The Crafts Fairs held next to Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) in Spring and Summer show the depth of the Island’s Traditions.

The waves, the breeze and the sea currents draw spirals and all kinds of whimsical meandering shapes next to the dike and breakwater at the foot of Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse). Gran Canaria’s Nature has been and still is a constant source of inspiration for the creation of beauty, like a guiding light. Like the Lighthouse has been doing for over a century. For this reason, and as naturally as the waves break on the shore, it is hard to imagine a most suitable space for two must-go dates for all looking for in-depth knowledge of the Island’s traditions. These dates are Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) Summer Crafts Fair and Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) Southern Spring Crafts Fair. In both cases, the Atlantic Ocean is the best background to the displayed crafts.

Entrance to the museums dedicated to Galdós, the poet Tomás Morales, the painter Antonio Padrón and the León y Castillo brothers is now free.

How much is a jewel worth? How much would you pay to dive in a bottomless sea of wonders, to discover the artistic and historical treasures of an island? What if it were for free? That is the case in the four Casas-Museo (Museum-Houses) of Cabildo de Gran Canaria, dedicated to the novelist Benito Pérez Galdós, the modernist poet Tomás Morales, the painter Antonio Padrón, and the brothers Fernando and Juan de León y Castillo, politician and engineer, both relevant to the island’s recent history.

The lighthouse at Sardina del Norte, in Gran Canaria, and the surrounding area create an atmosphere akin to the beginning and the end of the world.

The old lighthouse at Sardina del Norte, on the Gáldar coast, to the northeast of Gran Canaria, flashed its first beam over this corner of the Atlantic on 15th February 1891. The current structure, built on the same site, replacing the former one there in 1986, took over the task of guarding the sublime rocky coastline where the vigorous waves come crashing in almost at slow motion speed, doubtless tired after their long oceanic voyage.

The grand opening of ‘The Market Puerto Rico’ offers the perfect combination of luxury shopping and quality healthy food.

The flavours that take us far away are always those closer to us. The true luxury is time, when hours and minutes cease to exist. And there is no better feeling than the sense that there is a surprise around the corner. This and other ingredients mix to create  ‘The Market Puerto Rico’, in the coast of the municipality of Mogán, a hot new shopping space in the Southern Gran Canaria, rooted in concepts such as sustainability, local produce and the permanent desire to create unique moments for every visitor.

Juana runs a village bar and store in Gran Canaria, founded over a century ago, in the heart of Moya.

“Everybody comes by here”, Juana assures us proudly at her century old premises in the town centre of Moya, in Gran Canaria. And she has the evidence to prove it. Over her fridge sits a signature book, featuring the signatures of ministers, sculptors, Presidents of the Government of the Canaries and foreign tourists of all nationalities. There are even museums out there that cannot boast such a fine list of distinguished visitors.

El Puertillo Beach, in Arucas, Gran Canaria, is an attractive and balanced blend of environments with a variety of uses.

The early morning sun rises up behind the silhouette of the mountains and begins to warm the sand, while Manuel Sosa and his group of friends observe the antics of a group of surfers, on El Puertillo Beach, at the northwest coast of Gran Canaria. Manuel is 92 years old and fondly recalls past times when those who went bathing, and that means properly bathing, numbered barely two or three: a couple from local village Bañaderos, along with another bather from Arucas. Many years and thousands of dawns on, Manuel comes here every day and sits along the promenade overlooking the ocean, just to check it is the same sea out there, while his Puertillo has become a dearly beloved jewel along the Arucas coastline.

Plaza de Santa Ana in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is one of the heartbeats of the city’s history and life.

A group of young boys and girls skip playfully around the centre of Plaza de Santa Ana. Their youthful cries drift skywards, bringing back to present time a square that speaks volumes of the past. It is a setting dominated by sturdy, beautiful buildings which have been witnesses to the centuries-old history of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Atlantic city where this emblematic site sits. A place not to be missed.

The new Gran Canaria Blue website enables visitors to learn about and make bookings on the fascinating range of nautical activities on the island.

There they go. Someone on board points to the spot where a mysterious shape slinks around under the water, moving ever nearer to the surface. The contained excitement lasts barely a few instants, in the a few short seconds the dolphins take to emerge and once again transform the waters of Gran Canaria into a blue canvass with their manoeuvres, jumps and somersaults. In this way, with the same precision with which the pod of dolphins moves forward, another dream has been fulfilled on an island in whose waters a third of all known cetaceans have been spotted.

Barranco de los Cernícalos, in Gran Canaria, transports you to the most natural and mysterious side of the island.

Pay careful attention, because we are about to enter one of those spots that makes us feel like we are floating around a lost world, but which is actually much nearer than we think. Yes, listen and look very carefully, because each stone, each plant and each chirping of a bird have a story to tell.  A walk around Barranco de los Cernícalos, on the southern slopes of Gran Canaria, takes us into the most unspoilt part of the island, and brings us face to face with its most ancestral and wild side.

La Recova, or Municipal Market of  Gáldar offers a daily festival for the senses within its highly artistic building premises.

The iron bars on the entrance gate to La Recova, or the Municipal Market of Gáldar, are the very same the premises had when it was inaugurated in 1945, the date when it became a great meeting place for local residents and a melting pot for flavours and aromas at this northern location in Gran Canaria. The detail on the railings also symbolise the close links with the orginal roots of the city of Gáldar, which from Monday to Saturday provides a superb point of sale for the finest locally-sourced farm and sea products.

El Burrero Beach, in Gran Canaria, has a clearly defined personality and a history etched in salt letters.

The town of El Burrero spends its days with one foot on land and the other in the Atlantic. This coastal spot is an extension of the sea that laps up to the vibrant shores of the municipality of Ingenio, in Gran Canaria. They are like two worlds that blend in together and are constantly overlapping eachother. Hence there are houses whose entrances bear the sculptures of dolphins, while others have giant snails decorating their inside walls, and even huge waves with slim palm trees painted onto walls.

The TOTEM spectacle is inspired by the origins and evolution of mankind, and is to premiere in July 2019 in Gran Canaria.

This could be a test. Is it real or is it a dream? Our sight and the rest of our senses face the challenge of solving a dilemma which, at the end of the day, belongs to the realms of emotion. Here there are artists who contort themselves as they challenge the laws of physics while the set design and projections interact in real time with their movements. The audience contemplates the waves, splashes and reflections in the water of a primeval pond, flames, the source of a river, an ocean, a volcanic island, molecules, planets, a starlit sky and a rocket that sets off on course for infinity. We repeat the question once more… dream or reality? Both answers are valid when it is the Cirque du Soleil and their TOTEM show we are talking about, which will premiere on 5th July 2019 in Gran Canaria.