Meloneras; Saturday, 08 February, 2025

Another day, another tour, though this time I was amongst the last to be picked-up so I could have a little bit more of a lie in before grabbing breakfast and heading up to reception to wait for the coach, which turned out to be the same coach, same drive and same guide as the previous day. So, it was only natural to grab the same seat!

After completing the pick-ups we headed out on the tour which was a complete circumnavigation of the island, clockwise to take in all four coasts and the differences in climate and weather on such a small island.

The first stop was on the west coast at Puerto de Morgán a very pretty beach and harbour town. From there we drove up into the mountains, through the original town of Morgán and up further into the caldera of the volcano to the Los Azulejos de Veneguera. These are a series of rocks dyed different colours by the reaction of water to the elements in the rock whilst it was still part of an active volcanoes walls. The colours are pretty striking and make for a very picturesque, if quick, photo stop.

Back on the bus and it was up back down from the mountains and out to the coast at Los Caserones to take in the North West coast of the island before heading onto the scariest part of the day the drive along the edge of the sea cliffs up to Puerto de Agaete

The drive was pretty spectacular with the towering cliffs and the road winding its way along them. The road itself is still currently the main route this way, but as was clearly visible along the way it’s soon going to be replaced with a motorway, the tunnels for which have already been bored through the mountain and met up with road at various points. The final descent down into Agaete was as impressive as the rest of the ride.

We had the lunch stop here, along with about 30 minutes free time to look around the village before it was back on the bus for the short hop over to the town of Gáldar to have a look around a Canarian Banana plantation – with a quick explanation of how they are grown in greenhouses, and how so many varieties were wiped out in the 2021 eruption on La Palma island.

From the Banana Plantation the driver was able to relax as we headed onto the motorway, rather than the twisting mountain roads, over to the capital Las Palmas for a 30 minute stop there near the concert hall before a final drive back down the east coast to the south.

One of the most impressive parts of the day was discovering how different the weather can be on such a small island. The south and west had been bright and sunny with clear blue skies, but after leaving Gáldar until we were south of the Airport it had been grey and overcast, so it was quite nice to see the resorts were still in sun.

Given I was one of the last to be picked up I was also one of the last to be dropped off, but it was still early enough that I could get a quick swim in and an early dinner before heading back out to walk along the prom back into Maspalomas to look at the lighthouse and town at night. Only at this point did I discover that the number of buses back to Meloneras drops off quite quickly in the evening and checking on google I was just about to miss one, so instead I walked the 2Km back to the hotel and a well deserved sleep.