Page 11 / Blog Gran Canaria

19/03/2018

Melenara Beach, the blue kingdom

Melenara Beach, in Gran Canaria, makes us feel like kings of the sea for at least a day.

Sculptor Luis Arencibia carries the sea in his piercing stare, as did poet Rafael Alberti. The Atlantic glint in his eye has an explanation and an origin. As a boy, the artist used to swim out to the point of volcanic rock that poked out over the sea on the south side of Melenara Beach, in Telde (Gran Canaria). Many years later, Arencibia would create a four metre high bronze sculpture of Neptune that still towers over the area to this day, and which allows the lord of the seas to look out over his kingdom from his watch tower.

A basket with Moya bizcochos and suspiros

13/03/2018

The sweet link between Cuba and Gran Canaria

Many are the events, landmarks and relations that link Gran Canaria to the Caribbean island of Cuba. Yet, one of the sweetest of all these comes in the form of a recipe that has lasted the test of time and has gone beyond frontiers: the bizcocho sponge-cake of Moya.

Here at this northern Gran Canaria municipality, suspiros are not the only famous delicacy. Bizcochos are a highly popular sweet, the recipe for which came here from Cuba by the hand of Chá Manuela, who came to live in the town and passed the recipe on to two local neighbours, Seña Jacinta and Candelarita Rivero. Amelia Ojeda learnt the recipe from them, and proceeded to open her artisan factory with a hundred-year-old oven, and with the help of her brother started production.

07/03/2018

San Agustín Beach, more than words

San Agustín Beach, in Gran Canaria, is a place full of peace, light and magic.

San Agustín Beach is a child who is building sandcastles next to the water’s edge. His parents watch over him from where they have laid out their towels and stuck their sunshade into the ground, which flaps away like a flag right at the centre of the family’s private paradise.

27/02/2018

A whole lifetime in La Aldea de Gran Canaria

Market day on the first Saturday of every month, and the visitors’ centre at the micro área marina ‘El Roque’ are among the top attractions in La Aldea.

There is a place in Gran Canaria tucked away in the mountains, where a whole life seems to slot in. Its seabeds are home to gigantic sea anemones and it is the site of one of the most beautiful gorgonia coral fields in Europe. Back on dry land, and right in the historic town centre every first Saturday of the month, visitors are able to purchase local avocados, bananas and oranges, products that carry the seal of the island’s rich soil and warming sun, which boast a wholesome flavour only authentic products are able to.

Aerial views over Las Canteras beach, in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

23/02/2018

A city with a fine ‘Atlantic Wave’

The ‘Onda Atlántica’ footbridge in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will connect the port area with the Port Market, Las Canteras beach and La Isleta.

The city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is gearing up for the unveiling of its latest urban landmark, in the form of a footbridge, inspired by the naval industry which will carry the name of ‘Onda Atlántica’. It will improve connections between the Port and the city centre by joining the Sanapú Harbour directly with the emblematic Mercado del Puerto, or Port Market, the area around Las Canteras Beach and the popular district of La Isleta, one of the most characteristic areas of the capital.

20/02/2018

From the catwalks to the Transgrancanaria

Blogger, model, traveller and sportsman Fran Guzmán is the latest to sign up for the Transgrancanaria 2018.

He is just back from the United States, to be precise from New York Fashion Week. He has hardly taken a breather before embarking on an event on the Gran Vía in Madrid, where he will be taking part in a public event organized by a famous sports shoe company. Have we just mentioned sport? Well, on 24th February 2018 he will be running in the Transgrancanaria Advanced, a trail race over 64 kilometres which starts in Artenara, at the summit of Gran Canaria, and winds up right at the Maspalomas Dunes, one of his favourite places on Earth.

16/02/2018

The magical green world of Gran Canaria

The natural greenery of Gran Canaria shines through in the most wonderful and surprising ways.

There exists a magical kingdom with laurel trees, wild olive trees, willows, arbutus, yews, plus the indigenous viñátigos, paloblancos, tilos and mocanes, and it’s all here in Gran Canaria. This list of exotic words, which might seem to be taken from a book of fairytales, goblins and wizards, actually describes the trees that provide the body and soul to the mysterious, primitive laurel tree forest that hugs tightly onto the island and emits the clear, thumping beat of its green heart.

Roque Nublo, behind flowering almond trees

14/02/2018

The almond tree in bloom, the prelude to a great gastronomic treasure

The real secret behind the marzipan recipe is its fruit.

The sprouting flowers of the almond trees hail the arrival of spring in Gran Canaria, early on in the month of February. The hilly regions of the island are decked out in a pink carpet, and the beautiful trees provide the sought after fruit which for several centuries was the main driving force behind the local economy of the village of Tejeda.

09/02/2018

Gran Canaria, Starlight destination

Unesco declares Gran Canaria a Starlight Destination in recognition of the high quality of its skies for star gazing.

Gran Canaria has graduated with honours at the school of amazing night skies. Unesco has declared the island a Starlight Destination, which certifies it as a privileged location for anyone who wishes to contemplate the stars and feel they can nearly touch them. Gran Canaria now joins a select club that includes Chile, New Zealand and Hawaii.

Carnival "comparsa" dancing troupe. Las Canteras Avenue

02/02/2018

Gran Canaria, Carnival is back home again

The spirit of the Carnival possesses a thousand different faces in Gran Canaria and reflects hundreds of years of tradition.

Ana lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Ever year she improvises with a couple of different fancy dress costumes, while there is one fancy dress that she uses year after year for carnival. She goes outdoors in the middle of the fiestas in her pyjamas, a pair of slippers, a worn-out but adorable blue-coloured teddy bear, and a mug with a camomile tea bag hanging on a thread. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what shapes the unbreakable spirit of the carnival, which, on the island of Gran Canaria, is a particularly lively and rowdy affair.

26/01/2018

Your own personal palm tree

The Canarian palm tree forms part of the landscape and identity of Gran Canaria, and will linger in your mind following your stay

They have always been around, rustling in the breeze, providing shade, breaking up blue skies with their slim shadows. A group of them even led to the name of the island’s capital city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, over five centuries ago now. Poet Bartolomé Cairasco de Figueroa (1583-1610) used to say that they were “so, so tall, much taller than the Pyramids in Egypt”, while the chronicals of the Conquest referred to the island “being just like a garden, covered with palm trees”.

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, Las Canteras beach

18/01/2018

The voice of the ocean

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium triumphs as an icon in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for how it fits in with its surroundings.

As a boy, Juan Bordes described the existence of some little caboso fish that inhabited the pools left at low tide by Las Canteras beach. Juan then grew up, became a man and a famous sculptor, but those little fish continued to swim around in his mind, the very place from where they came out to become the sculptural series set into the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The mermaids on the façade are inspired by those early salty memories.

Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria