The east

If you start from the touristic area of the south, there are several possibilities for attractive trips. The capital Las Palmas is one of them. Worth seeing among other things is the Casa de Colon in the old centre of town. Directly around the corner you will find the "centre Atlántico de Arte Moderno": the museum for modern art, which is situated in a carefully restored palace of the 18^th century. The "Museo Canario" lies unique in one of the oldest quarters of Las Palmas, the Barrio de la Vegueta. Here the lanes and roads are still as they were built four centuries ago.

For those who avoid the motorway towards Las Palmas and drive up one of the small highways into the islands centre, completely different impressions are to be expected. After the first ridge the sea disappears out of view, the sandy south and the dry south-east of the island turn into oblivion. Endlessly the serpentines wind up the mountains. Every few kilometres new views are offered, a further breathtaking abyss is in sight. The road of Maspalomas over Fataga to San Bartolomé de Tirajana is one of those, which has to be driven with leisure and pleasure. San Bartolomé de Tirajana is a pictorial small town, with many palm trees, covered by flower carpets, with beautiful canarian houses with their architectural characteristic wood carved balconies on lime washed walls. Starting from here Tejeda is well signposted. The slopes are closely grown with canarian pines, with their bright, juicy green. From this centre of the island there are different possibilities of driving in direction of the sea. Across Santa Lucia, Agüimes and Ingenio leads an interesting route. These places retain and maintain to today the old handicraft forms of the island, above all basket-making, pottery and point embroidery. From the Roque Nublo leads another route to the decorative village San Mateo, and there you have the agony of the choice: to Santa Brigida, Tafira and a short visit to Marzagan? Or the grand tour of the north, over Teror, Firgas, Casa Blanca, Arucas and Tamarceite nearly to Las Palmas? Teror has the most important pilgrimage church of Gran Canaria, the holy "virgin del pino". Teror means beauty and grace, with a wonderful square before the church, surrounded by the typically canarian houses with its stone walls and the wooden balconies. Firgas has the richest source of mineral water of the island, and the richness won from it is to be seen in this beautiful village. Casa Blanca, Arucas and Tamarceite belong already to the sumptuous green north.