Day 6, from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Telde

Day 6, Thursday 9th February 2023,

This morning we started our first tour of Gran Canaria, the main goal is to reach the south of the island and discover the legendary beaches of Maspalomas and Playa de Ingles. The route there seems challenging because there is no bike path along the coast (only the highway, which we are not allowed and don't want to ride on), so we have to go a bit inland where it immediately goes uphill towards the mountains.
Therefore, we decided to do a shorter tour today, but with lots of altitude meters, until Telde.
It took over 1 hour to get out of the city center, a rather confusing street maze. Then we went through the suburbs of Las Palmas, which were bizarre, reminding us a lot of the slums around Mexico City. We had to pass through the suburbs on partially incredibly steep roads because these suburbs are literally built into the mountain. There were very narrow alleys that went steeply uphill, some of which we were able to conquer with the maximum support of the e-bikes, while others we still had to push uphill. Nevertheless, it was a great experience, with each house painted in a different color, creating a colorful sea of houses. In between, at the bottom of the ravine, extensive banana plantations. Now we know where the bananas come from that we get at the market in St. Gines in Lanzarote.

After leaving these suburbs, we passed the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at the summit of today's tour, and from there we practically rode downhill for the second half of today's tour. After a good 30 km with over 700 altimeters and 3 hours of driving time, we arrived in Telde and settled into a wonderfully beautiful accommodation. Then we wandered through the small town, swapping our bikes for our feet, enjoying some "pichos" and wine, and exploring the town.
Tomorrow, on Friday, we will continue our journey down to the south.