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Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, Las Canteras beach

The voice of the ocean

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium triumphs as an icon in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for how it fits in with its surroundings. 

As a boy, Juan Bordes described the existence of some little caboso fish that inhabited the pools left at low tide by Las Canteras beach. Juan then grew up, became a man and a famous sculptor, but those little fish continued to swim around in his mind, the very place from where they came out to become the sculptural series set into the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The mermaids on the façade are inspired by those early salty memories.


WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Womad, the whole planet dances in Gran Canaria

The Womad Festival provides a great chance to get to know Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the island as a whole.

The whole world will be up singing and dancing between 7th and 10th November at Santa Catalina Park in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with the celebration of the Womad (World of Music, Arts & Dance) Festival, an event that will bring together dozens of artists from a wide range of places such as South Africa, Argentina, Morocco, United Kingdom, Mali, the West Indies and Israel.


Vegueta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

The time temple of Gran Canaria

The workshop of watchmaker Pedro Macías in the district of Vegueta in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria provides a gift for the senses.

As a boy there was a lovely American-made wall clock in Pedro Macías Falcón’s house. It was over a hundred years old, that’s old even for a clock. When he was on his own he would play around with it, scrutinize it and put it to his ear to hear the tick-tocking of its little metal heart. He got so caught up in the hands of the clock that Pedro ended up being a watchmaker, learning the tricks of the trade in the workshop of family relative José Henríquez. The workshop looked more like a magical kingdom of chords, anchors, rods and minute hands there in the peace and quiet of Tenoya.


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.


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.