Santa Cruz and Las Palmas

My itinerary was dictated by the ferry schedules. If I tarried too long on one island I might miss a connection to the next one and not do that island justice. So I had to get a move on. I ascertained that I could visit Corralejo on Fuerteventura from Lanzarote, so I had only two big ferry runs, to Gran Canaria, and then an overnight to Lanzarote.

Before I left I took a picture of this restaurant that took my fancy. It was actually situated on the beach. You could see a family living in it, defying the tide of tourist construction.

The German woman seated in front of me on the bus was mechanically stroking her husband's hair. Maybe he had a headache. At Santa Cruz, the capital, I had no time left for a stroll. Not practical lugging a backpack anyway. So I saw little of Santa Cruz. It is an Atlantic port of some importance though.

The fare was cheaper than I expected, only 14€.  I gave my Bonobus, a prepaid bus ticket, to the ticket teller lady as a present. The transport was a car ferry, with mostly local passengers as an afterthought. Some prime movers were apparently positioned to double as ballast.

A pleasant 3-½ hours later I arrived in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria. GC is the third largest island, but Las Palmas is the largest city in the group, with over 370,000 population. It is also circular, like La Gomera. I found the pension that I wanted. Unfortunately it seemed that a smoker had the room last; I could smell the stale nicotine.

I had 4 days until the next ferry and I felt that I would have no problems filling the time. Besides the tourist beaches in the south, there were attractions in the environs of the city. Las Palmas seemed to have quite a few international restaurants . I thought that the guide book didn't do it justice. It certainly had more to offer than Los Cristianos, which was just a small town.

In the evening I took a stroll on the very long promenade of Playa de las Canteras. Many nationalities were in evidence. African women in traditional clothing stood out. How many of the people on the street were residents, how many visitors in transit, and how many immigrants I couldn't say.

Yes, a very stereotypical picture, but it really looked like that. I see from the temperature chart that the average high varies from 20C to 27C over the year. Must be a hard life, enjoying the mild climate.

In the local branch of El Cortes Inglés I found palm honey and Canarian honey which would be suitable gifts for P and K back in Heemstede. I took the easy way out and had a buffet dinner in a Chinese restaurant, run by immigrants from Fujian.