TELDE GRAN CANARIA

Telde, in the east of the island and south of Las Palmas, is Gran Canaria's second largest town. Historically, it was the seat of the aboriginal king, or guanarteme, who controlled the eastern part of the island. Its environs are not inviting - warehouses, factories and packing plants stretch down a dry and scrubby plain to the coastal motorway. The modern town centre is busy and thrumming with traffic The old town centre, as anywhere on the island, is the best bit. The most picturesque part is the barrio of San Francisco a place of stone coigned white houses, wooden balconies and pitched roofs around the 18th century Church of San Francisco, home to rich merchants in earlier days.

 The major church, though, is San Juan Bautista, surrounded by cobbled streets and a pleasant square in the north of the town. It was begun early in the 16th century and finished in this century. Inside, above the ornate gilt relabla, is a life-sized figure of Christ - sculpted from crushed maize, and weighing only some 5kg. It was made by Mexican Indians and indicates the amount of two-way traffic between the New World and the Canary Islands. Telde is also the birthplace of the engineer who built the harbour at Las Palmas in 1882, Juan de Leon y Castillo. His former home is now a museum, the Casa Museo Leon y Castillo.