You’ll see the ocean stretching out in front of you now like a seemingly endless blue blanket. Fascinated by the low, solitary flight of a seagull, joined as the miles tick on by disperse groups of birds, some of which you’ve never seen before, you realise that you’re heading for seemingly unchartered waters in the Atlantic. Take a good look. It’s not a mirage. Far off in the distance, emerging from the ocean’s to-and-fro, you can make out the shape of what seems to be an island.

You’ll see the bars on your window melting away into the sea until they disappear completely into its depths. The compass of your imagination has stayed on course, because you are about to arrive on this island they call Gran Canaria, a tiny dot on the maps which grows larger and larger as when we talk about the future and dreams. Why might that be? How can we explain this phenomenon? Pay attention. The mystery is about to be revealed that answers all the questions that the seagulls were writing in the sky.

The answer is written in golden letters. The sparkling waters make way for silky sand that stretches for miles. As we look inland, this sand rises up to form enormous dunes that were perhaps inspired by the mountains standing proudly in the background, as if they were the true guardians of the island. The Maspalomas Lighthouse continues to proudly shine its light on this luminous coast, familiar to sailors all over the world for centuries, including the explorer Columbus.

Let yourself be pushed and pulled through the air by the breeze, like a leaf or a bird, and so let it take you off inland to discover another treasure trove within this island. That’s Gran Canaria for you. The island is just starting to show you its many sides. Now, for example, you are experiencing its most arid look: an austere, desolate beauty in a desert, almost lunar, landscape with a thousand nuances.

You’ll leave behind you deep ravines sculptured over millions of years that start at the heights of Gran Canaria, dropping steeply down towards the island’s various slopes. The island’s high lands are home to a spectacular volcanic basin dotted with geological landmarks, messages from other times etched in stone. The Roque Nublo or the Bentayga Mountain Range are also part of these enclaves where you feel you can touch the sky and the earth. This is where you are now, breathing in the incredibly pure air, with a heady fragrance of pine forests.

The Tejeda volcanic cauldron and its surrounding area form the heart of the Gran Canaria Biosphere Reserve, an explosion of nature made up of a whole host of unique animal and plant species, enlisted in the Atlantic’s very own Noah’s Ark. There’s another surprise in store for us on the way down as the island is now carpeted in shades of green, woods that grow thanks to the humid breeze. Your living room has now become a fairytale landscape, with subtropical laurel forests worthy of legends, their great bellflowers ringing in the hours that measure the passing of time in a place where time seems to stand still.

But you won’t be stopping. You want to keep on exploring. You’re off to the coast again, but not the coastline where you first arrived in Gran Canaria. Right now, you can make out a coast of cliffs and gorges that also hold havens to gaze out over the ocean from natural pools and beaches that are sheltered from the swell. It’s time to stop, rest and gaze off into the distance as the sea caresses your feet.

As you gaze out to sea, you’ll have spotted a line that crosses a bay of calm waters at low tide. It’s a reef that looks right back at the city it is protecting. In this unusual silence that takes you back to primitive times, you can clearly hear the murmur of the waves as they reach the empty shore. They are talking to each other in their foamy language, whispering to each other that soon everything will be the same again on a beach that is actually always different.

Fish are roaming just a few metres from the shore. You can spot them without even having to go under the water completely, although they won’t hang around. The time has come to open your eyes again. You’re at home. But your home is a little bit different now. A sea breeze wafts in the window, bringing pure air from monumental mountains and, as if by magic, there is sand in your pockets.