MikePadgett.com

Culture and Columbus in the Canaries

— From here the world's horizons were pushed further away. Today Las Palmas is capital of the Canaries and host to a WOMAD festival.”

We took a short but very welcome trip to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the third week of November.

Las Palmas is Spain’s seventh largest city and the administrative capital of the Canary Islands.

J and I stayed at the AC Hotel overlooking the Parque Santa Catalina and, further off toward the horizon, the busy port. We’d planned the trip to coincide with WOMAD’s event.

WOMAD Canarias 2007

As mentioned above, WOMAD was originally the main reason we travelled to Las Palmas, but it didn’t dominate the trip. Indeed J and I weren’t to be found “down the front” that often.

The event was cancelled and then reconfirmed so late that many other travellers won’t have made it. I think it’s likely the line-up of artists might have suffered too.

And a couple of artists weren’t exactly “world music”. Gritty Sevillan rapper Mala Rodriguez was one distinctly pop performer, appending a rather unsavoury contingent to the usual chilled publico.

La Vegueta: the echoes of Colón

From Las Palmas’ old town in the district of La Vegueta, Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus) began the fateful journeys of discovery that led him to the New World. In Colón’s time, the Canaries themselves had barely been settled under the blustery clouds of courtly intrigue.

Santa Ana is the principal Cathedral of the Islands and the seat of the region’s bishops. The peaceful courtyard of the adjacent Museo Diocesano was once host to the local Inquisition. Where once the officials conducted the grim business of examination and condemnation is now coloured by the lush foliage of grapefruit trees.

Las Canteras

The peninsular north end of Las Palmas tapers off with the industrial port on the east side and the long beach of Las Canteras on the west.

The nature of the Canarian weather in winter is such that at times it can seem like late spring and turn moments later to overcast skies and almost chilly sea breeze.