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Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Carla Suárez in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria according to Carla Suárez

Top professional tennis star Carla Suárez gives us a few recommendations to help us fully enjoy our stay on her home island of Gran Canaria.

Long before the grass of Wimbledon began sprouting, or the hard court of Roland Garros was laid, there was the sand of Las Canteras, the favourite beach for top women’s tennis player Carla Suárez. “It is incredible to have such a great beach in the heart of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I spent most of my childhood there”, she recalls. Carla also spent many of her early years around Plaza de Santa Ana, opposite the Cathedral, running after the pigeons that flew up into the air like dreams. Her dream indeed came true, as she became a player on the international professional circuit.


Mogán beach and port, Gran Canaria

Playa de Mogán: it’s blue weather time

Mogán’s beach and port, in Gran Canaria, make up a happy, almost amphibious spot, a place that time seems to have forgotten.

It has been this way for as long as we can remember. The fishermen and the sun follow the same clues to reach this point of coastline. One such clue is a rock that local fishermen have coined ‘pointy stone’, due to its peculiar shape, which has come to be a sculpture half way between the beach and Puerto de Mogán. Together they make up one of the essential spots to visit along the quite fascinating coastline of Gran Canaria. When you see the ‘pointy stone’, just stop for a moment, as if time itself seems to have stopped.


Views from the Santa Ana Cathedral

Gran Canaria, the sky is not that far away

If you go up to the top of the Cathedral of Santa Ana, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, you are treated to a panoramic and illustrative view over the city.

It takes less than two minutes to reach the sky. The time it takes to pay 1.50€, take a modern lift for around twenty seconds, and then walk up the 54 steps that lead up to the top of the south tower of the Cathedral of Santa Ana in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a religious monument from where the city calls out to the heights.


Night time views over the Parish Church of San Juan Bautista

The stones are back with another story to tell in Arucas

Tradition and modern day fuse together at the Hotel Emblemático Arucas de Gran Canaria, a century old house that has been refurbished.

The first stone at the San Juan Bautista church in Arucas, one of most important historical buildings in Gran Canaria, was laid back in 1909. There is evidence of a photo being taken of its construction from the skyroof of a house just thirty metres from where building was taking place. This means that this century old house was already standing prior to the building of the church, which due to its noble structure, is called a cathedral by many.


Valleseco

The Apple Symphony in Valleseco

Cider, cuisine, music and traditions all come together at the fiesta of La Encarnación and the Apple fiesta of Valleseco.

Apple trees dug their roots into the fertile soil of Valleseco at the same time as history did, here at the green heart of Gran Canaria. It all started back in 1858, when the then mayor, Vicente Suárez Rodríguez, decided to reclaim some barren land around the municipality, and plant it with fruit trees to stem the erosion. The governor provided the town hall with examples of the pippin apple trees which settled comfortably into the hillsides caressed with the gentle trade winds. These breezes maintained the optimum levels of humidity the apple trees required, known locally as manzaneros.  


Alfredo Kraus Auditorium

Kraus, the eternal voice of Gran Canaria

The 6th annual Alfredo Kraus International Singing Competition turns the island of Gran Canaria into the hub of world classical music.

Alfredo Kraus, one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century, was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 24th November 1927. From 25th to 29th September 2017, the home town of the lyrical singer will be hosting the final stages of the 6th annual Alfredo Kraus International Singing Competition. Over a hundred aspiring singers from all around the world have entered this competition, providing further proof still of the universal appeal of the Gran Canarian artist.