Travel Snapshot: Canary Islands

Today we are in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, of which there are seven main islands about 100 km northwest of the African continent. Tenerife is probably the best known and there are many smaller islands in the archipelago. 

I've given you a night shot from my phone because it all looked so sparkly and peaceful at 0500 when I woke after a lovely long sleep in safe harbour.  We got in yesterday and everything calmed down...it was sunny and hot, then rained, then became sunny and warm again.  November and December are the rain months in this part of the world but the city has a desert climate and fabulous beaches and so it is, and has been, a hot favourite as an escape during European winters going back to the late 1950s. 

Then it landed into the travel brochures of the 1970s as a beach resort and Brits used to love it as a package holiday for sun and fun.  They probably still do.  Our ship has 600 on board and the only time we really see people is around dinnertime - otherwise it's loose and carefree. But a Princess ship is in port and we saw thousands and thousands of people, mostly British in this instance, coming back onto their ship yesterday and that felt alarming to see so many people. It always is. Cruising feels out of control sometimes - in a European summer it feels as though you're hunting in packs for best spot in the harbour of smaller places.  To see four or five ships disgorging at once really makes you stop and think about the rippling effects. Larger destinations now banish cruise ships to cargo ports and force passengers to bus in. Smaller ship cruising is the best way but of course it can be exxy, so you need to scour for the great deals that are out there.  Cruise passengers notoriously don't spend a lot of money in port on the lucrative items of food and alcohol, which is why locals get fed up, I suspect. I suppose it could be summed up as a lot of impact for small return. And yet tourism would suffer without cruise ships.  A tricky one.

My Dad used to work in Africa in gold mining, and he'd have to leave England on what they called 'terms', and I think those were 15-month stints (I could be making that up). And we were allowed to visit for long periods. Now I remember from the age of three making the journey to Ghana many times and we would leave London Gatwick and do the various hopping kind of journey that smaller aeroplanes used to do in the 1960s.  One of the stops I clearly remember was here in Las Palmas because the name Canary Islands resonated - I thought it was completely populated by little yellow birds!  But I didn't learn until I was an adult that it potentially derives from the word 'canaris' and means Island of the Dogs and apparently this is possibly because it was once widely populated by seals known as sea dogs.  Others believe it is the derivation of the name of an old Berber tribe that once lived here.  

Incidentally, canaries - the birds - are named after the islands where the wild Atlantic canary is a native.

We always used to get off the plane here. I shared all of that only because I have a sort of nostalgic connection to the place.

We walked around briefly yesterday and got distracted by a shopping mall at the port - we needed some chemist products, I also needed chocolate and my last chance to get some nougat.  So that was that because then it began to rain and we made a run back to the ship.

We'll go off again today and explore more on foot.  This is clearly a holiday destination rather than somewhere one comes for cultural or historical enrichment but this region is Spanish dating back to the great conquests of the middle centuries and always has a story to tell. Initially it had a single crop for export of sugarcane to the English who had a sweet tooth (I'm going back to medieval times now) and then grapes became important for wine, another popular export.  That's enough history.

The harbour is full of little yachts so it's very picturesque and there's one extravagant superyacht here of just under 500 ft in harbour - one of the biggest in the world. We walk past it as we disembark. It's called Opera and has six guest decks, two helipads (how I like to arrive and depart), cinema, spa and a rise and fall swimming pool that sadly is forced to double as a dance floor. Gosh, the sacrifices one must make. It was built for a very affordable US$450 million for its Dubai-based owner.

Back to my league...I'm pleased to say Las Palmas has English Cadbury's in the shops, so I am extremely happy and would feel very self-conscious on that superyacht. No boomers in shortie wetsuit style bathers on that! 

Ian adds:

Are there yellow canaries flitting about the Islands of the same name? Not that I have seen - but wild canaries are native. The yellow colour we all know was produced by a mutation which suppressed the melanins of the original dull greenish wild Atlantic canary colour. The islands' name is actually derived from the Latin name canariae insulae ("islands of dogs"), referring to the large dogs kept by the inhabitants. Not known that well in Australia, the islands are an autonomous community of Spain - the nearest being just 67 miles off the northwest African mainland. Capital is Santa Cruz de Tenerife where our cruise ends in a few days. We are currently berthed at Las Palmas Gran Canaria - and looking out from our balcony the scene is of a modern city that enjoys its proximity to the sea. Lots of yachts, small sailboat races and paddling going on around us. The English do know this area well for one simple reason - the climate. The temperature stays around 21C for most of the year. Rainfall is rare - they get 10m of rain a year if lucky. So, paradise for the poor old poms who endure a climate best known for overcast skies and rain.

* Fiona McIntosh is an English-born, internationally bestselling Australian author known for her historical adventure novels, fantasy fiction, and a crime series featuring DCI Jack Hawksworth. She has sold well over a million books worldwide across various genres.