|
Gran Canaria
Canary Islands, Spanish Islas Canarias (from Latin Insulae canariae, "Dog
Island") is a Spanish group of islands and an autonomous region. The archipelago
is located in the Atlantic Ocean, off Africa's northwestern coast. The islands
are about 1500 km from the Spanish mainland. Geographically considered Canary
Islands is a part of Africa because they are on the African continental shelf,
but politically and culturally they are considered as a part of Europe because
they are a part of Spain.
The archipelago consists of seven large islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria,
Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, Lanzarote and El Hierro, as well as several
smaller islands.
Canary Islands is an autonomous unit consisting of two provinces, Las Palmas and
Santa Cruz de Tenerife. These provincial capitals (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
and Santa Cruz de Tenerife) share the capital status of the autonomous unit.
Each of the seven islands is controlled by a thing called the Cabildo Insular.
Large Norwegian environmental
There is a large Norwegian colony on Gran Canaria. Seamen's Church and the
Norwegian medical center is in Arguneguin. Hairdressers, bars and other shops
are also run by the Norwegians who settled in Gran Canaria.
Although Gran Canaria is only the third largest of the Canary Islands, it is as
a tourist island, so definitely one of the best. Not least because of the
beaches, sophisticated nightlife and its exciting history.
Gran Canaria is a volcanic island that lies west of Africa. The island have
about 750 000 inhabitants where many are working within the tourism industry.
Tourism generates 75 percent of the island's gross domestic product, and tourism
authorities is now concentrating significant resources on making the island even
more attractive to visitors.
On Gran Canaria there are many opportunities for sightseeing and shopping and
this island is the approximate unrivaled. You can buy most at prices often far
below that found at home in Scandinavia.
Mighty mountains
The island is quite round and about the same size as The Shetland Islands, with
1560 km ². Although the island is best known for its beautiful beaches and
pleasant climate, Gran Canaria also have great and mighty mountains, where after
a few hours drive through varying terrain and exciting valleys, you can watch an
incredible natural beauty, while making you chilled down.
In the mountains, it is a pleasant, almost cold breeze. And here is the large
pine forests and several mountain lakes with good opportunities for angling. The
record for perch is reputed to be over 15-kg!
But the Atlantic Ocean offers exciting fishing and there are many charter boats
that bring passengers to hunt for shark, tuna and Marlin (Swordfish).
South Coast
Most of the Gran Canaria tourism is central to the southern coast and the cities
of Playa del Ingles, San Augustin, Maspalomas and Puerto Rico. This is also
where most of the hotels and many fine beaches are located.
In the Maspalomas area there is a vibrant nightlife and several large shopping
centers with a wide range of products where you'll find everything from camera
gear to brand clothing. If you want to try your luck, however, it is an
international Casino in Tamarindo hotels in San Augustin. Otherwise, you can
experience mostly everything as a tourist down here. You can drive go-cart,
doing scuba diving, horse riding, camel riding, tennis, paragliding and much,
much more. Worth to go is to visit the picturesque town of Puerto Mogan, also
known as Gran Canarias Venice.
North Coast
The north coast is completely different from the south coast with a lush, green
vegetation and here is where you find almost all the banana growing in Gran
Canaria. The bananas "capital" is Arucas, a town of white houses and a Gothic
cathedral.
Note that the roads west from Arucas, have some hair-raising parties over the
mountain. Along these roads, you can see the old caves where the canaries live
and that they even have running water and electricity! North Coast is however
also a paradise for divers, and if you have the opportunity, you should try to
get along this part of the island.
|
The island have about 815 400 inhabitants (2007).
About 1500 km away from the spanish mainland.
Distance to Afrika is
about 190 km.
Gran Canaria has an area of approx. 1560 km ².
Total coastline length is 174,5 km.
Saharan Air Layer is a type of weather that involve
hot air from the south or southeast, and that occur
over the Canary Islands a few times each year,
usually winter. It occurs at a high pressure over
North Africa that go out to a passing cold front
north of the Canary Islands. With the wind follows
the dust and sand from the dry areas in North Africa,
where the wind begins. Saharan Air Layer leads to
extremely high temperatures when it occurs and makes
the air look hazily.
|
