As I've already mentioned here before I've been putting a lot of effort into the creation of some yearly slideshows towards the end of the year. Usually these slideshows are meant to be watched by some friends and by the greater family. They've become part of our family Christmas tradition. And it's also just fun to sort through all these photographs of the year and relive all these memories together.

This year I've started something new and was also preparing versions of these slideshows for a bigger audience. One after the other I'm going to upload these videos to YouTube and anyone who's curious enough to spend 30 minutes or up to one hour sitting in front of their computers or TVs can watch them now as well.

With these slideshows I hope to be able to tell stories that are not only interesting to those who experienced all these memories first hand but also attract various people who are curious about a certain destination. Maybe they want to visit some countries or islands as well and need some information about their next trip or it's just for those people who are interested in photography and a visual relaxation. Or stimulation.

Anyway I'm experimenting with the length and visual density of this new from of presentation, so please let me know what you think. Sure, I also could make some of these 10 second long videos and upload them to TikTok but honestly I'm not keen on exploring this form of bite sized content. Maybe I change my mind in the future but for now I'm going big screen first, widescreen format first and long duration first.

I know this means some commitment and hope there's still an audience for that.

So after this lengthy introduction back to the title of this post, back to Gran Canaria. Gran Canaria is probably the most well known island of the Canaries. Besides the almost circular shape of Gran Canaria there are also the islands of El Hierro, La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Fuertoventura and Lanzarote. The Canaries are situated about 100 miles west of Morocco and are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. So temperatures there stay more or less the same all year round and probably always remain between 20 and 25 degrees. So climate wise the Canary Islands offer very pleasant summer feelings all year long.

The Canaries are part of Spain and are all of volcanic origin. Every one of these islands has their own more or less active Volcano at its center. The dryer regions also feel very rocky, dusty, black and gray, but especially the higher and western sides are overgrown with lush greenery and filled with life.

One special thing of Gran Canaria is the beach of Maspalomas. I guess there are hundreds of song titles and bar names across the globe featuring this location. Here at the very southern end of Gran Canaria very fine and golden sand from the Sahara desert gets blown over the ocean to that specific location. As a result some exotic looking beaches along the shore line have been created. And the natural sand dunes with the blue water in the background truly look amazing. It's like a part of paradise. But where's paradise there are people. Lots of people. So Maspalomas is showing rather brutal signs of mass tourism which is a problem along all coast lines of Gran Canaria. There are these massive hotel complexes literary bombed into the natural rock formations everywhere. But who am I to blame something I'm actively participating in.

The most iconic rock formation of Gran Canaria is called Roque Nublo and is right at the center of the island, high up in the mountains. The volcanic scenery up there is truly remarkable and definitely one thing not to miss when visiting Gran Canaria.

And of course there's Las Palmas, the main capital of Gran Canaria and the biggest city of the island. The city is famous as a port for the big international cruise ships. What I found most appealing are the old houses, that climb up the surrounding hill scapes like stacked shoe boxes. The houses are all painted in different colors and together create a kaleidoscope of shape and color.

Las Palmas as many other cities and villages across the island show that still rather typical Spanish colonial architecture style that I'm not particularly a fan of.

The village of Firgas is maybe worth mentioning as well. Firgas is famous for its water springs and fountainheads. The water from Firgas is sold everywhere across the island and all of the Canaries.

For now all the rest I leave up to your imagination. This post is meant to be as a teaser not as a complete coverage of the trip. You will get much better insights watching the video over at Youtube. And don't forget, I'm curious about your impressions. Here's the link: