The island of Gran Canaria is third in size in the archipelago, after Tenerife and Fuerteventura. It has a surface area of 1,532m2 and its most outstanding features are the ravines which come down from the central peaks - which are over 2,000m high - to the shore. There is no other place with such an eloquent variety of little known scenery. There are desert and sandy areas as well as mountains with lush, tropical vegetation. In Gran Canaria, the steep cliffs of El Puerto de la Nieves and de la Aldea together with the rugged ravines of Tirajana, Moya and Azuaje alternate with pleasant valleys where thousands of banana-trees grow and which - like the Arucas - gently descend towards the sea. Gran Canaria has not in vain been called a continent in miniature, because beginning by La Cumbre (a 2,000m peak) with its granite masses of El Roque Nublo, nature has provided for all kinds of scenery, where plants from Europe, Africa and America grow (the Tamadaba pine forests, Los Tilos - lime-trees -, the El Monte vineyards, the coffee plantations at Agaete, palm forests, banana-trees, almond-trees, sugar cane and tomato crops). Las Plamas, the capital of the province, is the largest city of the archipelago, a prosperous, beautiful place with 370,000 inhabitants and the largest port in GRT in Spain. Its airport receives the most important airlines, with flights from Europe, Africa and America. The capital has the attractions of a large city, with excellent hotel and catering facilities, night clubs, international shows, an intense social life and an ample calendar of festive occasions and celebrations throughout the year. A must in this modern, active city is the noble, peaceful old area of Vegueta, where one finds stately old houses with impressive, private inner courts and with artistically worked balconies facing onto narrow streets and sheltered squares. The Old city has the most important sights; the Gothic-neo-Classical cathedral, which was begun in 1497, Columbus House, the residence of the first governors of the island, which is a lovely building housing an interesting museum about the times of Columbus, the Canary Museum, which has the most complete collections of the traces left by the Guanches, the pre-Spanish inhabitans of the islands. Interesting churches include San Francisco's and the Hermitage of San Telmo, which has a Mudéjar coffered ceiling. The Provincial Fine Arts Museum, the House cum-Museum of Pérez Galdós and the Néstor Museum round off the treasure of art, architecture and history in the city. In the splendid Doramas Park there is an area called the Canary Village, a creation of the artists Néstor. It is an expressive sight of Canary architecture. Against this exceptionally beautiful background, popular dances and songs are performed on Thursdays and Sundays.