The walls talk in Vegueta

The walls in the historic Vegueta district of Gran Canaria’s capital are wise old things. They’ve seen everything. And they’ll tell you all about it if you listen hard enough on your way around Vegueta. They’ll tell you stories of the origins of the city right back in the 15th century. They’ll tell you about the arrival of the first andalusian craftsmen, about the Columbus Galleons or the attacks by the pirate Van der Does. 

Everything about the bygone days can be found in historic Vegueta. Among the narrow stone streets, under the mantle of the most ancient traditions of the island, in one of those places where time drifts by oh so slowly.

This is the way it has been for generations, since Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded way back in the 15th century by the Castillians. The patios of the oldest houses keep alive traditions passed down from father to son. Vegueta watches as time creeps slowly, slowly by. This in a city born on the edge of the then known world.

But there are no longer the sounds of swords in Vegueta. What you will find are some of the most interesting museums on the island of Gran Canaria. Huddled together in the shadow of the Cathedral and beneath the pigeons flying overhead as they have their daily twitter in the Plaza de Santa Ana. Museums of art and museums of history. Like for instance the Canary Museum, an enormous conservation site of the island’s heritage, closely linked to the Aboriginal society that inhabited the Canary Islands before the Castillian conquistadores.