crystal cruises, crystal serenity, canary islands, tenerife

Tenerife Auditorium

We've arrived at Gran Canaria island in the port of Las Palmas. The Canaries are about 60 miles off the African coast and about 600 miles southwest of our last top in Casablanca, Morocco. The 7 islands that make up the Canary Islands form an autonomous region of Spain and the outermost area of the European Union. We'll spend the day on Gran Canaria today and on the largest island of Tenerife tomorrow. Without a ship's excursion booked, we'll just grab a map from the Shore Excursions desk and set off on our own. Even though this is a typical "shared-use" port (container ships and cruise ships) the port facilities appears to have been recently renovated. The clean, wide walkways of the pier pass a large 3 or 4 story shopping mall and end in a park at the edge of town. From here, the town beach is within 4 blocks while the old historic center is about 2 miles away. On the advice of a tourist office representative we hop on one of the city buses for the ride to the historic center. It's Sunday, and unfortunately many of the local shops are closed. After a few photos of the cathedral, a refreshing beer at a sidewalk café and some (unsuccessful) Christmas shopping we're headed back to the ship. We'll spend the afternoon relaxing onboard before our 5pm sail away.

The distance to Tenerife, the next island to the west, is only about 60 miles. However due to a blustery northern wind, the Captain opts to sail to the south, hopefully reducing the rolling waves that we've encountered since we left Casablanca. The decision appears to have helped, it's a smooth sail over to Tenerife where we're alongside about 8AM the next morning. Again without an organized shore excursion, we head into town armed with the map from the Excursion Desk. We're bound for the famous Tenerife Auditorium designed by Santiago Calatrava which from the ship appears just beyond the port. But once on land, the building looks to be a fairly long hike and we opt for the "hop-on/hop-off" tour bus. These open top buses are always an excellent way to get the overall layout of a new city and snap some quick photos.

After our bus tour, we enjoy the pedestrian shopping and café areas before heading back to the ship. It's another 5PM departure and we're bound for the island of Madeira, the port of Funchal tomorrow.