Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

The Tomás Morales House Museum in Moya is a showcase of the profoundness of cultura in Gran Canaria.

There once was a poet who instead of dipping his feather in ink, he dipped it directly into the sea water. He was called Tomás Morales, and was born in Moya in 1884 and is considered one of the leading lights in modernism in Spain. His poems contain traces of foam and salt, because, as he said himself, they come from the infinite Atlantic.

Every knife that Francisco Torres makes is a wholly unique piece, and proof of Gran Canaria’s deep-rooted craftwork tradition.

Every Canary knife tells a story. Some of them can cut short our breath with their steel blades. Rafael Torres Osorio, a resident of Santa María de Guía, in Gran Canaria, forged well deserving fame as an artisan knife-maker, while his son, Francisco Torres Rodríguez, delicately holds up a knife that is able to slit through the patterns of time. “This is the last one my father designed in 1992”, he reveals with emotion and pride etched on his face. The handle, a replica made by himself, is pure silver and goldsmithing genius, a combination of animal horn, precious metals, know-how and patience.

A piece of aromatic reality unfolds before visitors’ eyes at Vegueta Market in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

“That’s just eight euros, madam. I’ll put the fish in two bags and that’ll be easier for you to carry. Have a good day...” Pleasant chit-chat, the wooden model boat hanging from the side and some attractive fresh produce from one of the fish counters begin to provide an insight into Vegueta Market in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as we enter its centuries-old facilities. This area, over and above a colourful display of wonderful wares, opens the door to visitors providing access to a kind of theatre, which, nevertheless, is an authentic piece of aromatic and bustling reality.

The Canary Museum has a surprise in store in the district of Vegueta, where there is an air of a grand scientific world.

There are mummies out there, and not just within the thick walls of the Pyramids of Egypt and in Hollywood films. In the case of Gran Canaria, there some lucky individuals enjoying the privilege of inhabiting number 2, calle Doctor Verneau in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Don’t be alarmed. They don’t live in a private residence, and you won’t bump into them at the bus stop or at the corner coffee shop. This address belongs to the Canary Museum, a century-old institution founded back in 1879, where there is an air of a great scientific world that proliferated all over Europe during the 19th century.

The Martín Chirino Foundation, named after the world famous sculptor born in Gran Canaria, awaits your visit at the fascinating Castle of La Luz.

Nobody had thought of sculpturing the wind. That is, until Martín Chirino, one of the leading sculptors to have emerged over the last few decades, came along and did just that. The artist was born in 1925 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the heart of a family linked with shipyards. For this reason, the sea and the Canaries’ landscape fused with iron and bronze since his early childhood. This is how his first iconic spiral figure came about.

Gran Canaria combines fire, sea, festivals and tradition when celebrating La Noche de San Juan - St John’s Eve or Midsummer’s Eve.

The shortest nights of the year are also the most intense in Gran Canaria. The sea, the moon and fire melt into one on the island the night before the feast of St John, every 23rd June (Midsummer’s Eve), to experience an annual ritual of joy, hope and purification that is celebrated particularly intense in this corner of the Atlantic. This is where the elements of Nature and the people of Gran Canaria come together to hold an unforgettable evening where boredom is the first thing to burn away on the fire.