First port of call:-
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

Distance walked today..... 17.9 km. Good effort everyone!

Apparently, it is commonly thought that the Canary Islands were named after the little yellow birds which reside here....Not true! The Romans noticed that one of the Islands had a large number of dogs running wild and decided to name the Island "Insula Canum"....

The little yellow finches were discovered after this and they were then called "Dog Island Birds" or.....Canaries.

Las Palmas, where we docked today, is the joint capital of the Canary Islands along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife. (where we stop tomorrow)

It was cloudy when we first docked but still nice to see land after three days at sea. All four of us were fed and watered and off the ship by around 0900hrs. Like a lot of the Islands we visit, Las Palmas did not see to open up until mid morning and so we spent the first half hour or so off the ship indulging in a horse and carriage ride around some parts of the town.
 

Our horse was called Cameron and he was the leggiest most elegant looking dude and clearly very well cared for. David and I recalled a similar trip we took in Columbia where the horse did not look very well at all.

Cameron was in fine shape and we really enjoyed the trot around the streets amongst the early morning traffic. It did seem to us that the locals looked just as surprised to see a horse and carriage as we were to ride in one.

Little Little and Pew both came out with us today and enjoyed the sites from the relative safety of their rucksack seats. (Little little does not drink mum! She wanted me to explain that to you before you make any more slanderous comments about her past behaviour
 .

Once our ride on Cameron was completed we had some photos and then decided to walk to the old town. We knew it would be a fair step but decided to try to walk at least part of it and we were glad we did.
It was a mostly residential area we travelled through and the buildings were perched on steep cliff faces which did not look at all appealing to us as a place to set up home.
The houses themselves looked amazing....typical colonial style structures in an array of colours. It was just the way they were built into mountain sides made them look distinctly unsafe!
Like much of the Canary Islands, there are lots of mountains on Las Palmas and the coast line is extremely rugged looking. The early morning clouds gave the whole place a dark dramatic feel but these clouds soon burned away and we were left with blue skies to accompany us on our long walk.
 
At one point during the walk we all sat down on a low wall just to take a short break and catch our breath. One very sweet local man must have thought we were lost because he came over and proceeded to speak, very fast, in Spanish trying to explain where we were and where we should go next. I left Gary and David to chat to him and Barbara and I happily sat back and watched them both struggle. I also took photos!
It was nice of the man to come over to us and try to converse in our language but sadly none of us could understand much of what he was trying to point out. Gary reckons he was trying to explain where the university was but really it was anyone's guess...

Anyway, we were not lost and so, once we ditched the nice helpful man, we continued our trek to the old town. By the time we knew we were close the sun was blazing down and the temperature had reached a nice warm 25 degrees. Not as hot as we have experienced in Rome or in the Caribbean but this was not something anyone was complaining about! It was warm enough for us.

Once we reached the old town it was time to stop for a beer and, as in Barcelona, we found a place with a beer glass big enough to completely cover Barbara's face. The beer itself was icy cold and very welcome.

Gary and I had noticed that on the walk to the town there was a bit of theme with regard to the shops we passed. It seemed that every other place was either a gym, a fitness studio, a protein food store or something else related to health.
 

There was a running race on today and we kept being passed by people with their numbers pinned to their fronts clearly looking exhausted from running up and down mountains in the morning sun. Madness! We were all hot just from walking but still, fair play to those who took part.
In the old town we saw Columbus's old house....none of us thought it was all that much to shout about but still quite pretty I suppose. There was a very busy main shopping street which was packed full of the usual High street stores and lots of places to eat and drink.

There was not too much in the way of touristy shops which was fine because it was the old town and had a certain character to it. We tried and tried to find a local market but, alas, there was nothing. After a few hours wandering the streets we decided to head back to see what else the Island had for us and this time we took a taxi. It was only seven Euro's and well worth it to save our aching feet!
After a quick pit stop on board our ship we headed back out and, not at all far from the dock, we found another town which had a few more shops more suited to us and what we were after. Barbara found her thimbles, David his football shirts and flags and I got a Las Palmas bright pink training top. (football of course). Everyone was happy and so, to celebrate, we had another beer. Two Euros for a beer! You cannot beat that.
There was one really funny moment just as we were paying for our drinks. We had left enough for a tip and the waiter had removed the tray with the money on. After a few moments he headed back to our table, presumably with our change because he did not want to assume the extra was for him.

  When Barbara noticed him coming back with some money she started screaming at him and leapt up, running toward him flapping her arms. The poor man looked utterly terrified. Now we know that she was trying to explain in her own way that he could keep the change but he must have thought that she was about to mug him or something. We ushered her away quickly and said sorry to the nice man. Barbara is priceless sometimes and this was a classic moment for sure.
 
By the time the second beers were done Barbara and Gary were ready to head back to the ship. David and I stayed put and had more beers whilst watching both Spanish and Premier league football which was set up on Televisions by the cafe we had chosen. We managed to see the Arsenal V Norwich game and whilst disappointed with the result, it was awesome to be able to sit outside in the warm and enjoy watching it.

 
David and I got a bit peckish too and seeing as the cafe we had chosen to sit at was a Chinese eating place, we ordered some noodles and sizzling beef. I know this is not typical Las Palmas cuisine but it smelled so good and was so cheap we did not care!

 
Once the football was over David and I headed back to the ship just in time for David to get in a nap before we went up to watch the movie under the stars which was Star wars! Yayyyyyy It was the new one, I have already seen it but it was so good we did not mind watching it again. We love the fact that Princess have a cinema screen on the deck and they always chuck in free popcorn etc etc.
 
David is now asleep and I am writing this at 2am else I will get behind with these blogs.
But now I am tired and I still have to get all the photos done. so...good night!
Tenerife tomorrow. (pronounced Tenerifay apparently)