Wednesday 27th September

Got a taxi first thing into Las Palmas, cost 20 Euros, got dropped off at Parque de Santa Catalina. We had breakfast which came to 8 Euros and then headed to El Corte Ingles to find stamps and a decent map of GC. No joy. Got stamps and paper and envelopes but there were only maps of the other islands. Another shop was suggested to us and we went there but had no more success. I think I’ll have to go to Tenerife or somewhere just to find a good map of GC. Maybe the airport is a better bet. It seems locals don’t need them a tourist maps of only the very central areas suffice visitors. Might ask at school for some suggestions. We headed south to the Cathedral and museums on Paseo de Chil. Thought it would be a nice stroll but in the heat of the day and with Dad we gave up after about a km and got in a taxi. Wise move. Turned out to be much further than we would have enjoyed. No-one is listening to anyone properly today. Dad is complaining of white noise in his ears the whole time and someone is bound to snap soon! Dad is constantly huffing and puffing cos of the heat with constant heavy breathing and a need to sit down in shade and make moany noises. It winds me up and makes me so unsympathetic.
Realised today that people are saying “Gracia” to me, is this a polite version of Gracias I wonder??
Mum picked out a restaurant for tonight back in Playa de Melenara called “Escuela Melenara” – Dad started going off on one about was she sure it was called that, and that makes no sense cos Escuela means school. Why can’t it be called that?! You get restaurants called all sorts of things in England – The Ivy, Old Orleans…doesn’t mean it is what it says it is.
We sat for a while on a bench in the shade in a Plaza opposite the cathedral and each wrote a postcard and took a few pics. Then we headed into the cathedral. It’s one of the Top 10 of Gran Canaria in my book so it felt good to be seeing some of the hot spots. In one of the chapels of the cathedral are the remains (on display) of some bishop. His hands are all bent up the wrong way (has gloves on) and his face is all sunken and minging. I took some pics :D
We got access to the cathedral tower too which had some lovely views.
Had lunch on a little back street behind the cathedral. This area of Las Palmas is much nicer than the bustling, busy, hot, dusty main bit. Much nicer streets and houses. Popped to the Museo de Colón afterwards (free). It’s all about Columbus and it’s in a house which he used to use as a base. Beautiful house, wooden ceilings, central courtyard (like the cathedral), a well, 2 parrots and a fountain with fish in. After that, Dad had really had enough so we headed back to Playa de Melenara and went down the beach until early evening then headed back to the hostel for an hour or so to chill before dinner. I bought my first foreign newspaper today and instead of going for a Spanish “El Pais” I showed my support for my little island and bought “Canarias7” a local paper for all the Canary Island. Wrote a little list of vocab out from it (just from headlines and adverts…haven’t really read it properly yet) but think it’ll be a good thing to keep getting – even if it’s only 2x a week.