Day 1 Monday 4/3/24
I’m visiting Gran Canaria for the first time. I have developed a taste for the Canary archipeligo for several very good reasons.
They are the nearest warm place you can fly to in the Winter/early Spring which is in Europe (sort of). The islands all have their own character, and you can get culture if you want it, plus the booze is cheap and the food is good.
London is still damned chilly right now and the beer is a ridiculous price unless you go to Spoons, and as much as I love them, I don’t want to boost Tim Martin’s bank balance too much. I do appreciate that he is called Tim, there many talented Tims, such as Berners Lee, Vine and Peak. I’m the most popular Tim Harness, I asked my wife and she agreed with me.
Julie and I are staying in the capitol of Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, which is on the top right hand side of the roughly circular island. Its a big city, half an hour from the airport by bus.
Our apartment is in the old part of town called Triana, which is full of shops and restaurants. Julie cleverly chose a beautiful flat on Calle Triana, a pedestrianised shopping street which is very cool. The flat has a balcony about 30 cm wide, too narrow to sit on, but we can open the big windows and watch the passersby.
Since we arrived there has been a group of Jehovahs Witnesses with their little stand of leaflets doing nothing, just across the road. They don’t appear to talk to anyone, they just stand there looking hopeful that someone will approach them. I guess they think they are doing Gods Work, but it appears to me like a total waste of time when they could be in the pub or watching a Grand Prix on the telly.
We got settled in and walked around the locality to suss out where we can eat and drink. Like all touristy places in the Canaries there is an Ale Hop (ally op) which is a bit like Tiger and sells pretty things that you don’t really need but you buy anyway.
There is a Hyper Dino supermarket close to the flat, so we bought our essential supplies, including two bars of 70% chocolate, which I consider is one of life’s necessities.
Thus enriched with supplies we enjoyed an aperitivo by the balcony and made quiet rude comments about the innocent folk below. Jehovah would be very disappointed with me, but I’m sure he will forgive me.
Venturing out again (no more than 200 yards) we found Cafe Cristal and I had a pizza. It wasn’t just good, it was magnificent, with more topping than Bertram Mills Circus.
After loosening my belt, we walked down the Calle to San Telmo Park at the end, which is small but very very pretty. Take a look at this Art Deco cafe, isn’t it gorgeous?
Gran Canaria Day 2 Vegueta and Canteras
timharnesstravels 
“ After loosening my belt, we walked down the Calle to San Telmo Park at the end, which is small but very very pretty.”
Wonderful.
Tony M.
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