Good day everyone! Today’s entry will be narrated by a guest speaker, Rob. Aimee is taking a well-deserved break this evening and has left you in my not-nearly-so-capable hands. So off we go!
After the Azores, we headed to the Canary Islands of Santa Cruz de Las Palmas, Tenerife, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. All of these islands fall under the government of Spain so Spanish is the dominant language and all of them have the black, volcanic sand beaches. Most importantly, they are all gorgeous and fun places to visit.
In Santa Cruz we first walked down the main business/shopping street. Tons of cool shops to visit and the architecture is amazing. Narrow cobblestone streets, great people-watching, and glimpses of the sea all the way to the end. At the end of the street, we visited the Naval Museum, which was located in a replica of the Santa Maria, Columbus’ largest ship.
Tons of historical information, great naval artifacts, and really cool wooden models. I think everyone enjoyed it, especially since we found a gelato shop in the square as we left there. Walked back along the seafront to the port, with stops along the way to buy a great panama hat, which Eli promptly took over and said that it looked better on him. Also went back up to the market street for a few minutes to buy Aimee a pair of pants that she had seen on the way in, says they are the best, most comfortable pants she has EVER owned! Win, Win, I say!
Tenerife was the next island on the list and it was a looooong day! Left the ship around 10a and didn’t get back until around 9p. First, we went to the Museum of Archaeology, because Ian is determined to be an Archaeologist one day and, well, who doesn’t love to look at dinosaur bones! Museum was pretty neat, but there was a LOT to it and I think we were all pretty museumed out after a couple of hours. BTW, Aimee is doing a stellar job of navigating us through all these narrow, winding, crazy island streets (spoiler alert: the best is yet to come, think Gibraltar).
Found a great botanical park after the museum, wandered around it for a bit. Boys played in different areas on European playground, which if you’ve followed us, you know are a bit more dangerous than American playgrounds. Had a lot of fun, but it is HOT. Only in the mid 70’s, but humidity is tough when you’re spending all your time outside. Which leads me to our next stop, a big 3-story mall. Saw a sign on the way back for a Primark, turned out that it was in a mall also, so wasted a bit of time there just looky-looing and decided to eat in the food court as they had several places that we recognized. The kids got Taco Bell for the fist time since we left the States and Aimee and I had a great meal at a restaurant called Udon. Even better was that our waitress spoke English and was studying Speech Pathology (we think, anyway) and said that Aimee had the thickest American accent she had ever heard! Poor girl has no idea…. She also told us that it was only about a 15-minute walk back to the ship, but that Americans have a reputation there for not wanting to walk at all. I explained that we were walking everywhere and assured her that it was not a problem. Approximately 45 minutes later, we arrived back at the ship. All I can figure is that she knew a shortcut she did not share (lol).
Last stop, Las Palmas! The capital of the Canary Islands. We were honestly so beat from the last 2 days that we were not really wanting to stray too far. Fortunately for us, there is a world-class Aquarium at the end of the pier, before you cross over into town. We spent HOURS in this aquarium! Three different zones or areas inside and hundreds of tanks, containing every type of saltwater and freshwater fish, turtles, crocodiles, and jellyfish you can imagine! Also had fantastic foliage in each of the areas with fossils in the walls of various sea creatures. It was just a fantastic place – La Poema de la Mer, The Poem of the Sea.
Afterwards, we walked into the edge of town, following the signs for a food market. Ended up eating at a local place that served seafood and burgers. Aimee and I both had the best meal that we’ve had on this trip thus far. I had a seafood dish with squid, shrimp, and eel in a garlic mushroom sauce that was just phenomenal! Aimee had a beef, chicken, shrimp trio that was fantastic, and Eli ordered what he thought was steak and shrimp tacos, but turned out to be a beef and shrimp dish covered with cheese sauce that he thought was great. Just no tortillas or taco shells with it at all. Very strange… Jade and Ian had hamburgers that were not the best…sorry. Better luck next time, I suppose. Too tired today for long walks in the city. Sea day tomorrow, then on to Gibraltar!
Sorry so long, thanks for tuning in, PeaceLoveGritsandGravy!
