Las Palmas arrival, Canary Islands and on to Madrid

 After 15 hours sitting on our flights, we arrived at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. An overnight flight in an economy seat (we paid for Premium Economy but that just meant that our seats were farther forward) on a very crowded aircraft, followed by a night in Madrid (lying awake with jet lag) and an early onward flight to Las Palmas, left us very tired, but our hotel in Las Palmas is wonderful. Madrid airport is huge, but I think we have the layout understood; important because we will be passing through it two more times (with a 65-minute flight transfer) later in our trip.

Steep and dry volcanic, the Canary Islands.  The temperatures were mild (70's) during our entire visit.

I went on two e-bike rides in the Canary Islands.  Does this look like fun?  Great exercise as it included two climbs' of 1000 vertical feet, but not that scenic. 

This was the ultimate goal of an e-bike ride.  The remains of a caldera, not very amazing.  One of our group crashed his bike in the loose volcanic gravel, nasty scrapes.

The beach at Las Palmas stretches for a mile.  Very relaxing for a long walk with a stop for ice cream or sorbet along the way.

Beautiful but rugged.  When first climbed in modern times, primitive artifacts were found at the peak from climbers long ago.

Our hotel LUMM is positioned close to the beach, bus depot, and cruise landing which makes it ideal.  The airport is about 12 miles away. We have discovered amazingly great shopping malls here. I believe that this is due to the large volume of tourists combined with a much lower VAT tax than European alternatives.  Dawn and I are not much interested in museums; shopping malls by contrast record the current culture of a region.

The inner harbor at one of the Canary Islands.  After strolling the waterfront, we found a nice shopping mall on a pedestrian-only street.  Ale-Hop was our favorite store offering everyday items you didn't realize that you needed.

Our weeklong cruise on the World Traveller was wonderful, with less than 150 guests, there were no crowds, meals were served in one sitting, and we met several interesting fellow voyagers.  The Canary Islands were worthwhile for one pass; but not interesting enough for a return trip.  A lot of dry volcanic vistas, roads that were up and down, and habitations without much character.  But now we know what the Canary Islands are like.

Hydrofoil windsurfing.  Note that his board is completely out of the water.  It helps that the wind is strong here.

The Madrid Marathon took place while we were there and went right through our area.

Flying to Madrid, we were quickly immersed in the center of a metropolitan area of almost seven million persons.  We are in a small hotel which provides excellent service and is right across the street from the Four Seasons hotel, which makes it easy to provide directions to taxi drivers.   The taxis here are reasonably priced and well regulated, confidence inspiring.

Today was our first train ride here.  We explored Madrid Atocha train station yesterday to make sure we understood the layout of the immense facility.  The orientation helped, and now we understand the system much better; good, because we have train trips for the next two days.

Train or airport, terminals double as shopping malls and transportation centers. Thus, they can be quite complex.  Trains have the advantage that most distances in Europe are modest, and a train terminal can be mostly underground, allowing it to be located near the center of a city.  Not sure how they do it, but many trains in Spain run fully occupied, thus, you need a seat reservation to be allowed to board.

Toledo, Spain.  The cathedral here is the most beautiful in the country.

From Madrid, we took day trips to Toledo and Segovia. We then took a train to Sevilla, and from here in Sevilla, we will take a day trip to Cordoba. Then we switch to a rental car.

View from a park in Madrid; palace on the left and cathedral on the right.