Page 23 - RCI EV Asia October 2015

Tip: Get a four-wheel drive vehicle for the trip; there is little paved road south of town. The 600-year-old former capital of the Canary Islands, Betancuria, is located in a cactus-spiked valley on the west coast. The town is anchored by the white-walled Santa María cathedral (Calle de Alcalde Carmelo Silvera), rebuilt in the 1600s after being razed by Moorish pirates in 1593.
You’ll find all sorts of crafts at Casa Santa Maria (1 Plaza Santa Maria de Betancuria; 011-34-928-87-80- 36; casasantamaria.net), a 17th-century farmhouse turned craft center where you can watch artisans working the looms and pottery wheels before you select some pieces to bring home with you. The center also has a restaurant of the same name (011-34-928-87-82-82; lunch for two, $125); chef Dusan Senkerik’s specialty is braised local goat. Never mind that post- lunch siesta; you’ll want to walk off the meal amid the ancient tools and artifacts of Fuerteventura’s native Majo tribes, artfully displayed at the Museo Arqueológico y Etnográfico (12–14 Calle Roberto Roldán; 011-34-928-87-82-41; admission, $3) a five- minute stroll away.
GRAN CANARIA
Natural Playground
In 2005 UNESCO declared 40 percent, roughly 620 square kilometers, of Gran Canaria a protected natural biosphere. It’s easy to see why this island is a nature lover’s dream, with its Sahara-style sand dunes and volcanic-rock formations. Kick things off in Maspalomas, a tourist town on the southern tip and home to popular Playa de Inglés. Here you’ll spot the spectacular Maspalomas Dunes, a desert like 1,000-acre (approx. 404 hectare) nature reserve of sand whipped by the wind into tall, undulating rows. They can be fun but tiring to conquer on foot; luckily herds of camels are saddled up and standing by to help you cross the sand (camellosafari. com; rides, from $18). Should you build up an appetite, try El Salsete (Calle Secundino Delgado; 011-34-928-77-82-55; elsalsete.
com; lunch for two, $72), in neighboring San Fernando, where lunch will be whichever fish chef Paco Viera picked up fresh from the market that morning.
For more of Gran Canaria’s natural highlights, swing north on highway GC- 60 from Maspalomas through the island’s arid
lunar interior. Forty kilometers (and some steep turns) in, you’ll reach Roque Nublo (Tejeda; 011-34-928-66-60-01), a 260-foot- tall volcanic-rock formation and place of worship for Gran Canaria’s original, Berber settlers. From the parking area, it’s a 35 minute hike to the rock, but well worth
it for the sweeping, 360-degree views out across the palm-and salt-cedar-lined ravines and valley. Serious hikers will want to carry on northwest to the Parque Natural de Tamadaba, whose network of paths winds through pine and cactus forests filled
with native fauna, like Gallotia lizards and peregrine falcons. If you can peel yourself away from the natural wonders, consider spending a day admiring Gran Canaria’s 437-year-old capital, Las Palmas, pinched between two bays in the island’s northeast. Past the cobblestoned Plaza Santa Ana, in the Old Town, is the Casa de Colón (1 Calle de Colón; 011-34-928-31-23-73; casadecolon. com; admission, $10), a petite museum inside a white-walled villa with latticed balconies and green marble doorways. The museum honors Christopher Columbus, who allegedly stayed here while his ship La Pinta was repaired before sailing the ocean
ENDLESS VACATION 21