WE POUND THES TREETS... YOU REAP THE REWARDS!
What to see and do
• Get on your bike RENT a bicycle and follow the Avenida Maritima, a doppelganger for Cuba’s Malecon (bikes from £2.60 an hour, sitycleta.com). Break up the leisurely 40- minute ride in erstwhile fishing village San Cristobal, home to the capital’s best seafood restaurants.
• Start at the beginning THE city was a mere 14 years old, founded by the Spanish invasion force after conquering the Berber-descending canarii, when an adventurous son of Genoa, Christopher Columbus, dropped by in 1492. The Ermita de San Antonio Abad, a church in Vegueta, brought the explorer to his knees as he prayed for a safe voyage. For further facts about the oldest district in town, book an hour-long walking tour with Trip Gran Canaria (£6, tripgrancanaria.com).
• Go downtown NEIGHBOURING Triana is the premier shopping area. Give the main drag, Calle Mayor, a swerve and hit more interesting offshoots. From Plaza Cairasco’s Hotel Madrid, where Franco plotted his Spanish Civil War campaign and Gregory Peck played the role of barfly at night while filming Moby Dick by day, to the stately splendour of the Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, there’s much to stumble across.
• Time travel VEGUETA’S reasonably-priced museums get even cheaper on the first weekend of the month when they become free. Mummy’s the word at El Museo Canario, home to the dessicated remains of the island’s original inhabitants: the canarii (elmuseocanario. Squeeze in a stop at Casa de Colón (pictured above) to examine a replica of Columbus’ fleet ( casadecolon.com).
• Foodie central THE Las Palmas version of London’s Borough Market is Mercado del Puerto ( mercadodelpuerto.net). It’s a mix of fruit and veg, fish and meat stalls and small restaurants. For a taste of Canarian cuisine, head to Piscos & Buches whose nicely spicy mojo sauce accompanying salty boiled new potatoes (papas arrugadas) is as orange as molten lava (£5.15).