Gran Canaria

We spent a week exploring around the city of Las Palmas on the Island of Gran Canaria. Las Palmas is a big city with a population of over 400,000. This cathedral is called Santa Ana, we got to go up to the top and take in the view but the rest was not open to the public. 

We also visited a museum of Christopher Columbus. He stopped here on his voyages to the new world. It is about 500nm from Spain and was a logical place to reprovision. We learned that the inhabitants of the Canary Islands were made to emigrate and made up much of the population of Cuba. They also settled in Texas and Florida. 

We went to a science museum and enjoyed trying out the exhibits. They had puzzles of shapes that you had to manipulate and textures that you had to try and match to it's mate by feel, Barry enjoyed getting in the F-5 cockpit. 

The next day we took a bus to the town of Galdar, where there are painted caves.  These painting were made 3,000 years ago and they are protected in a sealed space which is climate controlled.  There is a huge excavation around the cave and these ancient homes were excavated. They have done a great job of protecting the area and there were very informative films about the original inhabitants. We went to another museum which was the hope me of a former artist. There was a great display of dried gourds called calabashes. 

The drive on the bus was very scenic as we travelled along the coastline. 

Galdar was located at the bottom of this treeless hill. We are currently underway heading to the south of the island.  There are supposed to be some good dive sites there and we haven't been diving since we were in Cuba, it's time.