City of Las Palmas
We decided to spend a couple of nights on Grand Canaria Island before embarking on the cruise. We’ve experienced enough flight cancellations/delays in our lives to feel more comfortable with a bigger time cushion. We didn’t want to miss the ship!
The name, Canary Islands, actually comes from the word “Canis” since back in the day, the islands ended up with a lot of large dogs (see picture below) (or monk seals – pick your favorite story) that occupied them. And, canaries were named for the islands.
This is the modern day version of the Presa Canario dog – used for herding, guarding, and sadly, dog fighting. Dog fighting is no longer legal here, but continues.
Another current day Canis that we saw on a walk:
Saw some of the island in our quest for food and saw more when we took the Hop On/Hop Off bus trip. This bus tour was considerably better than the one we took in Lisbon – more history and more identification of what we were actually seeing. We’d opted for a hotel near the cruise ship pier – very modern. Chris and Jamie decided to just spend 1 night in a hotel before the cruise and they chose a hotel in the old town area. Met for a pre-dinner drink on their rooftop terrace when they arrived and found a tapas place that kept all eaters happy.
The seascape that was in view from our hotel.
The cathedral that was in view from Chris and Jamie’s hotel.
Headed out for dinner
A lovely painting in a shop window
Once again, a fun exploration for food – this place (we didn’t eat there but I couldn’t resist the picture) was called Chiwawa. That’s apparently a demon chihuahua on the window – the smaller sign, at the bottom of the window, says “Tacos and Dogs.”
Organic Jungle prepared a great lunch and even made their own beer.
Mr. Kale, ironically, had no kale but we had a couple of good meals there, none the less.
This is our second time sailing with Windstar. The ship we boarded, Star Pride, is a bit bigger than the sailing class ship we were on for the French Polynesia trip – 312 passengers vs 148 for the Wind Spirit. The Star Pride recently went through a renovation in which they cut it in half, and added a section. We’re in the new section which has the bed next to the window – a nice feature. Although the balcony is classed as a Juliette balcony, I’m not sure she would have fit on it. That being said, it’s great for views and ocean breezes. Windstar is known for their service – and they aren’t owned by any of the big cruise ship companies. No photographers, no tuxes or formal gowns. They do request no bathing suits or distressed jeans in the dining room. We’re good with all that.
In addition, their entire dining staff recently attended training on plant-based eating (versus vegan! – i.e. whole food (no fake meat) and SOS free – no added salt, oil or sugar) and the food, the menus, and the buffet information cards reflect it. We may never leave. Our meat eater friends are happy as well. Coincidentally, the president of the company is on this particular cruise. He announced the build of 2 new ships and, apparently, cruises to Alaska and Asia are under consideration.
The nearby ship, MSC Virtuoso, capacity 6300 and ours, capacity 312.
These are really sweet! I love that you can sail along and watch out the window while you are laying in bed. So nice. Thanks for posting.