Gran Canaria

This island is amazing with its variety of microclimates. On the south end are the dunes of Maspalomas -

It was so windy when we were there, we opted not to walk out on the dunes, as the windblown sand really stung!

We headed up into the interior hills, and found “Rainbow Rocks” (Los Azulejos de Veneguera)…

… and a fantastic lookout -

These were just beautiful…

… and we could walk right up to them -

Heading further into the hills, we reached Canarian pine forests…

… mixed with palms!

It was a gorgeous, albeit curvy drive -

Near the center of the island, we watched a bank of clouds pour over a ridge, and dissipate quickly. (I tried to capture it on video, but it didn’t really show it well).

We stayed in the historic center of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria…

… and of course we had to go up in the bell tower of the Catedral de Santa Ana -

We walked by, but didn’t have time to visit, the museum of Christopher Columbus (still decorated for Halloween!). Columbus was reported to have stayed here during his stop on the island in 1492 -

Another day we drove through a very lush area in the center of the island…

… and through Llanos de Ana Lopez (the plains of Ana Lopez), a cool breezy recreation and picnic area…

… on our way to our hike to Roque Nublo.

Rather than just walking 30 minutes from the parking lot with tons of other tourists, we chose to walk about 4 miles roundtrip to it…

…. having the trail nearly to ourselves, along with gorgeous vistas -

As we got closer, we started hiking through pines…

… and then found our quarry -

(can you see the person at the base of the rock on the R in the red shirt? nice scale!)

The expansive view to our west even included Mt. Teide on Tenerife!

As we neared the top…

… people became much more frequent.

Roque Nublo is pretty spectacular, rising 250 ft from the surrounding landscape…

… and the surrounding panoramic view was pretty impressive -

On our way back to Las Palmas, we stopped by a few towns, like Tejeda…

… and Teror…

… after passing through yet another microclime of moist eucalyptus forest -

I’ll close with this imposing neo-Gothic church in Arucas - Iglesia de San Juan Bautista -

It definitely reminded me of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

We’ll leave the beauty of this relatively lush island for the arid volcanic one of Fuerteventura. See you there!