HOLIDAYS AND WEEKENDS
Public holidays:
January 1 – New Year
January 6 – Epiphany
March 19 – St. Joseph’s
Day May 1 – Labor Day
July 25 – St. James Day
August 15 Dormition
October 12 – America’s Discovery Day, Columbus Day
November 1 – All Saints Day
December 6th – Constitution Day
December 25th – Christmas
Holidays, with moving dates:
Maundy Thursday of Passion Week
Good Friday of Passion Week
Corpus Christi Feast of the
Immaculate Conception (usually falls on December 8th)
In addition, local holidays and festivals are held monthly on each island. Dates for these events are not fixed.
USEFUL THINGS Petty
theft takes place in the country, as in many large cities, so during walks and excursions it is better to have a photocopy of your passport with you, and keep the passport itself, along with other documents and money, in a safe at the hotel.
From 13.00 to 16.00 siesta begins on the islands. At this time, most banks, shops and government offices are closed for lunch.
Near the city of Maspalomas there are beaches for nudists. So the resort of Gran Canaria is a resort without unnecessary prejudices. Here, not only young people strive to get closer to nature, but more and more English and German pensioners over 70 years old. This must be taken into account when purchasing a ticket.
SHOPS
Most shops are open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00. Large department stores (eg “El Corte Ingles”) and supermarkets, from 10:00 to 21:00 without a break. Sales (Rebajas) happen twice a year: in winter from January 7 to the end of February and in summer from July 1 to the end of August.
TIPS
In restaurants give 5-10% of the total order. Tipping – in the form of a service tax – is always included in the bill. It is completely useless to mark an individual waiter you like with an additional tip – in almost any institution there is a “general cash desk” of tips, where all the money received per day in excess of the bill is added, which are divided equally between the entire shift.
NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
According to homethodology, the inhabitants of the islands are leisurely. Here time greatly slows down its run, and a business person has to get used to the unhurried rhythm of life. Siesta is sacredly observed everywhere – a long lunch break during the hottest time of the day – from 13 to 16 in the afternoon.
Canarians are courteous, tolerant, optimistic, endowed with a sense of dignity, humor is not alien to them, and they can easily laugh at themselves. Despite some negligence characteristic of southerners, the inhabitants of the islands are extremely hardworking and diligent.
In any country there will always be “tricks” who want to play on the gullibility and inexperience of tourists. For example, on many roads in the archipelago, a cheap alcoholic drink with a high content of fusel oils, brought from the mainland, is passed off as local beer. Selling goods delivered to your home at inflated prices is also a common trick, which is performed using various tricks up to soldering the buyer. It is impossible to terminate a signed sales contract with home delivery.
ELECTRICITY
220V, 50Hz;
HEALTH CARE
In the Canary Islands, medicine is paid. If you have health insurance, then emergency medical care will be provided free of charge. To do this, you need to call the insurance company at the phone number indicated on the individual insurance card (you should always have the card with you) and provide the number of the insurance policy and the reason for the call.
It is easy to find a pharmacy by the green cross with the inscription “FARMACIA”. Opening hours of all pharmacies are from 9.00 to 13.00 and from 16.00 to 20.00 from Monday to Friday. On Saturday, pharmacies are only open in the morning. On Sundays and at night, you can use the services of duty pharmacies “FARMACIA DE GUARDIA”.
Before traveling to the Canary Islands, it is recommended to get pre-vaccinated against hepatitis A.
Contact in Canary Islands, Spain
Each of the two Canarian provinces has its own dialing code. The code for the province of Tenerife, which also includes the islands of Palma, Hierro and Gomera: 22. The code for the province of Gran Canaria, which covers the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote: 28. For a conversation within one province, it is enough to dial only a six-digit number. To call Spain or another of its provinces, you need to add the number 9.
The code for Spain is 34 and to call from Russia to Gran Canaria, you need to dial 8-10-3428-number. And to call from the Canary Islands, for example, to Moscow, you need to dial 07-7-095, and then the phone number.
International calls to Russia can be made from phone booths that are located on the streets everywhere, from telephones that are in almost all bars, from call centers that exist on the territory of all travel companies and where you can pay for the call after the call, as well as from the room hotel (in the latter case, the start-up will cost much more). To call from the Canary Islands, you need to have enough large euro coins for payment.
Emergency Phones in Canary Islands, Spain
Emergency telephone numbers in the province of Gran Canaria:
municipal police and civil guard 091
fire brigade 20-71-22
ambulance 24-59-21
Emergency telephone numbers in the province of Tenerife:
municipal police and civil guard 092
fire brigade 22-00-80
ambulance help 28-18-00
