2012
MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France
Part5
We departed Dakar at 6pm and were on our
way to Las Palmas – due to dock on the 4th March 2012. Two full days
at sea.
863 Nautical Miles to go.
Was looking forward to exploring Las
Palmas.
“Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , commonly known as Las Palmas is the co-capital (jointly with Santa Cruz) Las
Palmas is the largest city of the European Union lying outside the European
Continent. It is located in the northeast part of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, about 150 kilometres (~93
miles) off the north western coast of Africa[6] within the Atlantic Ocean.
Las
Palmas enjoys a subtropical climate,
with mild to warm temperatures throughout the year. Founded as a city in 1478,
considered the de facto only capital of the Canary Islands until the
seventeenth century.[8] Today, the city is capital of
Canary Islands with Santa Cruz and home to the Canarian Ministry of Presidency
(shared in a 4-year term with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), home to half of the Ministries and Boards of the
Canarian Government, and home to the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands. It is the judicial and
commercial capital of the Canary Islands, and is also home to a great
share of the executive power.”
Arrived nice and early and was rearing to
go. Pretty overcast day, so perfect for walking and exploring.
Pat, Elaine and
I decided to walk from the cruise terminal along the promenade towards the flea
market, they wanted to buy gifts for home. Needless to say lost them in the
crowd and decided to explore on my own.
Everybody on the cruise said they were
going to the promenade, I walked for ages and not cruise passenger in sight,
hell there were hardly any people on the promenade.
So where was everybody?
Walked back to my starting point and
decided to do the hop on hop off tour bus. Always works in my opinion as you
get the lie of the land so to speak. So off I went. Landed up at The Cathedral
of Santa Ana. Bumped into an excursion or two from the MSC Melody.
Browsed around the Flea Market set up at
the back of the Cathedral and spent some time enjoying the show with
traditional music and dance put on my the elderly citizens of Las Palmas. Most
enjoyable.
Caught the tourist bus back to my
starting point and decided to go into the town, walked down a side street and
low and behold found the “promenade and the rest of the cruise passengers and
about 80% of the population of Las Palmas. I had found the “Las Canteras Beach
Ave”.
One restaurant and curio shop after
another. Most of the passengers and decided to have lunch at one of the
numerous restaurants. I assume most had been here before and had seen all the
touristy places and just wanted to enjoy a good meal. I could see why, prices
for a Sea Food Paella, not bad at all. Such a pity I had stopped off at the MSC
Melody for a free lunch. Oh well!
Did my normal thing walked along and took
some pics and made sure I was in time back to the MSC Melody for departure.
All in all a very nice experience, would
like to see Las Palmas one day again soon.
Now for our next stop, Cadiz Spain.
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