Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Monday, 25 February, 2019

Another really good breakfast and a walk over to the tour bus stop to catch the bus round to the Cathedral. My first stop of the morning was to take the lift up the tower of the cathedral to take in the views over Las Palmas and the harbour. After a little while at the top of the tower I descended back down to ground level and walked round the corner to the tourist entrance to the cathedral.

The cathedral have worked out a good little trick for getting tourists to support the building. On a Sunday there is direct access into the cathedral, but during the week the only entrance is via the cathedral museum. There is no other way of getting into the cathedral, so you have to pay the entrance free to the museum – even if you don’t look round the relatively dull museum – though the views from some of the rooms down into the cathedral, and from the balcony over the cathedral courtyard garden are worth the fee.

Having quickly looked round the cathedral museum I headed into the cathedral itself. I had a long look around the cathedral before heading slightly further up the road and visiting the Museo Caniero which tells the history of the Canary Islands, including quite a lot of information on the history and culture of the original inhabitants of the islands who had been living there perfectly happily until the Spanish turned up in the 15th century.

After looking round the museum I headed to a nice looking café near the cathedral for a relaxed lengthy lunch. Lunch completed I walked to the bus station and caught the inter urban coach south to the southern tip of the island at Faro de Maspalomas

It was a very interesting bus ride, running along the coast of the island, but with good views towards the mountainous centre of the island. The final 30 minutes or so were through the heavily built up resort town of Maspalomas before we finally reached the lighthouse at the southern tip of the island.

I’d arrived just as the museum at the lighthouse was closing, so instead I went for a long walk along the beach, taking the opportunity to have a very nice paddle in the sea, which was quite a bit colder than I was expecting.

I stopped off at a beach front bar for a quick drink and a snack before having a bit more of a wander around and then heading back to the bus station to pick up the bus back into Las Palmas.

The bus headed all the way back to the bus station near the hotel so I caught it back there and then had a bit of a wander around the Santa Catalina area before heading back to my hotel to freshen up and then pop out for a light dinner.