Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Cruz de Tejeda, in Gran Canaria, is the geographical and historical centre, where the island’s inner voice is heard.

“You have to put a kind face to life”. Manuel Ortega was born in a family who used to farm the land and look after a small herd of sheep, some goats and one or two cows, while working at the water galleries in Gran Canaria’s high land. Maybe for this reason his conversation flows like a stream. “I enjoy talking to people” says Manuel while he strokes the back of his noble four-legged companion, Bartolo, an introvert and calm donkey whose job is to be ridden by anyone who wants to get to know Cruz de Tejeda’s surroundings, a crossroad and geographical, touristic, historical and even emotional epicentre of the island, located above one thousand five hundred metres of altitude, looming over an amazing volcanic basin.

Valleseco, in the green heart of Gran Canaria, wraps the visitor in a blanket of nature, tradition and flavours.

Valleseco wakes up at dawn and goes to sleep at night to the lulling sound of water. The washing pools, the remains of old mills, galleries and canals make a mirror where the town looks at itself every morning, reflecting a wide natural range of infinite shades of green.

The village of Tejeda, located at Gran Canaria’s highest point, looms into an amazing volcanic basin, and keeps surprisingly alive ancient scents and roots.

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.

The winter blossoming of the Canary white retama broom plant  reveals one of the great ‘tricks’ of nature in Gran Canaria.

Someone seems to have unfurled a wintery white sheet over the ravines and hillsides in Gran Canaria. This mysterious-looking frost is, however, the result of the seasonal spectacle provided by the flowers on Canary white broom, on bushes that grow up to three metres in height. Their aromatic flowers take centre stage at this wintery scene, popping up at many different natural island settings, and are free to go and see.

The Winter solstice brings with it a spectacle of light and a surge of emotion at the summit of Gran Canaria.

The shortest day of the year actually begins the evening before, with a blanket of stars covering the stage before the performance begins. Under the steep slope of Mesa de Acusa, an abyss of ancient eruptions etched into the landscape, lies the stalls and the audience, on this occasion the lens of a camera, which points towards the spot where the real protagonist of the winter solstice at the summit of Gran Canaria is waiting in the wings: the first winter light.