For the next few days we will be visiting various Canary Islands.
These islands are a part of Spain. So in a way these are to Spain what the Hawaiian islands are to the US, hence the "aloha"!
We'll be visiting Santa Cruz, Tenerife and Arrecife, Lanzarote in the next two days. Right now we're sitting on our balcony overlooking Las Palmas, Gran Canary Island.
Tenerife is the largest of the islands but the majority of residents live on Gran Canary Island and Las Palmas is the largest city on the island and actually the ninth largest city in Spain.
As with most of our days we really didn't start off with a plan or objective other than to see where our feet were going to take us.
It was a short walk into the very lively business district and just a few minutes later we were on the familiar beachfront promenade of Playa de las Canteras.
Because it was a little cloudy today the "golden sand" appeared a little brownish. On a sunny day I can see how it would live up to the "golden sand" described in the brochures.
We hit the 2+ mile promenade pretty much in the middle and turned right which took us far beyond the end of the promenade along a cliff side walk and down to another path over what was obviously an old lava field.
We learned from a very chatty older gentlemen from the U.K. that we were actually walking near the rim of a long dormant (thankfully) volcano. I appreciated the information and in return tried to assure him that President Trump wasn't likely to go out and start a war just for the heck of it and even if he did it most certainly wouldn't be with one of our strongest allies.
I'm not sure I convinced him but I did my best.
Speaking of wars. I'm not a real history buff but I do know that way back the Spanish Armada had quite a reputation until they went into battle. Once engaged they didn't fair much better than my Gators in recent years against the big boys like Alabama and Florida State.
I think I figured out by looking at one of their current navy boats that they still might have an issue.
Look closely at the picture of the ship. It's hard to see but there is only one gun and it's located on the front of the ship. It can at best protect about 1/4 of the ship. Hope nobody sneaks up from the back or side!
To sum up this rambling, we had a great day hiking along a magnificent coast line. We probably covered 10-12 miles stopping frequently for sitting and staring out at the waves which were breaking along both sandy beaches and rocky shorelines depending on our location.
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| This was near the turnaround point on our walk. On the far right is an old gun installation to protect the port |
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| Spanish Navy-One small gun on the front of the ship that may be hard to see. I hope they don't get attacked from the side or rear |
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| Two salty old dudes |
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| Along the promenade-this was actually a part of a small cafe |
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| Walking partner-This was along the Cliffside part of the trail |
