Gran Canaria | Honeymoon Part 4
It’s the final leg of our honeymoon! Since it was November, we wanted to get a bit closer to the Equator in hopes of finding warmer weather. So we chose Gran Canaria to round out the vacation after Portugal. Gran Canaria is the second most populated Canary Island and thus part of Spain, although it’s located nearest to Africa and the Sahara Desert, and it has a very interesting island-desert vibe to match.
First order of business, lunch in the historic district at Triciclo. Delicious!
We stayed at Santa Catalina, which was a really lovely resort in Las Palmas– the main city of the island.
Grand views at dusk! And lots of palms, as promised.
Outing to the grocery store! We had a lot of fun seeing all of the local products.
Jamon everywhere! And unrefrigerated eggs. We are in Spain/Europe after all.
I bought a bunch of different tropical juices from the grocery store, so I get to start each day with juice on the balcony! Time to go on our first real road trip around the rest of the island.
A big church in the small town of Arucas.
We’re nearing the end of November, so Christmas decorations were being set up all over the place.
Onward and westward.
The eastern half of the island is either commercially developed or looks like a desert, but the northwestern corner looked very different and very lush!
Our destination was Finca La Laja, which is a beautiful little family-owned coffee plantation and vineyard/winery! They offer walk-in tours all day, taking you through both the coffee and wine farms.
We learned that the coffee plants like to grow in the shade of other plants, so they have lots of oranges, bananas, and other trees around the property as well.
Surrounded by beautiful mountains, to which the family attributes all their successes.
Of course the tour concludes with a tasting as well.
I’m not normally a coffee drinker, but of course I’ll try the coffee straight from the makers.
The wine cave portion is more familiar to us California folk.
All of the grapes they grow are indigenous to Gran Canaria, not just imported from elsewhere!
So lovely.
We followed up with lunch at Restaurante Casa Romántica Agaete, which is owned by the same family as the finca. Perfect.
Yes to all the fruits!
And more coffee.
They also had a cute little museum in the building with displays about every one of the 34 municipalities of Gran Canaria. Wow, a not-that-big island divided 34 ways! They each have their specialties.
Papaya and passion fruit.
Another day another juice! This time we went southward to the beaches.
The historic fishing town of Mogan was super cute. A bit touristy, but it definitely had its charm.
We tried Canarian gofio, a type of roasted flour that’s made into various different types of dishes. Plus paella.
Next was Playa del Ingles, or the English Beach. Indeed, the vast majority of tourists to this island are apparently Brits and Germans. The cold Europeans want to get some sun! Very interesting.
One of the must-visits of the island, the sand dunes at Maspalomas.
The skies turned really quickly and then it started to rain! Time to head back.
Just in time to get back to Hotel Santa Catalina for their ceremonial lighting of the hotel for the holidays. December first!
We didn’t really know what to expect, but the whole community came out for this lighting, and there was free champagne and churros and chocolate… and a full fireworks show! And a full choir singing American gospel music… so interesting.
For dinner, a Korean restaurant we found just down the street.
Another visit to the grocery store!
Exploring Vegueta, the old town of Las Palmas. This was the market, Mercado De Vegueta. Love the variety of fruits.
Plaza de Santa Ana
Record shop! We went into No Fun Records right as they were packing up for a record fair, but they let us look around as they were getting ready to go, and then we would end up following them to the fair later in the day.
33 Revoluciones, super duper packed to the brim with records.
El Santo Restaurante. Stellar meal.
Shopping district! This banana store is an Apple retailer, haha.
The record swap! We followed our new record shop friends to Talleres Palermo, a quirky event venue, for the fair.
Funnily enough, out of everything Alex ended up with the Juno Soundtrack and I ended up with a Joni Mitchell record.
The nearby beach, Playa de Las Canteras
Not done with the records-themed day. Lambada Records Bar.
A subpar dinner at Mercado del Puerto, then the fruits we bought earlier as a snack.
Final morning, we finally had the hotel breakfast buffet! Including being serenaded by a Spanish guitarist.
That’s it! Such a lovely honeymoon.
Love.
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.
Part 1: Porto | Honeymoon Part 1
Part 2: Douro Valley | Honeymoon Part 2
Part 3: Lisbon | Honeymoon Part 3
Part 4: Gran Canaria | Honeymoon Part 4