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Dublin & Canaries Xmas Cruise - 17/12/2014 - Las Palmas, Gran Canaria Page |
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Sunday 28th December 2014
From the "Boudicca" across the bow of sister ship "Balmoral" to modern Las Palmas
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Up at 06:12, as Avis had woken but we needed the earliest breakfast, as it was to be a 5 hour tour today, to the South of the island. We drove mostly on their nice, new EU-paid for motorway to Maspalomas, which is a newish beach resort, opposite which are large sand dunes (Palomas). We did not have quite enough time here (40 minutes) to get to the lighthouse but I put €0.50 in a sand-carver’s box. |
The sand carver's art |
Maspalomas lighthouse & huge beach |
The famous sand dunes at Maspalomas (which means, "Big Sand Dunes")
Then, on to Puerto Rico, a grossly over-developed gorge above a pretty, small port & small beach. It is hard to image anyone wanting to buy an apartment at such a tasteless mess. Just a quick photo stop.
The ruined little port at Puerto Rico ("Rich Port") |
Puerto Rico's overdevelopment |
However,the next 90 minutes stop was something much better: Mogan, which had originally had the treatment from Cesar Manrique. We went first along the fairly normal (for the Canaries) prom but with only 2 story buildings, with its harbour & views along the cliffs & stopped for coffee (€4) & walked round the back.
The 'normal' port |
West of the beach |
The Easterly cliffs |
The whole original front |
In the village |
The canalised river |
A bridge on the river |
Another bridge |
Volcanic rocks at the end of th West cliff |
Mogan had been described as a Little Venice on the coach & there are cute bridges across the canalised stream down the gorge but the ‘Venice’ part is in the Cesar development nearer the sea, which is united, has another harbour & more Venice-like little canals. This is very pretty. Avis had a posh ice cream (€3) before we took the coach getting back by 13:40.
Backstreet in the "Little Venice" |
The main square in the "Little Venice" |
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One of the canals |
The new port |
The old port from "Little Venice" |
Another street in the "Little Venice" |
The bandstand in the "Little Venice" |
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After lunch, I went into Las Palmas. It is a long way to the old town & cathedral & not really a practical walk but I went South along a pedestrianised street to the top end of Playa de las Canteras & walked back along it.
Playa de las Canteras looking West
Playa de las Canteras looking East
Then, there is a much shorter street back to the harbour area. I went into the giant shopping mall on the quay, as it had a viewing area on the top floor, to take photos from. My camera protested its card was full, so I deleted old photos to make more room. It appears that the file table is not updated properly if one deletes photos from the laptop. |
Typical buildings |
Horse taxi |
The newer city from the shopping centre
The harbour from the shopping centre
Sail away from the ship
The band played big-band jazz. Much the same programme as usual on these ships but very well & at times, amusingly done.