Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Orange is the colour that defines and highlights some of the essential traits of the island of Gran Canaria.

Gran Canaria hides away sometimes. It is then we have to go out in search of it, perhaps at the bottom of little known rocky valleys, well away from the commonly walked footpaths. This game of hide and seek occasionally features an 18th century stone bridge, at a point along Barafonso ravine, where suddenly, these streaky stones take on an orange tint. This colourful and narrow canyon of volcanic ashes, eroded by water over thousands of years, is another feature of this mysterious, infinite island.

“Home grown” or “adapted varieties” of almond trees in Gran Canaria are century old trees that offer different types of almonds, all of them highly regarded due to their  organoleptic qualities.

The Roque Nublo, one of Gran Canarias’most stunning natural symbols, sits upon the summit waiting for you to unveil its mysteries.

1. What are the stones made of? This first mystery echoes around from stone to stone and from rock to rock. What are the stones from the summit of Gran Canaria made of? Moreover, what is the Roque Nublo, the great emblem of the island, made of? The answer can be found in fire and in time. This spectacular monolith, measuring some eighty metres high, and at over eight hundred metres altitude, is the stony witness to the volcanic explosion that occurred several million years ago. The most patient rock sculptor that exists, namely time, has since shaped the ashes and the rest of the pyroclastic rocks into the figure of the Roque Nublo that stands before us today.

Huerto de las Flores is a botanical garden in Agaete, in Gran Canaria, with over a hundred different plant species from around the world

1. Travelling plants that have spread their roots in Agaete. A passion for travelling and botany were the seeds that led to Huerto de las Flores coming into being, a most beautiful and delicate botanical garden in Agaete (Gran Canaria). Its roots date back to the end of the 19th century, when its creators, members of the De Armas family, would bring tree seeds and cuttings back with them from their trips abroad. Many of these species came from America, as well as many other latitudes. These plants came to the island and adapted well to it, although be it said it is not hard to settle in a place like Agaete.

Sculptor Manolo González, the author of the statue of the Unamuno Balcony in Artenara, in Gran Canaria, talks about the work.

“The truth is, the landscape is the protagonist”, states sculptor Manolo González, the author of the statue of the Unamuno Balcony in Artenara, where Gran Canaria holds hands with the sky. The writer came to the island in the summer of 1910 having accepted an inivitation to preside a poetry contest, and had to opportunity to go up to the summit. The statue looks out over the place where the novelist actually stood, bewitched by another work of art, in this case carved out by nature.

Roque Nublo, the geological wonder and emblem of Gran Canaria, invites you to join it in reaching up to the sky.

Your climb up had provided you with your first glimpses in your mind. But now you are actually here, and you are breathing in the pure mountain air carrying the aroma of pine trees, and local flora including alhelíes, tajinastes, chestnut trees and broom. You look up and there it is. You feel compelled to walk on as far as its base and touch the sky alongside it. It’s the Roque Nublo, the proud son of the volcano and one of the most awe-inspiring stone monoliths in the world. And today you are visiting it in its lair at over 1,800 metres altitude.