African Cruise
Photos by Philip and Yoko Galvin
8. Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island
We are now in Las Palmas (Province) on Grand Canaria Island. The last stop of our cruise before we head to Lisbon, Portugal.
The excursion we took here was called "Gourmet Tour Old Town and Brunch". First, we headed to the city called Teror which is in the northern part of the Grand Canaria Island in Las Palmas. It took us 45 minutes from the port to get there but the scenery along the highway was very nice.
On the Way to Teror City
City of Teror
The downtown of Teror was well kept, decorated with some purple flags, and very pretty.
First, we visited San Jose Basilica.
San Jose Basilica
As with any other Catholic church in Europe, the inside of the basilica was very solemn, yet decorated by dazzling gold leaf.
We also sat and prayed for a safe trip back to Canada as it was the last stop of our cruise.
Around the church, we saw some buildings surrounded by very interesting looking trees as follows.
Town of Arucas
Next, we visited a town called Arucas and we had a Spanish brunch. The restaurant was located on a banana plantation, so it was surrounded by banana trees and otherh plants as far as we could see. At the restaurant, they served some appetizers, different kinds of sandwiches with meat and cheeses, and of course banana shakes. Yoko wanted to try a banana shake but as raw milk doesn't sit well in her stomach, she had to take a pass and watched other guests enjoying the delicious milk shake.
We sat across from a couple from the US in the restaurant. They were very friendly even after they found that we were from Canada. As we were expecting them to be Trump supporters, we were quite surprised to find that they were not all that pleased with what was going on in the US at the time. They were apologetic to us about Trump's comment that Canada should be the 51st State.
The couple was also very religious; they were Catholic. As it was Friday and during the lent season, they didn’t touch any meat. We are also Catholics, but we didn’t realize that it was Friday that day until much later, so we enjoyed whatever they served us. Funny thing is that at home, most of the time we eat some type of fish on Friday throughout year. Well, we hoped that God would forgive us.
Banana Trees
In the same town, we visited a very distinguished-looking black colored church called Iglaesia de San Juan Bautista de Arucas. We were told by our guide that this church was built by Gaudi, the same architect who built La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. As the door was locked, we couldn’t go in but walked around the church and enjoyed the sights of the surrounding area.
Iglesia de San Juan Bautista de Arucas
Sights Around the Church
On the way back to the ship, we saw a spectacular sight as follows.
Hodge Podge
