We opted not to do a tour today, so we were able to eat breakfast in the dining room for the first time.  My husband was very excited because they had a special with a pretzel roll sandwich.  I tried some yogurt with granola and strawberries. It had one strawberry and the rest was like a jam. The granola was mealy.  It was a little disappointing from what I expected.  My husband totally loved his sandwich though and is requesting to go there again tomorrow in hopes they still have it. 

We didn’t get off the ship until about 10.  We decided to walk the mile or so over to one side of town to see a few things first and take a taxi later in the day.  It was in the low 70s, but there was a bit of humidity.  First we checked out a market that was just opening near the port area, then we walked over to the beach.  Everyone seemed to be in that area.  We walked along a pedestrian walkway and enjoyed the ocean breeze and views of the water.  We found a cool mural of the Terminator on our way to see the castle we walked down some colorful stairs. We stopped briefly in a convenience store for some juice and bananas for a snack.  The castle is located in a beautiful park.  It has been converted into a modern art museum.  We are not huge fans of modern art, so we took a taxi over to the other side of town.

We checked out the Museo Canario which cost 5 euros each to enter.  The first floor held mostly tools and examples of housing for the native people of Gran Canaria.  However, upstairs they had a really cool room filled with skulls, bones, and mummies.  I love that kind of thing and my husband knew I would enjoy it.  I had to translate what was written so he could understand.  I found it very interesting how they buried their dead and all the things they could discover about the bodies.  One woman had intestinal parasites, which once identified, they also found in many other bodies of the tribes.  

The Plaza Mayor was close, so we took pictures of the square and the cathedral. It cost 6 euros to enter the cathedral and we decided to spend our money on the Columbus museum instead.  I didn’t realize that he went over to the Americas four times and also stopped in the Canary Islands.  I was actually amazed to see how many places he landed on these four trips.  The museum cost 4 euros for each of us.  They had a room that replicated an area on the Nina ship. The cross inside is one of the few things that is original. 

The upstairs of the museum was filled with paintings, which I couldn’t quite figure out had much to do with Columbus. The crypt area had some really cool native figurines from Ecuador and Mexico.  It also had some maps from the 1500s and nautical items from that time period as well.  It was not the most exciting museum, but I loved the building and I did learn new things. 

There was a modern art museum nearby that was free, so we wandered in.  I really enjoyed the artist featured on the ground floor.  I wish I had noted his name.  He created four different pieces from leather jackets and he had quite a few of these men, some depicted as aliens, and this entire room filled with them.  He had one room with sculptures with found items and another room with paintings created with yarn.  I thought it was all very creative and the vibrant colors really grabbed your attention.  I was not as impressed with the other two artists.  On the top floor there were a lot of photographs.  They were something I felt like I could find on my phone that I wanted to delete.  The middle floor had an artist that was very interested in the sexual nature of people.  Some of the photos were very explicit. My husband commented, well this took a turn.  It was definitely a museum worth checking out.  I was surprised I found a whole floor of art I enjoyed.  

It was lunch time and I was craving some tortilla española and coffee.  They had a coffee on the menu called leche y leche and it was coffee with condensed milk and hot milk.  When I lived in Spain with a family, I have fond memories of drinking coffee and putting condensed milk in it with my madre.  It is delicious.  

For dessert we found a pastelería with croissants that had cookie butter in them.  My husband was in heaven because they also had fresh squeezed orange juice.  

We took pictures of some pretty buildings and looked around in some stores. There was a lovely pedestrian walkway with stores on either side.  There was a museum for the author Perez Galdos. It was in his former home.  I was very interested in reading about him and seeing some of his personal items.  It was free to enter.  Everything was in Spanish, so it was not very interesting for my husband.  I enjoyed reading the questions and answers posed to the author.  I remember reading one of his books in college. 

It was pretty easy to find a taxi near the Plaza Mayor to take us back to the ship.  They do charge a little extra to take you to the port. We didn’t realize that 3pm was when everyone got out of work in Spain and that is naturally rush hour.  Thankfully we did not have to board until 4:30, so we were not in a rush at all.