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The Garden Party

A long cruise - Las Palmas, Canary Islands part 1

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

9 years ago

Welcome to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (I erred yesterday by referring to it and Grand Canary), a bustling city of more than 350,000. I will warn you now, I love this city!

The missus decided to ride the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus for $39 each (discounted by purchasing at home). That was good decision.

Any time you get off a cruise ship, you have options. Some folks like to just walk the area, do a bit of shopping and return to the ship. Others might prefer to take a taxi or bus to a nearby beach and loaf the day away. There are intrepid travelers who will get off the ship and hire a taxi for a tour of the area (some of the areas are huge and you need to know beforehand where you want to go and how long you want to be doing it). We booked several excursions long before we sailed and many of our Cruise Critic friends joined us. It took a bit of research, but that was a great option.

OR, you can book one of the ship's excursions. We rarely do that due to the cost. For instance, Holland America offered A Day at the Beach (4.5 hours), leaving at 8:45 a.m. All they did was take you to the beach and bring you back - no food or drinks and the cost was $49.95 per person. A Las Palmas Highlights tour (4 hours), would have a bus take you around the city with a local providing commentary, the cost was $54.95 per person. It seemed expensive for what they were offering.

The same can be true in almost every port on every cruise line. It is part of the way the cruise line makes money, if you don't have the time to research, then you will spend lots of money for a simple excursion. It has been a long time since we took a ship's excursion.

You can generally find information on the cruise line's Web site. Some cruse lines list the price and others just list an approximate cost.

We were scheduled to arrive in Las Palmas at 7:00 a.m. and depart at 10:00 p.m. Lots of time to explore.

This picture is of the harbor in Las Palmas as the sun is rising.

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Comments (10)

jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
It was a 10-minute walk to exit the pier area, as usual there was lots of security and one would need you ship's ID card and a photo ID to return to the ship. Some ports are stricter than others on this. This was a clean and well-organized harbor area and we had no problem with making the trek, for those with some walking difficulties, there was a free shuttle.

Gran Canaria is less than 100 miles from the coast of Africa and the weather is temperate. Although it was coolish in the morning, the sun was shining and it was beautiful. It warmed in the afternoon and it was absolutely wonderful!

The Hop-On, Hop-Off bus program is in most cities that we visited on this cruise. In Las Palmas, there were 9 stops around the city, including one at the end of the pier. Your ticket would allow you to get on at any stop. Ear buds were provided so that you could hear the on-going recorded narrative. Again, do some research before you leave home and you can decide how you want to spend your day.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
This photo is one of the first one's I shot from the upper deck of the bus. Those spikes were everywhere. It deterred birds from parking themselves and making a mess. This was one of the best first impressions that I got. Las Palmas (as in most of Spain) is a clean city. Very little trash, the parks are neat and clean and those pesky pigeons were not an issue. We appreciated the city's efforts to keep it clean.
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jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
As we rode the bus around the loop, we noticed these colorful houses on the hill within the city.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
I believe that I could live in a house like this.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't know the name of this park, but it is typical of what we saw from the upper level of the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
Nice garden up high. Plants and awnings. In the middle of town.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
Taxis waiting for fares at one of the parks in Las Palmas.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
A view of one of the downtown Las Palmas streets as seen from the top of the bus.

Tomorrow, I will show you the old town area of Las Palmas.
anneliese_32
9 years ago
Thanks for taking us along on your travel. Between your story and the pictures I enjoy the excursions.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the thoughts.

Next big cruise begins in November:

Sailing from San Diego -
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Huatulco, Mexico
Puerto Chiapas, Mexico
Fuerte Amador, Panama (overnight)
Salaverry, Peru
Lima, Peru (2 nights)
Manta, Equador
Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica
Corinto, Nicaragua
Quetzal, Guatemala
Manzanillo, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Back to San Diego 31 days.

This pix is the San Diego skyline at sail-away (Feb,2013)

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