MORE CANARY ISLANDS

The Canary Islands are named for the dogs the Spanish settlers found there, Canis being Latin for dog and is nothing to do with the bird! Outside the Cathedral in Gran Canaria are four beautiful statues of dogs, which I have made into a collage for you. Being a dog person myself I was quite charmed by them and would happily have lifted one up and taken it home. Fortunately perhaps, they were large, very heavy and firmly anchored to their plinths!

The house of Christopher Columbus was very impressive, with the ornate stonework round the door and the balcony. This balcony was typical of the houses in the old town, and actually nearly all doors were decorated in some way.

Inside the house it was cool, and I was very glad of the benches! The museum was fascinating, and we could have spent far longer there than we did. One of the most interesting exhibits was an intricate model of how the old town was originally, being built around a ravine and a river (which has now been largely culverted). Unfortunately I disgraced myself by falling over having not seen a step. Mr. G was very annoyed, and gave me no sympathy over the very large bruises I collected!

We had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises whilst we were at sea, and this one was taken as we left Gran Canaria for La Palma.

Whilst we were on our excursion, those of us who were interested were taken to a silk museum and mill. As we live in Macclesfield, Cheshire, famous for being a silk town, were very interested in this, and were delighted to find that in the (Spanish) accounts of the silk industry, Macclesfield was mentioned! There were people winding and spinning the silk, and the dyed (using natural dyes) silk hung up to dry. It was just so beautiful!

This little town, where the silk Museum was, was in the Centre of the Island, but there were lovely little squares around, full of trees and plants.

Many of the pavements in these squares were beautifully tiled.

This big square was near the Tourist Centre, which was very helpful, and also sold some perfectly delicious sauces, some mild and some very spicy indeed. You could try them, and then buy what you liked. We bought a small three-pack of different sauces, and I need to go back to get some more!!

We were also taken to a little square in a village where an artist had made the most incredible mosaics. I'm no judge of area, but there were a lot of people walking around, on them and around them, so they covered a biggish area. There were also some rather strange sculptures!

And lastly I'll leave you with a photo of our absolutely gorgeous lunch. Now that is what I call a baguette! The bread was crunchy outside and feather-light inside, and the filling was just perfect! Next blog, and I'll try to get it done without such a long wait in between blogs, I'll finish off our holiday. I just hope you are not bored!