-way traffic in many places, as well as difficult parking were driving me nuts in the beginning. Without a GPS it would have been pretty much impossible to navigate.

The warmest place of all the Canary Islands is Playa de Ingles in the south of Gran Canaria. It is both warmer by a few degrees and less rainy than the capital in the North.

Dunes next to the beach in the south of Gran Canaria.

After two weeks on Gran Canaria, I took a ferry over to Teneriffe, the largest of the Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria’s North coast as seen from the ship to Tenerife.